Star Wars Annual #1 gives us a nice one shot story centered around new characters. It focuses on Rebel spies who have infiltrated the Imperial government. I’m always looking forward to the latest issue of Star Wars and was very excited for this oversized issue. I wasn’t disappointed by it.

The comic starts as a Rebel Spy under the alias of Tharius Demo collects taxes from a citizen. The citizen complains about the unfair taxes and brings up the Rebellion. Demo threatens to file a report because he is a Rebel sympathizer. The tax collector then reveals the citizen had sold his children into slavery to help pay the bills. The Rebel spy hates what he is doing but knows it is necessary to keep his cover.

He arrives home and walks into a room, inputs some codes and a hologram of Princess Leia appears. Leia says one day the Bothans will look up to Eneb Ray as the superior spy. Eneb Ray gets right to the point and asks her what she wants. Leia reveals Several senators who have spoken out against the Empire are going to be executed and he must extract them from where they are being held. Leia gives him maps, codes, and says a ship will smuggle them off the planet. He asks her if there are other agents on Coruscant due to all the leaked information they have obtained, but Leia won’t give him an answer.

Eneb Ray starts to break his way into the prison using gadgets that Ethan Hunt would use. He has gloves that sticks to the wall as his climbs up on the side of the prison. He uses a grapple gun and some explosives to make his way in. He starts to think about the possibilities of other spies on Coruscant. He knows why Leia won’t tell him if there are more spies. The Rebellion doesn’t want him to give up any information if he is captured.

He enters the room where the senators are being held and tells them he is a spy and they have a way out. The senators tell them that the Emperor is coming. He then enters a room full of Imperial Officers and reveals he is a Rebel agent. He threatens them with his blaster and starts putting them into a room when one of them reveals that she is a spy. They both contact Leia requesting all they help they can get to assassinate the Emperor.

The seven agents all enter the room where the Emperor is and start shooting at his guards. The Emperor’s throne starts to rise on a platform and Eneb Ray grapples on to it. He dives off of it onto the roof where the Emperor is waiting for his shuttle. He shoots him in the back killing him. The back of the shuttle opens revealing the real Emperor as the other one was a decoy. Thinking fast, the Rebel agent grabs onto the imperial shuttle and fires shots at him. The Sith Lord blocks them with his hands using the force. He tells the spy to look behind as the whole building blows up. He uses shoots lightning at Ray making him let go but lands safely. The issue ends as he makes his way onto a starship and escapes Coruscant.

I loved this issue. It introduced us to the idea of having Rebel spies within the Imperial government. I loved the main character, Eneb Ray and how he thinks. I loved how he kept saying he isn’t a hero because he has to keep his hands dirty to keep his cover. I thought this issue also did justice to Palatine and I thought it would make perfect sense he would use a decoy. The art style and writing worked perfectly together and it was a real interesting story. The reason why I give this one shot praise rather than the Darth Vader Annual is because this introduced us to new characters and ideas such as having Rebel spies and Palpatine using a decoy. The Darth Vader annual was just Vader being Vader and didn’t show us anything new to expand the cannon. I give this annual a 9/10