The race takes a few dangerous turns – on and off the course!
Creative Staff:
Story: Marjorie Liu
Art: Mark Brooks, Dexter Vines
Colors: Sonia Oback
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
Han Solo has entered the space race of his dreams – the DRAGON VOID! But he’s on an undercover mission – to find a traitor within the Rebellion. Teamed with Wookiee warrior Chewbacca, will they be able to find the mole before trouble finds them?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening installment of the Han Solo miniseries is one that I certainly liked, though it took just a little bit to get into the voice that Marjorie Liu was presenting for the characters. Giving us some time with Han as he’s struggling to figure out what it is he wants to do after the events of the Death Star shows us a character in a different frame of mind than normal – both for the ongoing book and the movies – and that took a little settling into. It certainly didn’t hurt that Mark Brooks and Sonia Oback were delivering some great pages with it, especially as we got to see the scale of the Dragon Void race and who all is involved in it. Just bringing back certain aliens and their types amid all these ships and personalities made for a very busy and chaotic yet fun installment.
With this being the second of five installments, the miniseries works to establish more of the tone of what’s to come while giving us a bit more on Han as well. The race itself is something that’s definitely difficult to present in a static medium like comics, more so when it comes to things like ships as opposed to characters racing themselves. The first half of this issue is just packed with dialogue and narration from Liu while Brooks and Vines deliver a striking and engaging action sequence for it. It can bring a race to life only so much but it’s one of the best ones I’ve seen when it comes to a spaceship race like this as there’s a good sense of momentum and energy about it. Blending that with Han working with Chewie to survive the first stage while using the narration to talk through why he’s avoided so many jobs and yet now finally feels alive brings the whole thing together well. It works on three levels and delights on all of them as a whole.
Eliminating a lot of the competition was a given as you want to narrow down the story focus, so having just a few make it to the second stage and taking the breather on-world definitely helps. It’s here that we see more character personalities come to life, particularly since most are career racers and have a distaste for an upstart like Han, and watching that unfold works to engage us with these new players. Throwing the arrival of Stormtroopers coming to collect on people, and Han in particular, only adds to it because it’s a solid reminder of how the Empire inserts itself into everything with such authority that it generates more and more resentment and anger among the populace. It’s almost like a recruiting plan for the Rebellion to gain some badass pilots in the near future. The book spends most of the back half on this, which is warranted, and we get a fun subplot with Chewie as he connects with his contact for the “package” and ends up a target himself. It’s a smaller segment but you can see how that will likely bloom well in the following chapter.
In Summary:
While the Han Solo miniseries is lighting a huge fire under me, it is presenting an interesting take on the character after the events of A New Hope and showing him a path forward with what he really wants out of life in how to feel alive. The story isn’t too much here because it’s focused heavily on the race and getting us to connect with the key personalities afterward as the Empire moves in, but it serves things well to establish more of what’s to come. Liu feels more comfortable in the characters this time around and I like the flow of the book, made even more engaging thanks to what Brooks and Vines bring to it with their layouts and in capturing the race itself. It’s a great looking book, particularly thanks to Oback’s color work that gives it some extra juice and pop, that has me curious to see how it plays out and just how well it reads as a single read in trade form down the line.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 9+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: July 6th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
