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Star Wars Infinities - Return Of The Jedi Issues #1 & 2

Creative Team: Adam Gallardo, Ryan Benjamin, Dan Burton, Juvaun Kirby, Saleem Crawford, Joel Benjamin
Publisher: Dark Horse

Reviewed by Philip Masters

Marvel Comics' What If?, a fanboy favorite, showed alternative storylines for Marvel's greatest tales. Readers were privy to to alternate universes where the Fantastic Four gained completely different cosmic ray given powers, Wolverine killed the Hulk in their first showdown, and Spiderman and J. Jonah Jameson consummated their secret love for each other and moved to the suburbs (Okay scratch that last one).

The Star Wars Infinites series from Dark Horse continues this tradition with shockwave inducing plot changes that shake up the much revered and memorized classic trilogy. Already published have been new takes on A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. In the former, Luke Skywalker's proton torpedo fails to blow up the first Death Star. In the latter, young Skywalker succumbs to the harsh Hoth snowstorm. Wrapping up the ordinal trilogy comes the four issue Return of the Jedi Infinities.

We all know how Leia disguised as a bounty hunter attempted to rescue Han Solo from Jabba Hutt. Cashing in on her "captured" quarry Chewbaca, everyone's favorite Alderanian princess barters with Jabba over how much the bounty will be with C3PO as translator. But what if Leia's ruse had failed? In issue #1, Jabba strikes 3PO just a little bit harder and the droid falls to the ground decapitated. Leia's identity is revealed, and all hell breaks loose faster than a Corellian starship.

I don't want to ruin the fun, but here's a few ramifications from this edit of the Star Wars mythos:

- Boba Fett once again welcomes frozen popsicle Han in the Slave 1 cargo hold.

-Yoda dies before Luke can make good on his promise to return to Dagobah.

-Luke patronizes the Mos Eisley Cantina with a tad more authority then his last visit with Ben Kenobi.

Adam Gallardo scripts a well paced story yet fits in little Star Wars fanboy moments- Luke meditating on the remains of the Lars homestead for instance. Penciler Ryan Benjamin is able to render strong likenesses of Jedi's heroes and villains, but Issue #2 suffers from consistency problems since Benjamin gets assistance from the more stylized Dan Norton and Juvaun Kirby. The real star though may be colorist Joel Benjamin whose pigments for a twilight confrontation between Leia, Chewbaca, and Lando Calrissian with Boba Fett is a how to guide for doing nighttime in comics where it looks like nighttime but doesn't sacrifice any clarity.

Hopefully, Star Wars Infinites will continue with new twists on The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones since many fans have been less than ecstatic by how the prequels have unfolded. Just picture it. What if Anakin Skywalker lost the pod race? What if the Trade Federation had won the Battle of Naboo? What if Yoda and the clone army were a few moments late in rescuing the Jedi on Geonosis? The possibilities are... infinite.

Rating: (3 out of 4 stars)