Thirty Days of Graphic Novels, Day 28: "Star Raiders"

Star Raiders was the first entry in DC's deluxe graphic novel line of the mid-1980s.  It's a little bit of an odd duck, insofar as it clearly wants to tell a standalone story while simultaneously continually referencing Atari Force.  I have only vague knowledge of that series, so most of the references were lost on me.  Anyway, Star Raiders starts out capitalizing on the tried-and-true concept of a small rebel force up against a galactic-wide empire.  When I say "small" rebel force, I really mean--basically, there's two pilots, an old wise man, and (later) a dozen or so recruits.  They're up against a massive empire of insect-like aliens called the Zylons, which operate as a hive-mind and have enslaved the galaxy for (as far as I can tell) no particular reason.  There's a couple of little interesting twists to set the story apart from Star Wars and some good action scenes, though a seemingly-minor character ends up dominating the last third of the book and bringing it to a conclusion.  All in all, a strange choice to launch the line, though again it might have been more impactful if I had read more Atari Force.