X-Wing Rogue Squadron fires up an adventure that catapults Wedge Antillies and the new hero, Corran Horn, into star status. Wedge already survived 2 Death Stars and Hoth, Corran is a (almost) new character. But now, Luke Skywalker’s legendary squadron has been officially handed over. Rogue Squadron is being rebuilt with the best of the best in order to go for the ultimate goal: Coruscant, also known as Imperial Center.
There are politics involved in X-Wing Rogue Squadron, without slowing down the story. These are politics being played by the Rebel Alliance as it seeks to win new members in it’s transition to being an official government, the New Republic. These politics can be dangerous, especially when a potential spy lurks and glory hungry military leaders grow overconfident. Politics in the military can be deadly to those who are doing the fighting when those in command put ego and power over their needs.
Until now, Wedge has been a good side character and that is all. Here we see him as a leader. The X-Wing Rogue Squadron bunch is a an interesting group, though it I did miss some of the old team from the comics. It’s a real page turner because these aren’t the main heroes of the movies and they aren’t so likely to be protected by plot armor. And sure enough, there are losses to the newly reformed Rogues. But they are still Rogues, and even without a Jedi leading, impossible is their specialty.
I also enjoyed Corran’s growth as he tries to sort out his new allegiance and his own ego and biases. His astromech Whistler is as fun as R2-D2 at least. Mirax too, is a nice foil for Corran, being as raised in the smuggler world as he was in Corsec. Gavin Darklighter is a great nod to a hero of the Alliance who died in battle. Finally, I really loved the addition of the non-human members. I get why there probably were none in the movies (it probably wasn’t worth the cost or costuming effort for a few seconds of screen time they’d have got).
Lore and Continuity
Wedge Antillies first appeared in A New Hope, the only member of Red Squadron, besides Luke, to survive. He was Rogue 3 in the Battle of Hoth and he and Luke had formed Rogue Flight together as part of Red Squadron. The other flight was wiped out, with Commander Narra, gaining Luke Skywalker his official promotion. He led the Rogues when Luke was incapacitated or unavailable as his second and led a new Red Squadron at Endor.
After, Luke officially turned over the squadron to him, to focus on being a Jedi. He led the Rogues on many adventures in the X-Wing comic book series. While most of the Rogues from the series were transferred to other duties or left, there are some references in this series. Mirax Terrik for instance, did appear in the comics, as did her father, Booster. Corran Horn also appeared there, though his first story was Missed Chances, a short from West End Games Star Wars Adventure Journal, later reprinted, his individual full length adventure is I,Jedi.
Gavin Darkligher is introduced in X-Wing Rogue Squadron as the cousin of Biggs Darklighter. Biggs’ Darklighter’s full story is told in the Star Wars novelization ghost written by Alan Dean Foster, most of it was cut from the original movie (A New Hope). But it can be seen in cut scenes and his reunion with Luke was later re-added in some home media releases. It’s also filled out in the Radio Drama, Darklighter’s family in general is met in other stories like the comic Battleground Tatooine, Empire comics, and Gavin’s own family gets involved in Tatooine Ghost.
Ysanne Isard is also seen in the X-Wing comics, as well as some of Michael Stackpole’s other short stories. She also appears in Agent of the Empire comics.
Rogue Squadron in general has had a great influence in the Expanded Universe from it’s beginnings. You can read more on it here.
