Star Wars: Rogue One — Jyn Erso #1 Shows the Force is Still Strong in the Comics (Review)

Star Wars is not in a great place, which is a sentence I’ve been typing way too much since Disney acquired the galaxy far, far away. The Mandalorian and Grogu isn’t doing well and fans are once again talking about the death of Star Wars. I’ve been a Star Wars fan for most of my life, so I’ve been through these cycles before. Even when some part of it is bad, there’s always something to enjoy about the property and be excited about. 2026 is the tenth anniversary of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, with Disney’s Lucasfilm allowing Marvel to put out prequel comics starring the movie’s major characters. Rogue One is generally beloved, producing the best piece of Star Wars fiction ever in Andor, its characters playing a massive role in making the movie a fan-favorite.

The Andor prequel issue was fine, but the latest one stars the movie’s lead, Jyn Erso. Erso was always an interesting character and this issue takes her back to what should be a boring time for readers – her time in an Imperial prison. However, Ethan Sacks and Ramon Rosana are able to create an awesome little Star Wars story that shows there’s still places to get thrills in the galaxy far, far away.

Rating: 3.5

Pros	Cons
Sacks takes a pretty standard Star Wars story and makes it sing	The issue could have used about ten more pages to develop its plot
Rosana is able to avoid the Larocca Problem with his photo-realistic art	The story is entertaining, but it’s also cliche as all get out
Overall, this is an exciting comic that gets a lot right	The ending doesn’t really make sense

Sacks Reminds Readers of What a Star Wars Story Can Be

Ethan Sacks has been working on the High Republic portion of the Star Wars universe, a Jedi war in the past, so it would be safe to assume he might not do as well with the grittier side of the universe. However, this issue shows that Sacks is able to take an old school type of action story – a prison escape – and create a propulsive, fun narrative. Sacks is able to give the story a certain momentum and he does a fantastic job with Erso as a character, capturing her nihilistic attitude at the time while also showing that the person she was (and will be again) is still in there. This story feels like a short story I would have read in Star Wars Adventure Journal, the West End Games RPG digest that had short stories that could be used as adventure modules, in the ’90s and I loved it.

This issue is entertaining, but it’s not without its problems. To begin with, it suffers from one of the bigger problems with the Andor issue – it needs more page real estate. While the pacing keeps the momentum going, we could definitely use a few more pages. For example, the escape sequence made this daring attempt seem entirely too easy, with them starting a riot in the yard and then just flying a speeder to where they need to be. They could have made the sequence more exciting, but they didn’t have the pages. Everything about the story is completely cliche, with the various types of characters and events you’d expect from this story. The ending is kind of nonsensical in its way; it has to end the way it does, but there’s no reason that the Empire wouldn’t execute Jyn after the events of this issue. These flaws hold the issue back, but not too much.

Rosana’s Art Is Able to Look Like the Movies Without Falling in the Uncanny Valley

One of the problems with the Star Wars comics based on the movies is that the artists try to hard to look like real life. I call this the “Larocca Problem” because of artist Salvador Larocca. He drew Star Wars: Darth Vader (Vol. 1) and the main Star Wars book, and it looked like he did some light box tracing over images from the movies. This issue feels like Ramon Rosanas decided to do Larocca-style Star Wars art, going as realistic as possible, but the difference is his work never looks as traced as Larocca’s did.

So, Erso looks like actress Felicity Jones, but it feels like Rosana studied her in action and used that knowledge to create a version of the character that worked in the comics while looking like the actress. This is honestly a lot harder than it seems and he nails it. His character acting gets you into the scene, his page layouts are simple but effective, and the action scenes look good. It’s not perfect and there are times when the detail isn’t great, but it’s really not all that noticeable unless you’re looking for it (which is quite literally my job).

I like the idea of prequel books starring the Rogue One characters, but I wish they were a little longer. This issue, though, is able to use its brevity to tell a cool prison escape story that isn’t going to break the wheel but definitely feels like Star Wars in a way that a lot of stuff hasn’t in recent years. Sacks and Rosana make for a great Star Wars creative team, even if there are some missteps, and this issue won’t let you down.

Star Wars: Rogue One: Jyn Erso #1 is on sale now.

What do you think? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

Every Star Wars Character With Daddy Issues, Ranked