The end of this series was a wonderful love letter to all the eras of Star Wars.

The following contains major spoilers for Star Wars #50, on sale now from Marvel Comics.

For the second time since Marvel reacquired the Star Wars license (being owned by the same parent company was a great way to bring the former licensor/licensee back together), the company has ended its main Star Wars series. The first series, launched in 2015, was set between A new hope AND The Empire Strikes Backand ended after 75 issues (written by Jason Aaron, Kieron Gillen and Greg Pak) while this current series, written by Charles Soule, would be set between The Empire Strikes Back AND Return of the Jedi.

Soule is very knowledgeable in the world of Star Wars, having helped create Star Wars: The High Republicand in 2022 he was even hired as a creative consultant by Lucasfilm, so it should come as no surprise that the latest issue in Soule's long-running series is closely tied to Star Wars history.

However, it's still impressive how well Soule works across various eras of Star Wars in this excellent send-off to the current series in Star Wars #50 (by Soule, with art by Madibek Musabekov, colorist Rachelle Rosenberg, and letterer Clayton Cowles), which is basically a love letter to all eras of Star Wars.

How are all the eras of Star Wars connected to each other in this story?

The entire issue (and this is a LONG story, so it's awesome to see Madibek Musabekov and Rachelle Rosenberg drawing the whole thing together, as it's been a long time since I've seen a story this long in an “anniversary” issue done by a single art team) is framed by a story Luke Skywalker tells his nephew and student of the Jedi, Ben Solo, during the time before Ben rebelled against Luke, embraced the Sith, and became Kylo Ren. Soule has a lot of fun here with the basic concept of these continuity insert series, as Ben notes all the crazy things that have happened to Luke during this series (and when you consider the various crossovers that have taken place during this series, including miniseries like the recent Dark Droids, this 50-issue run is closer to 70 issues!), all of which somehow take place in the time between Empire AND Return of the Jedi.

We then get to see Luke's journey in acquiring a powerful weapon, which involves a connection with a key character in The High Republic novels in a clever mix of eras. Lando then takes center stage when he gets the gun with his trademark charm/willingness to do anything for a con (and the sequence in the archive room is probably the best scene in the entire issue. It’s SUCH an amazing message from Soule, and honestly, it’s a particularly useful example of how science fiction stories can resonate with our modern lives in brilliant and insightful ways).

Musabekov and Rosenberg are challenged not only by having to draw the likenesses of a number of characters, but also by having to handle some radically different types of stories, from an action-packed battle to a quiet conversation, and they hit all the notes perfectly. Cowles' lettering is also excellent, but that is expected for a modern master like Cowles, but, of course, it should always be noted.

What is the great moral dilemma of this story?

Once you acquire the weapon, there is a great deal of debate about whether such a powerful weapon SHOULD be used, and these chapters are particularly useful for seeing how different characters react. There is a famous piece of The History of Star Trek tradition called the Kobayashi Maru, which is a training exercise to test how Starfleet officers react to an “unwinnable” situation. Here, we see a similar situation, where we examine how each of our main characters would react to the ethics of outright murder, but then, after that has been resolved quite forcefully, the reaction to the question of how many casualties are “acceptable” when the “greater good” is at stake.

Chewbacca has a unique perspective on everything that happens in the Star Wars era, and through a beautiful sequence where C-3P0 translates for him, we see him explain his position on certain issues. It's a fascinating look at Chewbacca's personality. Lando also has a moment where he shows how he can be darkly pragmatic too (look at how quickly he sold Han and Leia to Darth Vader when it suited his purposes, while, of course, feeling like he could control the deal to make it work).

The end result is such a perfect ending that the cynic Ben Solo can’t help but wonder if this story is more of a parable than an actual event that happened to Luke and his friends. But while Luke insists it did happen, the parable actually contains a wonderful lesson, but sadly one that we all know Ben Solo didn’t take to heart due to his subsequent turn to the Dark Side.

Wrapping up a long series like this is a tall order, and a lot of these types of endings end up feeling like “bits of an episode,” and Soule avoided that by embracing the history of Star Wars and the things that made these heroes so interesting in the first place. It's a story that works as a conclusion to a series, but also a unique story that any new reader could pick up and enjoy. It was a great book overall.

Source: Marvel