Requiem for a Rogue (Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron, Volume 5)

The story from Strnad is a 3, but the art and inking is a hugh improvement getting 3.5 and the cover is a 3 for a grade of 3.

The main strength with this comic, since I found the story to be mediocre, is the richness and detail and effort put forward by the artists. I wanted to give this a 4 based on art, but the story just is that interesting and except for a look at some Bothans, nothing important happens otherwise. Again, this comic is most important for its strong visualimpact that may have allowed there to be more in the series.


Lacking a bit   August 13, 2001
'Requiem for a Rogue' is probably the most unique in the series. The Imperial-type villain is missing, the role instead shifting a bit throughout the story. The Rogues are trapped on a forested planet while searching for a missing Bothan spaceliner, but things are very odd here, and the Bothans seem to have other plans as well. The Rogues get forced between a rock and hard place here, and the end results in the death of not one, but two of the Rogues.

The art by Gary Erksine is very detailed, but senses of movement are pretty much lost. The work has an overall `dirty' look to it, which works well considering the circumstances. Forests and trees and brush and such are well done, which is good considering the setting. His people seem a bit, well, ugly, but one can get around that. His non-humans, like Ibtisam, Nrin, and the numerous Bothans, are well-done. Although his style does have problems, it works better overall with `Requiem' than it would for any other arc. David Nestelle works magic with the colors, enhancing the art and giving it a bit of a three-dimensional quality. Possibly the best coloring in the series.

Jan Strand return from `Battleground: Tatooine' to script this one, and the quality is pretty much the same. The elements of stuff like Sith magic may not bode well with many a fan, but it does tend to work in the sense that this planet of Malrev 4 is Force-potent, most likely resulting from its past. Such things have been seen on other worlds in other series, so its not too far-fetched. The dogfights are well-written and interesting, which is good because `Requiem' has more of them than any other XWRS story arc. Like a lot of other XWRS story arcs, `Requiem' suffers a bit because of length restrictions. The scenes between the characters in between the fighting are good, but it seems like more is needed. A similar situation comes up later in `Mandatory Retirement', but in that case proof is given of what kind of scenes can come out of such situations.

Overall, its is recommended. While not the quality of most of the other story arcs, it has a well-built climax and sets the stage for the second act of the XWRS series.


Validates "Mysteries of the Sith"   February 6, 2001
 2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Requiem for a Rogue is the fifth X-wing Rogue Squadron story, and the fourth to see print in TPB form. It's not quite as good as The Warrior Princess, and it's not nearly as good as either Phantom Affair or Battleground Tatooine. I think this book may well have the worst art in the series, and it just isn't very entertaining. However, some of the story elements validate the somewhat iffy plot points of the computer game Mysteries of the Sith, and this collection also includes the hard-to-find Rogue Squadron special which they were giving out on the opening day of ESB special edition. This is also the last of the "independant" RS stories; after this they're all included the in the bigger "Rise of Isard" Story Arc.

Basically, the Rogues are asked to go looking for a Bothan passenger liner which has dissappeared. They follow it's hyperspace trajectory, and find it landed on a planet. When they touch down, they find the Captain was killed in the "crash," but things also look very suspicious -- the Rogues suspect that the crash was actually sabotage." It turns out that there's an ancient Sith temple here, one which Palpatine was planning to turn into a base, that of course has a stockpile of hundreds of TIEs, and things get ugly from there.

Many of the plotlines and ideas really stretch my ability to suspend disbelief in this comic, but there are a few surprises. And the writing is OK, just not the best. Overall, I think this is probably the worst book in the Rogue Squadron series.


Not Bad   May 7, 1999
 14 out of 15 found this review helpful

I enjoyed this book, as it was action packed, while still leading you through an involving plot. You see the true depths of what Bothans are capable of, when influenced by evil. Not only this, but you also see an extension of the theory proposed in "The Last Command": that the Bothans knew all about most of the Imperials secret storage facilities, but never felt like telling anyone else. I'd like to see this explored more deeply in a novel sometime. Anyways, another good Rouge Squadron book/comic.


exciting!   April 29, 1999
 3 out of 6 found this review helpful

This book had a great plot, with an eerie twist. Plus, we finally get to see what Bothans look like! A little confusing at times, but overall, great!