Lightsabers for everyone!
Creative Staff:
Story: Jason Aaron
Art: Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger
Colors: Justin Ponsor
What They Say:
Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon! Plus, Lightsabers! Loads of Lightsabers! And finally: the truth about Sana Solo!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The ongoing Star Wars book brings the main arc to a close here that it’s been working on but it leaves several loose threads to be tugged later on. Some of them might play into the upcoming Vader Down storyline that will occupy the next two issues and that could certainly be interesting, but based on what we’ve seen from that debut installment I suspect the pieces here will get nudged down the line for afterward with its own arc, if not pushed back further for a future storyline. Suffice to say, Star Wars continues to unfold with some interesting areas that it can explore as it progresses.
The coming together of different storylines to the Smuggler’s Moon worked well as each felt distinctive enough, though the one with Sana was a bit more drawn out than it needed to be. That kind of factors into things here as well as she gets caught up in what Han and Leia are doing in their attempted rescue of Luke since Sana doesn’t want to lose sight of her investment in Han. The book provides for some good humor once again when it comes to Han and Leia and how both are dealing with this situation, though it’s old sitcom material at the same time in how Leia just doesn’t want to hear what he’s trying to explain that would clear it all up. You have to feel bad for Dengar though as he ends up becoming a literal throwaway character amid their arguing over things. That at least brings the Chewie & the Droids portion of the story to a close and gets everyone on the same page.
As an end act, the storyline does go big before it goes home as we get to see the Empire arrive to collect Luke as the Gamesmaster, a Sergeant Kreel that has me wondering if there’s a true connection to past incarnation of it, has set things in motion to acquire him and all that Grakkus has for the Empire. It’s a wonderfully chaotic series of events that shows why Grakkus is as feared as he is compared to other Hutts and there’s just a good dynamic style about it all as his machinations unfold and makes the Kreel’s job harder to do. It’s no surprise how it ends with everyone getting away, but I had to love the fun of what Artoo does in acquiring several lightsabers and seeing the main cast all using them. I wonder if any belonged to anyone we knew? Regardless, it goes for the third act design well with a big, splashy affair with some good drama and a wonderful end scene for Kreel that makes it clear we have not seen the last of him. Which is a good thing since he could be like Aphra in a different angle with the threat he represents.
In Summary:
Immonen and Grawbadger have another strong installment here with what they do in presenting the storyline, giving it a great sense of scale and action that just clicks wonderfully. While I’m totally on board with the character capture aspects of it as they nail the actors just right here, what I really love is that Immonen is able to make these action sequences, which can be completely dorky in how they look, simply engaging and dynamic to watch unfold. You don’t just get through it to the result, you savor the motion and details of it all. That’s compounded by Aaron’s script that gives the team plenty to illustrate and bring to life. Though you can be like Han and wonder if this was all just for a book, the end result is that Luke continues to step into the bigger world and it’s intriguing to see what new details surface each storyline.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: All Ages
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: November 18th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
