Product Description: There are few occupations more dangerous than flying an X-wing fighter for the Rebel Alliance, but Rogue Squadron is about to discover that diplomacy can be more deadly than a fleet of Star Destroyers! Sate Pestage, the interim Emperor, is losing his grip upon the Galactic Empire and seeks contact with Princess Leia to negotiate his defection to the Alliance in return for offering up the keys to the Imperial Throneworld of Coruscant. But Pestage`s moves have been anticipated by Isard, the woman who would take the Empire`s reins for herself, and a lethal game of chess ensues with the fate of the Empire--and Rogue Squadron--hanging in the balance!
Graphic SF Reader A light hearted SF adventure, a little incoherent, and the artwork is a bit odd, the woman on the front looks like a drag queen wrestler, then an X-Man in the interior, and the relative ages of the characters seem to vary a bit. Just overall average.
3.5 stars rounded down to 3 Vol 8 of 9 in the X-Wing comic series returns part o the art team that produced BAH vol 7. We get better consistency and I think good detailing in the pencil work. The characters are draw rounded and fuller, some call it cartoonish. To me Jedi vs Sith is cartoonish but I see their point. The inking color and backgrounds are a 3.5. The story is very enjoyable, also a 3.5. The cover was a 3.5 for a solid grade of 3.5. I'm gonna round down, becuase it is not difficult to find out what Han Solo is supposed to look like.
The comic opens with a space battle that uses muted orange and brown for its explosions, rather than a more potent coloring with reds and brighter yellows. The overall effect is still visually interesting and fun to see. Visually everything is clean and sharp. The rounded characters start to get anowing after a while. Further, I tried reading this to my son, and he kept asking me who was who. I did always have an answer that I was 100% sure of. When everyone looks round and full and sharply drawn I guess it can become confusing. Reminds me of the problem I have with the character renderings in Union. Everyone looked to much alike.
Because Johnson and Hall drew the main characters differently then they have been rendered in previous comics, if takes a bit to get into the flow of who is who. Fel is the guy with the beard and goatee. We still have Wedge, Tycho, Hobbie, Wes, Nrin, Ibtisam, Feylis, Avan Beruss, Plourr, and Xarcee Huwla. Han, Leia, Chewy, Winter, Ackbar, Pestage, Isarde, and Leonia Tavira.
Still this is better than some of the X-Wing comics and a worthwhile read.
An enjoyable read Masquerade is the second last part in the Rogue Squadron series, and is an enjoyable read.
The art is why I rated this one star less, and can best be described as average. It certainly had a cartoonish feel to it, as though it was simply done. Nothing too detailed, but it looked more 2D than three. While the background detail was not lacking and the frames were overall well done, the people just looked a bit "flat" on the page. That aside, it was still visually appealing and no reason to avoid what is a good purchase.
Ah . . . the dialogue, and you'll love it, all right. When Han and Fel pair up for their role in the story they just can't stop their sharp, witty banter! Stackpole did good work there. The scenes when Winter and Tycho are together flow just as smoothly, as does their budding romance. Xarcce offering Chewie help and indignantly saying, yes, he does know which end of hydrospanner is which is one sample of humour you'll find here.
All comics have their quirks, though, and the Wedge here looks nothing like his movie counterpart. Tavira has been shown in just as many ways; here she is girlish, petite and beautiful as the sharp blades her lines deliver. But that's all in keeping with the cartoonish style this was done.
Admiral Krennal makes his debut here, and doesn't hold back that tempered hospitality of his. Pestage was artfully rendered as always. The framing ranged from large to small, and like its cousin Mandatory Retirement, the scenes ended properly and not in mid-page, as Battleground:Tatooine did, so as not to feel rushed.
Overall, Masquerade is not to be missed, and truth be told, the cartoonish feel of the art was still adequate to be but a trivial bother if you're thirsty for top quality. A definite required purchase.
The best of times, the worst of times (3.5 stars) Masquerade is the third Rogue Squadron story set in the "Rise of Isard" story arc. Picking up shortly after Blood and Honor, Masquerade at times epitomizes the best aspects of the Rogue Squadron comics, and yet at other times is just silly, pointless, and forgettable. The art, for one thing, is nothing to cheer for. It is very cartoonish, and the characters really don't look anything like their counterparts in the movies or the other X-wing comics. Hairstyles are different, facial hair is different, characters' builds are different. Still, there is lots of good dialogue, plenty of action, and many familiar faces including Han, Chewie, Leia, and Winter.
The story is pretty much that Sate Pestage is fast falling out of power with the Imperial Cabal, and so he organizes a secret meeting with Leia on Axxila to negotiate terms of surrender. Meanwhile, Winter, masquerading as Leia, travels to Eiattu with Han and some of the Rogues for a meeting of some sort. Pirates, acting under Leonia Tavira, kidnap Winter thinking they've got the real Princess, and take her to Tavira's secret headquarters on - you guessed it - Axxila. Thus begins the search and rescue mission for Winter, since the Rebels need it to seem that she's really Leia.
The story is fun. Tycho and Winter get back together, there is lots of classic dialogue, some fun space battles, and old friends as well as old enemies are reintroduced. Plourr finally returns to Eiattu, Isard is portrayed well, and all around most of that is developed nicely. However, as I've said, the artwork leaves something to be desired. In addition, all of the animosity towards Colonel Fel that was so apparent in the previous issue seems to have just disappeared. Now he's just one of the guys, getting along with everyone. There is some conversation with Han about what it's like changing sides, but I would have liked to have seen more tension there. There is quite a bit of fantastic dialogue in this issue. One more issue I have is the "Uglies." An Ugly is a concept introduced in the novels - it's a starfighter scraped together of various pieces of other starfighters, and is commonly used by pirates. I like that the concept caught on in the comic, except that every single Ugly in this comic is a "die-wing," with no variation between individual ships, which kind of defies the purpose. Oh well.
While this is not the best Rogue Squadron has to offer, it's not bad either. Recommended.
Not Bad I bought this book for my nephew who has been reading this series with great delight and this time I also joined in on the reading. It wasn't bad-better then alot of the extended universe books (not that that is very hard to do). The material is reasonably appropriate for older children (i.e. violence level is about that of the films and all sexual content is kept low key except all the female characters a drwan a bit on the sleezy side).
The plot is a bit lame but my hopes were not set on that anyway so I had alot of fun with it. It was good to see old faces, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Liea (who does not look much like the Liea I remember form the films) as well as the usual X Wing crowd. Another reason I liked this one is the character of Winter is more then just a useful babysitter for the Solo kids as is common in the extended universe. For the hard core Star Wars fans I am sure this one will be enjoyable and worth aquiring.
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