Living by the seat of his very fine pants.
Creative Staff:
Story: Rodney Barnes
Art: Paolo Villanelli
Colors: Andres Mossa
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
LANDO’s luck ran out when he was captured by BATALLA. Batalla’s in luck with a big payoff if he turns Lando over to his enemies. And there’s a lot of them. Will a galaxy of bad guys finally get their due against the ultimate thorn in their side?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
We hit the halfway mark of the series with this installment and Rodney Barnes continues to have some good fun with this project. There’s a lightness to it that’s appropriate for Lando of this time and place and just the way he’s trying to build his swindler cred and persona for future adventures. Paolo Villanelli brings it to life pretty well since it is a very busy book with a lot of running around, strange creatures and locations, and a sense of continuous energy that comes from Lando’s dialogue. It’s a fast talking and fast moving story that’s light on the details even as it throws a lot of detail at us to keep us off-balance.
Lando’s having been captured by Ballatan didn’t exactly help his plan in a lot of ways and it’s amusing to see that Ellthree manages to escape easier and quicker than him in order to get things moving again with the larger plan. Ballatan and Lando have quite the history that slowly comes out and Lando’s way of just kind of brushing it to the side and playing it light isn’t going to work too well as there’s a real grudge. And Lando keeps bringing up things that just get Ballatan even more intent on finishing him off sooner rather than later. The only thing that saves the day in a way here is that he’s able to easily food the jailer droid that’s watching him once back in a cell, though that in itself doesn’t help with his relationship with Ellthree as he throws a lot of really awkward phrases her way in how he dealt with the droid. You’d really think he’d have figured it out by now with her.
We do get some time with Kristiss as she connects with her father at long last and this doesn’t play out in too surprising a way. With it being relatively early on in the AEF time period, she’s ready to orchestrate the breakout and work with others to do so but a lot of those that the Empire has working here simply aren’t interested. It’s not that they want to stay but they feel that it’s the best choice for staying alive as a breakout is likely to get them killed. Combine that with some of them not having much of a world to go back to as the Empire is in the process of strip mining certain worlds for various projects at this point, there isn’t a lot of incentive. It’s not that they’re fine with basically being slaves but the other option is more than likely death. All of it makes it pretty heartbreaking for Kristiss but the idealism of youth and the hope of achieving her goals is keeping her moving forward.
In Summary:
At the halfway mark I’m still having fun with the series but there’s also the realization that there won’t be anything significant going on here with his past for the most part. Which is fine because a good romp with Lando at this stage of his life and career with Ellthree at his side is exactly what works – something fun. It may work slightly convoluted at times and perhaps a little overstuffed in other areas, but this issue keeps things moving and represents who Lando is really well, even if the clothes fixation may be just a bit too much at times even if it serves as a way to distract and present himself to others to disarm them.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: July 25th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
