Mandatory Retirement (Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron, Volume 9) (Paperback)

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Mandatory Retirement (Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron, Volume 9)

Authors: Michael A. Stackpole, Steve Crespo, John Nadeau

 Average Customer Rating: 4.75/5.00
Amazon Sales Rank: 77,780
Paperback Release Date: 06 February, 2001
Manufacturer: Dark Horse Comics

 View on Amazon (ISBN: 1569714924)
Number of Paperbacks: 1
Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours
 List Price: $12.95, Amazon Price: $10.36

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Amazon Customer Reviews of this item: (Average Rating is 4.75/5.00)

Rating: 5 [ Superb Ending to a Superb Series ]
Stackpole ends his series with a bang. 'Mandatory Retirement' is indeed second only to 'In the Empire's Service' in the series in my opinion (as I prefer the larger-scale arcs) and is indeed uniquely Star Wars.
The story begin with light scenes of the various Rogues intermixing, socializing, and so forth, building the characters enhanced over the course of the series. Intermixed with these, however, are grim scenes of the events on Coruscant and Cituric. Pestage, intermin Emperor, goes into hiding, and the hunt for him begins. Dinner, dancing, and enjoyment ends for the Rogues and they are suddenly thrown into the mix of things.
One of the high points in this story are the many philosophical conversations about the Empire and the Repulbic and the differences between them. The conversations between Fel and Pestage and the clash between Nrin, Fel, Pestage, and Wedge after one of the Rogues is lost are both some of the best SW I've ever read. One must also take note of the dire contrast between the first and second halves. The Rogues begin by relaxing and enjoying themselves (except for to lonely, rejected Fel) and events transpire that put these same people in a dire, morbid situation where their hope for survival looks bleak. superb writing by Stackpole.
Onto the art. The Nadeau-Crespo team is a success, with and very good mix of people and technology. X-wings, Y-wing, Bantha-class shuttles, and Star Destroyers all look superb, in particular a jaw-dropping two-page battle shot towards the end. Crespo does very good faces and their expressions. One of my favorite parts of the whole arc is the full-page shot of the Rogues and Kapp Dendo's commandoes standing over the cloth-covered body of a fallen Rogue. (Who will remain nameless, of course.) The expressions on each and every face is a virtual window into what each one must be thinking. And once again the coloring by Dave Nestelle is superb, perfectly conveying the feelings of bleakness and hopelessness in some scenes while conveying one of tranquility and enjoyment in others.
In a series like Rogue Squadron, when you have dozen of characters, its hard to balance it out. But Stackpole does it just as well as he has throughout the series. Fel once again is a superb character, while others like Nrin show both their good points and their flaws very well. Pestage starts out as an almost sympathetic character, but as time goes on he becomes more and more loatheful.
Not perfect, but still highly reccomended. It's also one of the few examples in Star Wars where an actualy deep, philosphical reason against the Empire is established. Bravo to Stackpole and crew for a great ending to a great series.

Rating: 4 [ Arguably The Most Consistent ]
If Michael Stackpole has written the storyline, you are virtually guaranteed a great Star Wars Tale. He, like Timothy Zahn, and maybe one or two other writers always deliver material that is faithful to the saga, and well written as well. These collections of illustrated stories bound between a single cover are not as widely visible as the more traditional books. However they can be fun, and when they are good, they are extremely good. And just as the other forms of written material that bring the Star Wars Saga to fans, bits and pieces of information are here for the learning as well.

Another fan, Mastage, has already written a good summary of the contents, however there was one other aspect that I enjoyed. At the end of these books the cover art from the installments are generally included. This time they took several pages to document the creation of the cover art for this final volume from start to finish. Not unlike the movies these books that are a branch of the movies and other books, traditional attention and praise is rarely given, as it is deserved. The movies consistently are the biggest box office events of the year when they are introduced, yet other than technical achievement they are ignored.

Ysanne Isard is one of the better female villains that have been created, and if the Emperor even becomes an Empress, she will head the list of candidates. This is not the best of these I have read, as I continue to feel earlier books were more complete. The storylines were more developed, and many of the books were a full 50% longer than the more recent releases.

For fans of Star Wars all the written material are fun, so if you have yet to try one of these, do so, you will enjoy the experience.


Rating: 5 [ A fitting end to a great series. ]
Michael Stackpole has done it again. He has written the best book in this series since "In The Empire's Service". The book is filled with everything you've grown to know and love about this series:awesome space battles, the best art in any Star Wars comic book, backstabbing, betrayal, love, and funny subplots. The story, which covers an attempt by the Alliance to rescue former villain Sate Pestage, is very well written. There are many great twists, which we have all come to expect. Ysanne Isard, the vilain, is portayed especially well, with her treacherous path covered in full detail. Isard's attempts at assasination against her enemies is reminiscent of Crimson Empire, another great series. In conclusion, if you are looking for a great Star Wars book, look no further.