Star Wars Comic Reveals The Secret of Poe Dameron's Jacket

Warning! SPOILERS for Star Wars: Poe Dameron #26 ahead

The latest issue of Marvel's Star Wars: Poe Dameron fills in some of the holes from Poe Dameron's story in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Not only does Poe Dameron #26 explain how he escaped Jakku after his crash landing, but reveals the REAL reason why he let Finn keep his jacket (besides recognizing how good it looked, of course).

Up until this point, the Poe Dameron comics have been fleshing out Poe's story before The Force Awakens, following his time as the leader of Black Squadron and working under General Leia Organa as she builds the Resistance. Specifically, the recent comic arc has centered on Poe's search for Lor San Tekka - the wise old man he's seen talking with in the opening scenes of Episode VII and who gives him the map to the first Jedi Temple (and more importantly, Luke Skywalker).

Now having brought Poe's story current with The Force Awakens, it's time for the comics to explore what Poe was doing while Finn and Rey were stealing the Millennium Falcon and running away from Rathtars.

But first, Poe Dameron #26 jumps forward in time to immediately after Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Fleeing Crait with the little that remains of the Resistance, Poe, Finn, and Rey enjoy a rare moment to themselves sitting around the hologame table in the Falcon's lounge. As they reminisce about their latest brush with death and discuss how things could have turned out differently, Finn and Rey ask Poe to explain just how it was he managed to survive the crash landing on Jakku and get back to the Resistance's base on D'Qar.

Poe is only too happy to oblige them with yet another tale of his daring adventures and dives in, serving up several "deleted scenes" from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Star Wars Poe Dameron Marvel Comics Finn Jacket

Beginning with a short scene of Leia sending Poe on this "most sensitive mission" to Jakku, Poe Dameron #26 quickly recaps the familiar opening of The Force Awakens that lands Poe a prisoner of the First Order before he's (sort of) rescued by a rogue stormtrooper, FN-2187. In his telling of this tale, Poe reveals it was him who triggered Finn's ejector seat in the TIE (something Finn thought had happened automatically) but when he tried to eject himself, his jacket was jamming the mechanism.

Poe curses the "blasted jacket," explaining that because of its role in nearly killing him, he was perfectly happy with Finn becoming its new owner. (Still, it's the thought that counts, right?)

Since Poe was unable to eject from the TIE, he holds tight for the crash landing and winds up thrown from the ship as it collides with the planet's surface. He's out for a while and when he wakes up, it's already night. Alone and having no idea where he is, Poe sets out in search of... anything. What he eventually comes across is a Blarina scavenger called Naka Iit. There's some amusing back and forth as Poe barters with Naka for passage to the nearest outpost - which turns out to be just "two shacks and a tent" - but on their way there, the pair is attacked by a local gang. This becomes Poe's chance to show off more of his fancy flying as he takes control of Naka's speeder and cleverly manages a smooth escape.

Star Wars Poe Dameron Marvel Jakku Pilot

Poe makes his way to Nima Outpost where the "whole place was talking about the notorious lady scavenger and a guy they'd never seen before." From there he catches a ride back to D'Qar and though he dreads delivering his disastrous mission report to Leia, he does it anyway. She listens, letting Poe apologize for all the ways he failed her and the Resistance, before calmly explaining she already knows (thanks to C-3PO's intergalactic droid network) exactly where BB-8 and the map are - Takadona.

And thus ends the first chapter of 'what was Poe up to when he wasn't on screen in Episode VII.' Nothing so far has been especially revealing or important (after all, Poe was a character that was originally meant to die when the TIE Fighter crashed), but it's a fun adventure that gives Poe more opportunities to show off his piloting skills and quick-thinking.

The next issue of Star Wars: Poe Dameron will continue filling in Poe's journey during the events of The Force Awakens, explaining what happened before Poe and the rest of Black Squadron arrive at Maz's Castle to rescue BB-8.