One of the many things I liked about The Force Awakens was how, even though the old favourites - Luke and Leia, Han and Chewie, the droids - returned, the new characters and their stories were just as exciting to see as the classics. Everyone fell in love with Oscar Isaac’s dashing Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, including me, so I was delighted to hear that he was getting his own comics series - and then I read the first issue. Oh…
The story is set directly before The Force Awakens where Leia tasks Poe with finding Lor San Tekka (Max Von Sydow’s character), who has a map to where Luke Skywalker is, before The First Order do. Ok - I’m instantly bored. Why? Because it’s a story that doesn’t need to be told. In the movie, the very first scene is Poe meeting Lor and getting the map to Luke, so we already know the ending to this book. Poe finds Lor and then The Force Awakens happens.
But maybe it’s about the journey, not the ending, right? If only. The issue opens with a lame will they/won’t they crash scene that has an obvious outcome (duuuh, turn the ship?) followed by the dreary briefing scene with Leia. Then we’re back in the caves where Poe has to convince the cave-dwellers who worship an egg that he’s a good guy - and that’s the whole issue!
How does Charles Soule keep getting these plum assignments when he fucks them up one after another? He can’t come close to capturing the charisma Isaacs gave the character on screen, instead churning out a substandard “Indiana Jones in space” adventure minus the excitement. If Soule’s version of Poe had appeared in the movie, he wouldn’t have had anything close to the same impact he had on audiences. Even Phil Noto’s art looks drab and unimpressive compared to his Black Widow run - everyone’s grimacing as if they know the comic they’re in stinks too!
Why not tell a story set after The Force Awakens or go even earlier and show us how Poe came to be involved in the Resistance and became an ace pilot - y’know, something we don’t already know the ending to? I suppose the last page of this issue has some promise (The First Order, baby!) but it’s not enough to keep me picking up the single issues - this one’s now a trade-wait.
Oh and a corny BB-8 backup comic where he plays cupid to a couple of Resistance members - that crap’s why this issue cost extra? Up yours, Marvel.
Poe Dameron #1: the Force is disappointingly weak with this one.
Star Wars: Poe Dameron #1
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