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BB-8 and R2-D2 recall the horrors and victories of war
Star Wars: Poe Dameron, Issue 28 “The Awakening”
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Angel Unzueta
Colorist: Arif Prianto
“Wars not make one great.”
—Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back
The idea that there is more to just shooting and fighting in these so-called Star Wars has always been present inside this saga. The original trilogy was full of epic battles and good fighting to defeat the bad but always took a moment, particularly in Episode V and Episode VI, to examine the effects of wars and the warriors that wage them. As the saga has rolled on, the creators, from George Lucas in the prequels to the authors, directors, and storytellers of this modern Star Wars age, have had more time to explore the realities of war. Both how and why you get to that point, and what happens to you and the world after, are themes that pop up again and again. And one of the most beautiful, touching, and surprising moments came in the twenty-eighth issue of the Star Wars: Poe Dameron comic book. It involved two war veterans you never viewed as such.
Writer Charles Soule and the art team behind the issue pulled off a wonderful bait and switch that drove the point straight into your Star Wars fan heart. By this point in the comic’s run, the story had “moved past” the events of The Last Jedi and was using conversations between characters like Rey, Poe, and Finn to look back and fill in some blanks, both big and small, between Episode VII and Episode VIII. So, we begin with two unknown Resistance fighters talking about the Battle of Starkiller Base. One was there. He remembers almost every pilot AND astromech droid that flew into the battle. The other was regrettably absent from the battle but clearly has seen action before as he recounts the legendary Battle of Yavin, and the losses felt there. He also knew Han, believes in Leia, and has been close enough to witness the potential and power in Rey. As a reader, you’re immediately pulled in and wondering who are these two? It’s not Poe, right? The first one refers to Poe as being at the battle with him. Is the second one Wedge? He was at the Battle of Yavin but has yet to appear in the sequel trilogies. The ghost of Biggs? The ghost of Ello Atsy? And now one of them is talking about being present for a lot of important moments in history and feels like it is his destiny. Who are these warriors?
You turn the page…
…and it’s BB-8 and R2-D2.
Mind blown. Mind absolutely blown.
The two most famous astromech droids in the galaxy are in the belly of the Millennium Falcon as it races away from Crait and the First Order and they’re having an in-depth, pained, and, above all, hopeful conversation about the conflict they are both playing key parts in. The beeps and boops of these two droids have been replaced with their actual words. We’re going beyond what we always thought of these droids and getting the full sense of their involvement in the fight for survival and freedom.
We should have seen this coming. As BB-8 goes into detail of the desperate assault on Starkiller Base, he takes great care to mention every astromech droid present and laments the one he can’t remember (vowing to find the name and commit it to his memory banks). R2-D2 does the same, remembering not only the loss of pilot Jek Porkins, Red Six at the Battle of Yavin, but his droid R5-D8. We’ve never really experienced that in Star Wars. Oh, yes, we’ve felt the loss of droids before (rest in peace, Obi-Wan’s friend R4-P17). We’ve seen a gonk droid cry out in pain in the dungeons of Jabba’s Palace. We’ve laughed along with K-2SO and sympathized with L3-37. But, let’s be honest, for most of our lives as Star Wars fans, our view of the droids has been similar to the reaction to R2-D2 being blasted by Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced in the trench run sequence in A New Hope. Vader shoots, R2 explodes, and Luke says he has “lost Artoo.” Back at the Rebel command center, C-3PO reacts, worry and concern somehow emanating from his droid eyes, yet no one else registers as much as a sideways glance.
No. One.
Not Leia. Not General Jan Dodonna. No one else there reacts to the news of R2-D2 being apparently destroyed. And, in a way, so has it been with us. We like these droids. We don’t want anything to happen to them. But, in general, we’re here for Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia. And, look, maybe you always had the droids in mind, but I have to admit to the cold, hard truth: I never looked at the droids as war veterans and THAT is the reason to love this Star Wars moment.
In the pages of a comic book, we get to spend time alone with two droids that have fought in almost every battle we’ve watched. More often than not, they’ve saved the day. They’ve lost colleagues and friends. They’ve lost faith and struggled to keep holding onto hope. As you read each panel, take in every word, you can never see BB-8 and R2-D2 in any other light. They are not war heroes. They are heroes who answered the call to fight for causes they believed in.
And then C-3PO cuts them off. Oh, Threepio…