Comic Review: The Battle of Jakku: Last Stand #4 – The Final Showdown!
Alex Segura and Jethro Morales bring the Battle of Jakku maxiseries to a close with Last Stand #4. One final issue of all-out action to settle the score between Empire and New Republic!
By
Jan 22, 2025
Marvel Comics/Youtini Illustration
Alex Segura and Jethro Morales bring the Battle of Jakku maxiseries to a close with Last Stand #4. One final issue of all-out action to settle the score between Empire and New Republic!
Marvel Comics
Publisher summary:
THE BATTLE OF JAKKU RAGES ON!
THE BATTLE OF JAKKU — as never seen before! THE NEW REPUBLIC must make a painful choice that puts ACKBAR's forces at risk! LUKE SKYWALKER faces off against the deadliest menace to the Republic — and the Empire! A historic character makes their first appearance ever!
Why it matters: The epic standoff between New Republic and Empire concludes as our heroes give their all to fight for what’s right. While the outcome may be known, there are plenty of twists and surprises in store for readers.
Key moments:
Epic space battles: X-Wings, A-Wings, Starhawks, Star Destroyers, *SUPER* Star Destroyers… this issue has everything. If you’ve been eagerly awaiting the big showdown in space, here it is, and it’s beautiful
A hopeful conclusion: While we all knew Luke, Leia, Han, and the New Republic would win in the end, it’s a treat to see it play out. It never gets old seeing the good guys claim victory, and their story ends with an uplifting family pose (featuring a baby Ben Solo!).
Teases for the future: In classic Marvel Star Wars fashion, this series’ “To Be Continued….” ends with a question mark after an epilogue teasing mysterious shrouded characters. With Segura officially writing the next volume of Star Wars comics, expect to see threads from this series continue going forward.
The big picture:
The Battle of Jakku is an ambitious series that sought to deliver a ton of storylines in a relatively small space. It took an already-crowded era of Star Wars storytelling and tied things together while also adding new layers and subplots. Unfortunately, the series falls short of its goals by feeling too stretched out, and it would have been better served to remain more focused.
When it’s good, it’s great - particularly fleshing out the conflict between Luke and Adelhard. But too much page space is spent on side stories and niche callbacks to the Aftermath Trilogy that make this series a tough sell to anyone who hasn’t read all of the post-Jedi Canon novels.
Revisiting expectations, this series works well as a companion to Aftermath, but feels hollow when viewed as a standalone story.
That said, this final issue is still a thrilling conclusion. It’s action-heavy, exciting, and well-paced, bringing an otherwise chaotic series to a comfortable and satisfying end. There’s enough enjoyment to be found - in this issue and the series as a whole - that readers should be excited for Segura’s storyline to continue, now unburdened from tying into previously told stories.
Our rating: Good
What’s next: Star Wars (2025) #1 by Alex Segura and Phil Noto launches on May 7th! Until then, look forward to the A New Legacy one-shot (January 29), the debuts of Legacy of Vader (February 5) and Jedi Knights (March 5), and several continuing High Republic comics.
For a deeper discussion of recent comic releases, be sure to check out this week’s episode of The Cosmic Force podcast!
Oz Davis is a Content Creator at Youtini and co-host of The Cosmic Force. He's kept up with every Canon release since 2014 and has a particular soft spot for lesser-known books like "Servants of the Empire." As part of Youtini's "Dad Batch," he's also developed an affinity for the multitude of Star Wars children's books, and he's always looking to expand his collection.
