A Brief Rant: These comics come in an expensive Gold Logo edition embossed with gold foil (as with Union #4 pictured above). This is becoming a trend, with several other recent releases in the Star Wars line also offering "premium" covers. They're pretty, but I view them as just another way to bilk collectors out of money, similar to the photo/art dual covers for the four one-shot Episode I adventure comics -- or the four separate covers (not counting the embossed, leather-bound, slip-cased edition) of The Phantom Menace novelization. I hate this trend of putting a different cover on the same old product just because they know the completists will buy it.

(Warning: Spoilers follow.) 

Union #3: Of the four covers by Duncan Fegredo, this is one I liked best, with a simple, striking action scene in pleasing colors. The lightsaber duel shown here, however, took place in issue #1. (Question -- Why does Luke still wear a glove on his right hand?)

Inside the story continues, as Imperial Moff Takkar and his pathetic band of embittered losers plan the destruction of the Skywalker wedding. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when your main ambition in life has sunk from galactic domination to this. But then again, the purpose of this story is more to give us a glimpse into the friendships and relationships among the Good Guys than to satisfy our thirst for epic space battles.

As Chad mentioned in his review of #1 and #2 of this series, the writers have made little effort to fill us in on who is who amongst the characters. Yes, for the most part the characters are unique enough to tell them apart (and it's fun guessing which celebrity was apparently used for a model in some cases), but the text gives us very few clues as to their identities. I found this extremely frustrating. I'm still not quite sure I can even tell Rogues from Jedi half the time. It would have been easy enough to include this in the dialogue to help us out.

But that's a minor complaint. Stackpole continues to give us lots of humor mixed with a bit of pathos. As with Union #2, this issue starts out with a dark, duotone nightmare sequence, this time Mara's instead of Luke's. The art here, as throughout the series, is beautifully rendered. It was fun trying to guess who all those faces belong to.

Then we switch to the Imperial bad guys and find out just how lame they truly are. First, they're letting the Moff's wife plan their strategy (and they all seem to be afraid of her, probably because her IQ is higher than the rest of theirs combined). One minute they're planning to kill Luke, the next they're planning to disrupt the wedding by stealing Mara's dress? As if that will somehow bring down the New Republic? What morons. The series would have been just as entertaining without these buffoons running around. More on this further down in Union #4 ...

In the previous issue we got all the boys together for a bachelor party and brawl. This issue we get all the girls together for a day at the spa. The writers do a great job of injecting humor into the girls' conversations, and I was amazed at how well they managed to keep each character distinct considering they were all wearing white towels on body and hair. Again, I just wish there were a few more clues as to who was who. It doesn't help that a couple of bubbles are apparently misplaced. One woman says, "Kam has the fashion sense of a glitted-up Kowakian money-lizard." Now that's funny. But which one is married to Kam? Let's see ... uh ...  Tionne? But why does she have light brown hair? Oh, never mind! The main thing is, the girls get a chance to kick butt on the sling-ball court, and the guys never have a clue.

I really enjoy the character interaction in this one. The married guys are standing around giving Luke cynical and contradictory advice, trying to scare the living daylights out of him just like buddies are supposed to do. The friendship between Han and Luke has never been portrayed with more warmth and humor. Han: "I can't remember the last time I was right. Oh, wait, it was before I met your sister." Luke: "I knew you then, Han. Think further back."

Union #4: The grand finale. I found this cover cluttered and garish, and the faces, especially Mara's just downright ugly. Perhaps the artist was rushed, or perhaps he was trying to pack too many folks into too small a space. Either way, this was my least favorite of all the covers.

As for the story ... I can't find much good to say. The humor of the rest of the series is lacking here, and the ending left me unsatisfied.

As the guests are taking their places, the Imperials implement their plans. First the distractions -- the Moff's wife tries to steal the dresses and kill the seamstress, but one of her own men turns against her.  Swoop riders come in blasting, and the "ushers" spring into action to take care of the baddies, but not before a lot of destruction is done. Inside, the wedding party is apparently oblivious. We finally get to see "the dress," and it's ... a 20th century Earth American-style wedding dress. Not to mention a 20th century Earth American-style wedding complete with ushers, bridesmaids, rings, and "I do"s.

Then the Moff himself shows up with a trigger in his hand. Is it a bomb? No! It's a computer virus. How ... lame. In fact, the whole ending was anticlimactic and, let's just face it, bogus. It was too easy. Not that I wanted a lot of bloodshed, with Luke and Mara drawing lightsabers and standing back to back (though, come to think of it, that might have been cool), but having the Moff "turn to the light side" after one or two sentences from Luke seems too abrupt and unbelievable. Oh, wait, maybe Luke used a Force suggestion ...

Despite this criticism, however, I found the series as a whole to be extremely entertaining and well worth the price of admission. Overall rating: A.

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(Toryn Farr knew everything about Star Wars back in 1977 thanks to Starlog Magazine. She's been trying to keep her know-it-all reputation ever since. During the 90 minutes per day her preschooler is napping, Toryn attempts to run an internet design business and write fantasy fiction.)