Max Nocerino 
Experience the finale of the Marvel Star Wars comic series with Star Wars #50. Dive into a thrilling story set across different eras of the Star Wars universe.
All good things must come to an end, but sometimes, they don’t leave with a bang. Enter Star Wars #50 from Marvel Comics. The long-running canon Marvel Star Wars comic series ended on September 11, 2024. It was initially teased as a massive story anchored in 3 of 4 of the current Star Wars eras-mainly the Sequel Era, the Original Era, and the High Republic Era. The Prequel era was strangely left out, but you can’t have it all, even when advertising it that way.
THE SEQUEL ERA
This interconnected story begins in the sequel era when Luke Skywalker tells a tale to his nephew and current apprentice, Ben Solo. Ben’s demeanor is interesting initially, and some foreshadowing I-hate-my-dad-vibes were put in nicely without being too conspicuous. This tale takes place between Empire and Jedi, where Luke goes to the Living Sea of Gazian to interact with the stored memories of various Jedi who have visited over the centuries for guidance. Luke had been to this location before, interacting with the echo of Elzar Mann, a prominent Jedi in The High Republic. Now, Luke encounters another familiar face – the fallen Dark Jedi Azlin Rell. Azlin tells Luke of a powerful weapon buried under the ice of a planet that can help him get the results he wants.
Luke and the gang journey to this planet and don’t realize an active Imperial garrison is on it. Stupid C-3PO neglected to tell them, and R2-D2 hijacks a giant autonomous mining droid to melt a hole in the ice. The Imperials scramble some TIEs, but the Falcon’s laser cannons quickly dispatch them. I can’t help but feel that it was a waste of time in the story progression. Not every Star Wars story needs ships firing laser cannons.
THE NAMELESS
I had anticipated that there was a Nameless creature trapped beneath the ice by Azlin following the Nihil-Jedi war. For those not deeply familiar with the series, the Nameless are monstrous four-legged beings that consume the Living Force and can drain the life from a Jedi or Force-sensitive individual, leaving only an empty shell behind. I had assumed that Luke would awaken it and then be forced to destroy it despite its potential to vanquish Palpatine. Instead, what we witnessed was something similar but less intelligent.
They find this magic Force box called the Grim Rose. It can “magically” kill a person remotely, across interstellar distances, if the person’s DNA is placed on top of it. It’s a tired and dull idea, and the box also gives off lame Ouija board vibes as the gang decides what to do with it. They need Palpatine’s DNA, so they journey to Naboo to steal some. Notwithstanding that the Grim Rose is a useless McGuffin, it isn’t an exciting story, as we know the box can’t possibly kill Palpatine. It’s just an example of trying to build up a unique story and then only to negate it and have everything return to normal. You might as well never have it in the first place.
THE GRIM ROSE
We do see a battle of ethics as the box will also (stupidly) kill all the people the target has come in contact with throughout their lives, and Luke and Lando argue if this should be done. Should they sacrifice hundreds, if not thousands, of beings just to kill the Emperor? Lando is like, yes, but Luke knows it is not the Jedi way to gamble with people’s lives. Luke’s gesture is pretty neat. However, the story’s message to Ben gets overshadowed by the cliché and unconvincing nature of the Grim Rose’s parameters. It diminishes any meaningful philosophical discussions this issue could spark.
I found Lando quite irritating in this comic for some reason. Nevertheless, I must admit that they portrayed his “old smoothie” personality very accurately. That annoying fake persona he initially adopts to greet the Big Three on Bespin. I much prefer the real Lando, who has to strike a deal with the devil to save his city.
VERDICT
All in all, I felt this was a colossal waste of time, super-silly, and I almost hate that it’s Canon.
Marvel Comics publishes Star Wars #50 and is available now.
FORCE FACTS
Get ready for an adventure through Force Facts. Here, we will uncover all the fun facts, juicy trivia, and hidden Easter eggs. Buckle up and see how many of these incredible nuggets of information you spotted!
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Han is absent during the flashback, as he is currently frozen in carbonite, but Ben knows all about that. Han apparently also referred to himself as a Hansicle (a play on the words Han and Popsicle) when he was frozen. It’s super corny, and Ben apparently thinks it’s a bad “dad joke” as well.
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Han also had, at one point, boasted that the Millennium Falcon could fly to Wild Space and back in half a day. This pays homage to the “Kessel Run in 12 parsecs” flex he spouted about his ship in the original movie. However, to be honest, Canon hyperspace travel times are so inconsistent and plot-based that it would appear that most ships could probably do that as well!
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The planet-wide fungus planet of Gazian stores the “echoes” of all the beings who have immersed themselves in it, and Azlin’s memory refers to it as “a collective mind presence.” This is a fancy way of saying hive mind.
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The Nameless does not physically appear in this comic, yet they manage to shoehorn a vision of one when Luke was “tripping on mushrooms” under the Gazian sea, speaking to Azlin
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The ice world that Azlin directs Luke to is called Niraya. It became frozen when a gravitational anomaly pushed it further out of orbit from its home star, and many cities and valuable materials are frozen under its thick layer of ice. The Empire also mines it for its forgotten resources with enormous autonomous mining droids equipped with giant melting lasers.
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These massive quadrupedal droids are referred to as ‘droidnaughts’.
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It would appear the Grim Rose kills people by traveling force energy (or something like that) along the intricate web that is the Living Force. Qui-Gon always championed the importance of forming connections with other sentient beings, and this appears to be a horrifying and warped application of this, killing all the “strands” on the web as it journeys to the “center”.
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Lando disguises himself as an Imperial captain when the gang goes to Naboo to get Palpatine’s genetic material. All Senators (conveniently) must submit some DNA when they get elected, and Palpatine was once the Senator of Naboo, so he is potentially on file. Also, the clerk who Lando talks to is surprisingly, an organic (I expected a droid) and she works on a delightfully retrofuturistic, bulky Star Wars analog computer.
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Chewie hates Palpatine, as the guy enslaved his people, and he puts that sample on the box without hesitation. He makes the ultimate decision while the others are weighing the ethical implications. Typical brusque and to-the-point Chewbacca
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The box is Forcetech, and Luke is able to connect with it telepathically to view the connection people that it is targeting in Palpatine’s “web.” Curiously, the earliest connection appears to be an elderly human woman picking flowers with a makeshift R2 unit to carry them on. Perhaps this woman was the gardener for Palpatine’s family when Palpatine was a little boy. Maybe?….. Apparently, she is still alive decades later, and this comic does not specify if she died before they could re-route the target.
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Luke locks blades briefly with Azlin Rell when under the mushrooms for the third time. Luke is able to push the image-form of him away with a quick Force Push, and was my favorite moment of the story as I always wondered how Azlin would fare in a duel with Luke Skywalker.
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The box’s process cannot be stopped once started, but it (conveniently) can be re-routed by putting a new DNA sample on it. Instead of (logically) running two processes at once, it resets and re-directs to the new sample.
Max Nocerino is a regular Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. He is a passionate Star Wars fan and loves the literature of the galaxy far, far away. Follow him on Twitter where he shares his love of the Force frequently!
