Star Wars: Scoundrels, Rebels, and the Empire

Title: Star Wars: Scoundrels, Rebels, and the Empire

ISBN: 9781302953379

Price: $29.99

Publisher/Year: Marvel, 2023

Artist: Alessandro Miracolo, Lee Garbett, Java Tartaglia, Alvaro Lopez, Jethro Morales, Matt Horak, Brent Peeples, Rafael Pimentel, Paul Fry

Writer: Marc Guggenheim, Alyssa Wong, Stephanie Phillips, Jody Houser, Alex Segura, Daniel Jose Older

Rating: 3.5/5

It’s a sign of the staying power Star Wars has within our popular culture that we just celebrated the 40th anniversary of the release of Return of the Jedi in theaters. I’m now comfortably into middle age, but even I was too young to experience the film upon its initial release; I would say my first introduction to it was the toy line that already seemed ancient by the time I was old enough to play with them. Nonetheless, Return of the Jedi remains one of my favorite entries in the saga, and thankfully Marvel was willing to indulge fan nostalgia by digging into the crevasses of the film with a series of comics released to coincide with the film’s 40th birthday. It is the very definition of a superfluous comic collection, but the fanciful variety present in this book should satisfy fans of the original trilogy. 

Collecting Star Wars: Return of the Jedi one-shots Jabba’s Palace, Ewoks, Lando, The Empire, The Rebellion, and Max Rebo, each issue is a standalone adventure featuring a character or entity from the film. They all vary in tone and style, so there is little connecting tissue between these stories other than the movie’s loftier backdrop. It’s a rather brisk read, with an assumption that the reader already knows a lot of the Star Wars plot.

The creators featured in the book is a who’s-who of talent working in the Star Wars office. Marc Guggenheim, Alyssa Wong, Stephanie Phillips and Alex Segura are just a sampling of the writers and artists that do fine work in this collection. I especially love Wong’s Ewok book, which is told entirely by visuals and uses a handful of different artists to tell various Ewok oral stories, each with their own style and perspective. It’s a fun issue that veers between childlike and comical to horrific within 30 pages. The Max Rebo issue also stands out as a solid emotional reflection on the blue elephant musician’s odd place in the universe’s criminal landscape. Phillips’ Lando storyline, framed around the rouge’s gambling escapades is colorful and flashy as if it functions in a world of its own creation. All the issues are fine vignettes that fit in and around the events of the film. 

What’s truly impressive about this collection is that nearly a quarter of its length is dedicated to variant covers. For better or for worse, Marvel did not slouch in giving these one-shots different newsstand versions. While most don’t get the full-page reproductions, it is nice to see the various representations of Return of the Jedi, especially when one considers the consumer most likely to pick up this trade. 

For those looking to return to Jabba’s palace, Endor, or the siege of the Second Death Star, this trade provides ample flashes of enjoyment. It doesn’t chart any new territory for the Star Wars comic universe, but its variety and passion is notable. 

Venom: Separation Anxiety – The King in Purple

Title: Venom: Separation Anxiety – The King in Purple

ISBN: 9781302958381

Price: $17.99

Publisher/Year: Marvel, 2025

Artist: Gerardo Sandoval

Writer: David Michelinie

Rating: 3/5

For a few years now, Venom fans have had multiple ways of enjoying the character. Case in point: David Michelinie’s Venom: Separation Anxiety, a five-issue series detailing a “lost” tale from Eddie Brock’s past. He is no longer King in Black or All-New Venom, but the justice-seeking hero is still working out where he fits in the Marvel Universe. This series takes a swing at Purple Man while delivering classic Venom art, thanks to Gerardo Sandoval.

Michelinie and Sandoval use this miniseries to pit Venom against the Purple Man, but he’s amped up on Venom’s symbiote. If you’re a fan who likes Eddie Brock back to how he was, this series will keep you fed. The Purple Man is also a creative way to loop in characters like Thing, who can be controlled and pitted against Venom. That also includes Rhino. who pops up more than once.

Venom: Separation Anxiety opens with Venom raging over wanting to kill Spider-Man for what he did to the Symbiote. Michelinie firmly establishes when this story takes place before diving into some shady work being done under the guise of government research. This research involves big-time supervillains, the main one being Zebediah Killgrave.

This story does something a little different. It ties in the classic character Betty Brant and gets Eddie back on the reporting beat as a photographer, although that’s jettisoned rather quickly as the issues progress. That said, in one key scene, Eddie rejects helping her, reminding us he’s not going back to his old ways so quickly.

The first chapter suffers from an overabundance of setup, but once it gets going with the Purple Man, which is now powered up with a symbiote, the story becomes a race to stop him. Michelinie ties the Purple Man’s abuse by Doctor Doom into the narrative and the device Doom used to control him. It’s sort of like a retread of that tale while honoring it.

I won’t lie – the idea of Purple Man with a symbiote is pretty cool. Imagine all that power; the character can make others do what he wants. The concept keeps you on the edge of your seat, especially when Venom enters the frame.

Sandoval’s art is excellent, upping the value of action and entertainment. Whenever Venom is on the page, he’s hulking and huge, with plenty of Symbiote tendrils and wisps to boost up his alien nature. The way the mask consumes Eddie’s face with jagged teeth is quite cool, and Eddie has a hulking demeanor. This Venom could take on the Hulk on a bad day. This is a version of Venom that’ll stroke your nostalgic side with plenty of teeth and attitude.

Fans of classic Venom will get their fill of action, Eddie angst, and trippy Symbiote action in Venom: Separation Anxiety. The Purple Man getting a piece of the Venom symbiote adds just enough variety to make this feel new enough, even though it retreads old tales in the process. There’s no denying this back-to-basics version is fun, bringing you back to your childhood when Venom was the enemy of all bullies with a big, toothy grin.

Rose City Comic Con 2026 - My Experiences

SEPTEMBER 11 - 13, 2026

OREGON CONVENTION CENTER

777 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd 

Portland, OR 97232

2026 marks the 11th year in a row where I have been honored to be able to cover RCCC as a member of the press. I want to thank Leftfield Media for this continued opportunity.

As per my usual, I intended to arrive at the convention center early enough to get underground parking. Unfortunately, when we arrived shortly after 12 noon, the parking had already been filled and I was forced to park 3 blocks away at a different parking structure.

The good part is that I paid about $10 less for parking. The bad news is that I understand that there was already a line for parking early on Friday morning when the event didn't open until 1pm. That just seems a little insane to me, but I guess you can't argue with the results of being able to park at the convention center where it is easier to get in and out of the event.

Speaking of entering the convention center, we followed the crowd to the entrance on MLK Jr Blvd. I had missed the part in the email that the best option to get to the press room to obtain our badges was the Holladay St entrance, and this confusion only worked to expand on my frustrations of not being able to part at the convention center.

From the entrance, I was told that the direct way to the press room was not available until 1pm. None of the crew for the event were able to figure out how to circumnavigate that impasse, but after a few minutes of stewing in my head, I came to realize the flaw in my predicament. We walked toward the Holladay entrance and from there proceeded to the press room to retrieve our badges. I fully accept the blame for my confusion and frustration over this. Once we were able to get our badges, frustrations deescalated so I could work to enjoy my time at comic con.

Proof of life

Something that my photographer decided to do last year was to buy some small ducks and hide them around the event for people to find. This was sparked by a tradition that we have previously experienced on cruises where people will hide rubber ducks (or similar items) around the ship for people to find. A fun little scavenger hunt. This year, he also brough some crows. He not only hid these around the event, but gave them to exhibitors and artists.

I typically like to use the south entrance over where the panel rooms are. This puts me over by the exhibitors area which I like to walk through on day 1 to get a good idea of what's available. The down side of using this entrance is that they don't make it open for anyone until about 10 minutes after the show has opened. To a degree, I understand the reasoning for this. They are allowing the people who queued over at the "main" entrance over by the Holladay St entrance the first chance to get in. While we were queued, there were more than a few people who were frustrated by this delay.

Another problem that I witnessed is that a person with a premium pass was denied entrance as well, even though the information for the badge types clearly states that this badge receives 30-minute early access to the Exhibit Hall all three days. I'm 100% confident that this was an oversight on behalf of the Convention Center staff who were monitoring the entrances.

Prior to the event, I was contacted by the manage for Friskies Cat-lectibles. We weren't able to nail down a specific time to go to their area to have a conversation, but we did check out the setup. There were quite a few people there every time we passed by.

In the past, I have mentioned how I generally appreciated the amount of seating spaces that were made available in the exhibit hall. This year seemed to not have that same level of seating, and this was bothersome as my body was giving me problems as we walked through the exhibitors area. We were able to find a seat over in the Cryptid Cantina area, but the picnic style benches were not the greatest and we were warned that getting up from them might be tricky because of weight distribution on the benches. We took the risk and rested for a few minutes so my body to recoup from the vicissitudes of the day. Full disclosure for those who haven't been a long time reader here, I am in my early 50's and not in the best shape. I have some physical limitations, but I am not to the point of being handicapped.

My wishlist for this event consisted primarily of action figures, some Funko Pops and trade paperbacks. In past years, there have been a couple of exhibitors that have had a variety of cheap TPBs to continue my love of collecting, then reading, then posting reviews here. Unfortunately, I was only able to find 1 exhibitor that had a selection of TPBs... but sadly none that I either needed or sparked my interest. I was able to find several vendors that sold Funko Pops and was able to add this great Megatron to my growing collection.

As much as I appreciate having publishers that RCCC, I didn't find a large variety of TPBs at either the Dark Horse or IDW booths. I miss having Oni Press in attendance so that I might pick-up some new Rick and Morty TPBs at the very least.

Another vendor I was hoping to see again this year was Free League Publishing, as I was hoping to get at least The One Ring core rulebook. Alas, they are also not in attendance this year. I did however find the Goodman Games booth, however it looked like they brough the same items they had from last year.

Day 2 started out better than day 1 did. We go there early enough for the underground parking ($25 this year), and was even able to park in my favorite spot. Unfortunately, one of the elevators was broke and it took us forever to get from the parking lot up to the event area. 

Another mistake on my end was not bringing my tablet with me so that I could spend some time writing this post while we spent time in the press room. With the way the following week went, I had to wait until Saturday (9/19) morning to begin writing. Fortunately, I was up early enough that I had my shared office all to myself. Well, me and out dog Smudge at least. :)

Quite a while ago, I found this video where Deborah Ann Woll introduces Jon Bernthal to Dungeons & Dragons. In all the years of being a role player, I don't think I've ever witnessed someone explain D&D better than Deborah did. This video inspired me and gave me a great admiration to her. While I was familiar with her roles in Daredevil and True Blood, I did not know how talented she was as a Dungeon Master.

A few weeks prior to RCCC, I decided that I wanted to meet Deborah and get her autograph as a DM. I acquired a copy of my favorite reference book from my days playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Deities & Demigods. This would be something that will live in my collection, and I think I'm going to actively acquire autographs from other DM's such as Ginny D, Brennan Lee Mulligan and Antonio Demico. Deborah would be the first in line.

I have an artist friend in Oklahoma (Sydney Walton) who I was able to purchase a couple of his Daredevil and Punisher covers from that had been signed by Charlie Cox and Jon Bernthal.

Daredvil signed by Charlie Cox	Punisher signed by Jon Bernthal

I wanted to add to the ongoing collection with a cover depicting Deborah Ann Woll as her Character Karen Page.

Unfortunately, the USPS had other plans. As the tracking shows, this was meant to originally be delivered on Friday.

But the fact remains that it wasn't delivered until the following Monday afternoon. Well after RCCC was over and my chance to have Deborah sign it was gone. I'll be keeping my eyes open for another chance to see her to I can get her autograph on the cover that Sydney did for me. He was also talking about possibly doing a Kingpin cover of Vincent D'Onofrio. I wouldn't mind adding that to my collection eventually.

The other goal that I had on my list for Saturday was to find a few of the Pinpalooza pins as a Christmas gift for a friend of mine. It took a while to finally find the specific artist areas, but mission accomplished nonetheless.

Another great year for Rose City Comic Con. I look forward to the possibility of being invited again for next year. I hope to be able to improve my physical condition by then.

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins - Fjord

Title: Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins - Fjord 

ISBN: 9781506723754

Price: $17.99

Publisher/Year: Dark Horse, 2022

Artist: Selina Espiritu

Writer: Chris Wyatt, Kevin Burke

Rating: 4/5

Growing up in an orphanage on the Menagerie Coast, Fjord Stone has never been comfortable with the assumptions people draw from his half-orc heritage. But his sweet, sensitive nature will do him no favors in Port Damali. Luckily, a chance encounter on the docks lands Fjord with a job, a mentor, and more adventure than he could ever dream of on the path that will eventually lead him to the rest of the Mighty Nein!

I’m really enjoying the The Might Nein Origins graphic novels so far. Seeing the backstories of the characters visualized is so fun. I especially loved the start and end panels of this showing The Mighty Nein together. Part of me does wish this was like the Vox Machina Origins series where you get to see how they met, but I suppose it made more sense for Vox Machina as campaign one doesn’t start at the very beginning of their story.

Fjord is such a cutie. That’s the best way I can describe him. The art style was so lovely but I wasn’t a huge fan of the color palette. Which is just personal preference as I’m not a huge fan of too many browns and greens. Obviously there’s a lot of green in this, Fjord is green, but I thought this would mean less green in the settings. I’m making it sound like this graphic novel is purely green and brown. It’s not. The illustrations and (most) of the colors are great. I was just hoping for the same vibrancy that the Jester graphic novel had.

Once again, you probably wouldn’t enjoy this if you didn’t already know the character. These graphic novels are very much for fans of the campaign, who already have some backstory. There were bits in this that you don’t learn in the campaign so even fans can learn something new.

The scenes in the orphanage were sad but in the best way possible. If you don’t love Fjord already, you definitely will after this. Everyone was so mean to him just because he’s a little bit different. It is nice to see an orc character that isn’t dumb and aggressive. Barbarian orcs are way over done.

Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2

Title: Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2

ISBN: 9780785136941

Price: $24.99

Publisher/Year: Marvel, 2009

Artist: Steve Ditko

Writer: Stan Lee

Rating: 3/5

As is the case with the introduction of almost any new title, there were teething problems with the earliest issues of Spider-Man, but these were rapidly rectified, and there’s barely a foot wrong in this second collection dating primarily from 1964. It introduces recurring foes Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter and, most importantly, the Green Goblin, really cranks up the soap opera problems in Peter Parker’s life, and the spider-tracer is developed.

Appreciate what artist Steve Ditko compresses into a panel. Very few in the entire book lack a background, and his chosen viewpoint is almost always the middle distance, so as often as not Spider-Man or Peter Parker and those with them are seen as full or almost full figures. It’s a rare page with less than six panels, with eight and nine being the norm, which it speaks volumes as to Ditko’s work ethic. There’s no cheating and no shortcuts here.

There’s an awkwardness and uncertainty to his Peter Parker, and an odd quality to his Spider-Man. The depictions of the character perched on a wall, twisting between Dr Octopus’ metallic arms, or balancing on the struts of the Brooklyn Bridge have been repeated ad infinitum over the years. It’s a rare artist, though, who’s illustrated them with Ditko’s athletic grace, and Ditko who conceived these poses.

It’s with this volume that the idea of Spider-Man as perpetually misunderstood takes root. He’s impersonated to commit crimes, targeted by villains masquerading as heroes, and portrayed as a menace by the Daily Bugle. Stan Lee at this stage is still more involved in plotting, and while his dialogue tends to the florid, he sustains a very high level of tension by running Peter Parker through the wringer. His developing relationship with Betty Brant is constantly curtailed, his Aunt’s health is a concern, and while he’s successful in costume, this comes at a cost.

Two stories stand out. Six foes team to finish off Spider-Man in his first annual. Their not attacking him together is explained by each egotistically believing they should be solely responsible for his humiliation. As Spider-Man works his way through them Ditko supplies a full page action shot for each, so contrasting his usual style that it’s a stunning effect. Earlier printings place this out of sequence to close the book and also include issue 20, now shifted to volume three.

Matching this is the seeming end of Spider-Man. He’s revealed as cowardly, the world unaware his priority is caring for an ailing Aunt May as Peter Parker, to whom it’s occurred for the first time that she’ll be alone if he’s seriously injured fighting the Sandman. There’s some brilliant characterization of former school jock Flash Thompson, Parker and Spider-Man’s lives falling to pieces and the almost permanently raging J. Jonah Jameson a happy man. Ditko illustrating him grinning is magnificently oily and perturbing. The following issue’s euphoric rectification isn’t quite as accomplished, but still of a high standard, and solidifies the friendly relationship between Spider-Man and the Human Torch.

Other highlights include the Green Goblin luring Spider-Man to the New Mexico desert intending to defeat him without his comfort zone, but neither realizing a surprise awaits in the caves, a team-up with Daredevil, and the solidly menacing introduction of Kraven the Hunter.

Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1

Title: Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1

ISBN: 9780785136934

Price: $24.99

Publisher/Year: Marvel, 2009

Artist: Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko

Writer: Stan Lee

Rating: 2.5/5

Spider-Man was the third of Marvel’s 1960s superhero creations, and while it’s arguable that the Fantastic Four and the Hulk, when introduced, had greater ties to Marvel’s monster material than what they’d develop into, Spider-Man sparkled from the off. These earliest issues may seem a little old-fashioned now, but in 1963 this was a quantum leap forward, and it remains the template for most solo superhero comics to this day. The astonishing success of the approach has rendered it commonplace ever since.

Stan Lee’s intent was to write about a hero who lived in the world as it was in the suburbs of New York in 1963. Peter Parker was intended to be ordinary. He’s a skinny, bespectacled high school kid raised by his Aunt and Uncle, tormented and ridiculed by the class jocks, and Spider-Man appears his way out. Lee has related that the comic mimicked the structure of daily radio soap operas, with Parker’s home and school problems intended to be every bit as compelling as his superhero exploits. This was all very novel in 1963, and revolutionized superhero comics.

The eleven page origin sequence is a compact gem, introducing Parker, his family, his school life, his transformation, his hubris and its tragic consequences. Yes, there are dated elements, and Lee loves his words, but the power remains, and much of this is contributed by Steve Ditko. The quirky, off-kilter realism of his depictions, and the deliberately awkward poses of his Spider-Man supply a slight other-worldliness that the feature required. It closes with a classic, and later much used, line of “…with great power there must also come great responsibility.”

Having produced a strong origin story, Lee and Ditko’s focus on Peter Parker’s problems continues to be inventive. Irascible and headstrong newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson arrives in the first issue of Spider-Man’s own comic, and Parker exploits Jameson’s hatred of his alter-ego by selling him photographs of Spider-Man. Over an extremely fertile creative period the following issues reprinted here introduce Doctor Octopus, the Vulture, the Sandman, the Lizard and Electro, all still in use today.

That’s not to say everything works. Lee fell back on stock monster comic clichés with the Terrible Tinkerer, a battle with Doctor Doom is misguided, and Ditko’s design for fighting robot the Living Brain hasn’t stood the test of time. What consistently ensures the stories never slip into total mediocrity are the soap opera elements. Only a total curmudgeon is unable to cheer at Parker besting Flash Thompson in the school boxing ring, or Aunt May warning him not to forget his umbrella. Her first heart flutter still retains a genuine tension, and Lee promotes the wise-cracking Spider-Man as Parker’s release from very early on.

The finest story here after the origin is the finale. The featured villains enable Ditko to display Spider-Man’s athleticism at its best, there’s a well-plotted mystery, false clues as to the identity of criminal mastermind the Big Man, and a lot of plot packed into 22 pages.

Lee originally intended Jack Kirby draw Spider-Man, but his dynamic pencils didn’t suit the ordinary world integral to the strip. A brief battle with the Human Torch displays this, despite Kirby’s pencils being swamped by Ditko’s inks.

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins – Nott the Brave

Title: Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins – Nott the Brave 

ISBN: 97815067423785

Price: $17.99

Publisher/Year: Dark Horse, 2023

Artist: William Kirkby

Writer: Sam Maggs, Matthew Mercer, Sam Riegel

Rating: 4/5

When you become that which you fear most, how do you carry on?

Veth Brenatto doesn’t have an exciting life, but she likes it that way. Unlike her childhood, it’s safe. Predictable. And her husband and son love her almost as fiercely as she loves them. But Veth’s cozy existence is turned on its head when she and her family are captured by raiders. In order to save them, Veth will commit an atrocity that will sever her from all that she loves–maybe forever–and lead her to become Nott the Brave of the Mighty Nein.

Celebrated writer Sam Maggs (Captain Marvel, The Unstoppable Wasp) is joined by Critical Role cast members Matthew Mercer and Sam Riegel, with the expert art of William Kirkby (Rat Queens) and colors by Eren Angiolini (Multiversity: Teen Justice) for a heartbreaking look at a halfling’s end and a goblin’s beginning.

Nott’s back story is the one that made me cry during campaign two. Unfortunately, I don’t think this graphic quite grasped the emotion of it. Maybe because Sam Riegel is such a beautiful storyteller, but it felt like something was missing. That doesn’t mean it was bad. Not at all. I’ve loved every instalment in this series so far.

The character designs in particular are the standout part of this graphic novel. One of the biggest appeals of The Mighty Nein for me is that they look so varied. No offence to Vox Machina but they were a bunch of human looking characters and then Grog. What makes the Nein so special is how every character looks completely different. I especially love Nott’s design. Veth is very cute, but as someone that has always loved the weird and wonderful, Nott’s design is perfect.

I was hoping we’d get a little more out of the goblin scenes. Nott talks about it a little during the campaign but you don’t get a lot as Sam’s an excellent role player and he knows she wouldn’t want to talk about it. But saying that, the story of this instalment is the strongest of the ones I’ve read so far. It’s cohesive from start to finish and you follow just one timeline so it’s easy for those that don’t know anything about this world to follow along. 

Going back to the art, it’s great. I’ve never seen anything by this artist before but I’ve noticed they’ve also illustrated the Yasha instalment.