Review: Poe Dameron Vol. 2- The Gathering Storm

Quick Summary

Pros: The main storyline is exciting and entertaining. This book has a lot of interesting information about this era in Star Wars history. The book’s villain is incredible and has an amazing story all on his own.

Cons: Character development for the heroes is almost nonexistent.

Overall: After a shaky first volume, The Gathering Storm manages to redeem the Poe Dameron series and prove that this is a comic to watch out for. Exciting adventures, an incredible villain, and the chance to learn more about the road to The Force Awakens all help turn this into a compelling book. There are a few problems here and there but they are nowhere near significant enough to take away from this collection’s appeal. Anyone with an interest in the era between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens should consider reading this comic.

Story

Poe Dameron Vol. 2: The Gathering Storm, by Charles Soule, takes the foundation laid out by its predecessor and builds something great on it. This volume tells the story of a unique era in Star Wars history, one that enhances interest levels in both the New Republic and the First Order. This story is driven forward by a tremendously compelling villain whose personal background is just as interesting to learn about as the book’s modern-day story. This entire adventure also has the levels of action and excitement that one would expect from a Star Wars book. The only real problem is that the character development for the heroes is poor, which takes away some of the emotional impact that would otherwise be present. Overall though, this is a great book that renewed my interest in this series as a whole.

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The Gathering Storm features Poe out on a new mission to recover information from a droid on a dangerous planet. This mission is fraught with dangerous meeting and near brushes with death. This drama is enough to keep things tense and exciting, especially near the end of the book.

The concepts found within this book are also wonderfully creative and help expand this era of Star Wars history. Taking C-3PO out of his typical role as generic comic relief and giving him some actual responsibility is a positive step, but making him the leader of a secret society of droid spies is downright amazing. Meanwhile, the complex politics involving the Cold War between the New Republic and the First Order add additional intrigue to the overall battle between these two parties.

However, the absolute biggest positive throughout The Gathering Storm is Terex, the collection’s main villain. A large portion of this volume is spent detailing this character’s background and explaining his motivations, through both modern actions and flashbacks. Readers discover that he is a former Stormtrooper who truly believed in the goals of the Empire and is fine with using violence and slavery to help achieve his goals. He also has developed an inferiority complex in relation to the higher ranking officers of the First Order, one which further pushes him in his desire for greatness. All of this helps develop Terex into an incredibly well-rounded and interesting character, by far the most compelling character in this series thus far. His unique combination of traits make him someone whose motivation you can almost respect despite how much you hate what he is doing. I’m sincerely hoping his arrest at the conclusion of this collection does not spell the end for him, as he makes a worthy antagonist and an excellent foil for Poe.

The only problem with Terex is that his exceptional character development serves as a reminder about how little character development the other characters in this book end up getting. The other members of Black Squadron are relatively unknowns and add little to the narrative. When one of them dies, it is an emotional moment but not nearly as emotional as it would have been if this were someone with whom readers were more thoroughly acquainted. Plus, this volume reveals almost nothing more about Poe as a character, despite his status as the book’s main character. Hopefully, subsequent volumes will give a bit more detail about this comic’s heroes.

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Art

The artwork in The Gathering Storm is positive and is a great fit for the story being told. Phil Noto’s stylized take on the Star Wars universe continues to set this series apart as something unique and interesting. The visuals here are crisp and clean in a way that is immediately obvious and clear on every page. This book’s approach to structure also helps enhance the suspense present in a number of different scenes, making the book even more exciting than before. Overall, the artwork here is a definite positive for this book and is something most readers should be able to appreciate.

Continuity

Poe Dameron Vol. 2: The Gathering Storm continues the story from Poe Dameron Vol. 1: Black Squadron (Review). Both stories take place right before Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens.

The story here continues in Poe Dameron Vol. 3: Legends Lost (Review).

This volume also makes references to various elements from other Star Wars stories, detailed below:

• The destruction of the first Death Star happened in Star Wars IV: A New Hope.
• The destruction of the second Death Star happened in Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi.
• The Mister Bones character was originally introduced in the Star Wars: Aftermath novel.