Phil Noto

This is an old fashioned, rip-roaring grand adventure, staring the charming and ever so cocky resistance pilot, Poe Dameron. Taking place before the events of Episode 7, Poe is sent on a mission by General Leia Organa to find Lor San Tekka who just might know where Luke Skywalker is. With the help of BB-8 and the members of Black Squadron, Poe travels from place to place, with First Order Agent Terex showing up on the same mission.
Vol. 1 has action, mystery, dogfights, humor, and no Jedi (but then again, I thought the absence of the "force" in Rogue One and Solo was wonderful and refreshing in the Star Wars universe). It's just a bunch of average pilots of the resistance (even if one is a great pilot) trying to take on the forces of evil. I enjoyed it.… (mere)

My wife is a fan of Elizabeth Wein. Like a die hard fan. And we're both Star Wars fans so when this book was released, I knew I needed to purchase it for her. After she read it, and recommended it, I decided to give it a try in order to A. say I've read an Elizabeth Wein novel (if only to impress my wife) and B. learn more about the relationship between the Tico sisters and more about how the events of the end of the Force Awakens leads into The Last Jedi. Wein does a good job of introducing us not just to the Tico sisters but to some of the other members of the two bomber squadrons. We also get some wonderful moments with General Leia.

In the new film, the first major action sequence reveals the very cool B-wing bombers. Their mission exists to give us a reason to meet Rose, who is serving on a separate ship from her sister, Paige, who in turn serves as a gunner on the previously mentioned bomber. After the successful yet costly mission ends, we are instantly sympathetic to Rose and her loss. Star Wars: Cobalt Squadron allows interested readers to expand on the connection between the Tico sisters.

Author Elizabeth Wein, known for her historical novels and thrillers, unveils the world of the Resistance’s B-Wing crew with unique qualifications; her personal interest in flying and aviation gives her access to the intricacies in the world of aircraft/warcraft. She even spent some time in a Canadian Lancaster bomber in preparation for the book.I believe she also mentioned on her website that she drew on some of the research she has been doing on the Soviet women pilots of World War II to help with the background. I knew there was a reason I liked this book! I am a huge WWII buff (although, admittedly, I haven't read much about WWII recently....but don't get me started on
German Boy: A Child in War by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel).

All these experiences that Wein brings provide the reader with a rather detailed account of a week-in-the-life of some of Star Wars’ peripheral actors. Fans of aviation and war history (like myself) will find the technical renderings of such aircraft/warcraft in flight (and in space!) to be intriguing and often thrilling. If you're not into aviation, history of warfare, or sci-fi, then it might be a bit boring at times.

Cobalt, admittedly can be a slow read, but it succeeds during its final chapters. As the book wraps up, we finally are told where in the Star Wars chronology it fits, what is happening in the SW universe while the events of Cobalt are taking place, and why Rose is apart from her sister in the opening scenes of The Last Jedi. For those who've seen the new film (who hasn't?), the last couple lines of the books are truly heartbreaking.

This book is a decent canon entry into the Star Wars universe and has made me a fan of Elizabeth Wein (I'm sure my wife will be pleased). I'd love to see her write more stories in the Star Wars universe. Perhaps a story about an X-wing squad?????… (mere)

Great action - interesting mystery.

The trick with the backstory material in these large franchise universes (Star Wars and Star Trek) is building off the canon material and filling in the details, without painting yourself into a corner that will be made obsolete by the next movie. This does the trick well - known characters and alien races, merged with a goal (find the Lor San Tekka seen in the Force Awakens). It's sort of a tease, but the story, the action, the charactes all worked together here for an enjoyable story.… (mere)

The ten year anniversary of Killgrave's control of Jessica is coming up, coinciding with a batch of horrible migraines, the trial of Killgrave's practice victim, Jessica's trying to give up coffee ... and a bunch of Jessica variants from other dimensions suddenly appearing at her home.

Noto's artwork is good, particularly selling the facial expressions and emotions of the characters at all times. Simone (unsurprisingly) writes an excellent Jessica Jones, her voice and personality consistently on point, funny and hitting all the right emotional beats. The A-plot of her lingering issues wit the Purple Man is also terrific. The B-plot ... well, for a multiversal hijinks storyline, it is fine -- considerably better than I would expect, honestly, but nothing special. I can't help but feel this would have been a much stronger book if doing entirely without this gimmick, and simply fleshing out Jessica, the character of Maria Snyder, and the dread of Killgrave's spectre in their minds.

Even so, this is a good read, and recommended to most Jones fans. The only thing I'm missing is the noir, private eye angle that has served the character so well previously, but for a short collection with a huge sci-fi premise, that would have felt shoe-horned in any case.… (mere)