Lando, becoming a better person? Perish the thought!
Creative Staff:
Story: Rodney Barnes
Art: Paolo Villanelli
Colors: Andres Mossa
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
LANDO’S made his way to an ambivalent Pretusian slave force. But can he convince them to stand up against the STORMTROOPERS who now are lower in number? Will ELLTHREE temper her passions in the face of massive droid abuses? Will Lando find a good card game and say “to hell with it all”?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Double or Nothing series draws to a close here but it leads into the adaptation of the Solo film adaptation nicely. I wasn’t quite sure before how closely set this was to the film and while I had hoped it would be a decent bit beforehand in order to give us more adventures, Rodney Barnes puts it all together well in tying it in. The finale does let him have some fun with Lando as there’s a lot of narration to be had and it works in a way to allow for Paolo Villanelli to bring in a lot of good flow to the layouts by not having to deal with dialogue bubbles. It’s a fun action piece and that with the cascading amount of craziness puts on the pressure but Villanelli handles it well.
As a finale, it is very busy since we’re in the midst of a revolt with Rythus and his fellow workers now armed and pushing back hard. More Imperial troops are coming in and there’s a lot of good craziness here early on as Lando starts talking about a strategic retreat to live and fight another day. But that’s beyond the scope of what they’re after here and Rythus gets to be pretty good in the leadership side of things. Lando even starts to feel slighted by some of it as Rythus is using all the best lines – Lando’s lines – and he’s feeling put out by it all. It doesn’t help that Ellthree chimes in from time to time as well and raises her own issues into it. Where it gets supremely crazy is that Rythus had an ace in the hole by setting up the fallen droids to fight against the Imperials when activated.
Which, naturally, gets Ellthree all excited in her revolution once again. Seeing her get out of the Falcon to come down and fight is comical, especially since we get both her and Lando fighting side by side and her complimenting him on the way he’s starting to sound like someone with a bit of morality to him. The downside is seeing the Falcon getting overtaken by Imperials and hauled elsewhere for lockdown, hence the breakout that happens in the film, but it leaves Lando with Rythus and an injured Kristiss for a bit first as he saves her along the way as well. It’s a lot of movement, a lot of dialogue, but a simple storyline overall. Barnes delivers us a smooth transition for what happens after the fight and where it goes next, though I’d like to see more of Kristiss and what was going on there.
In Summary:
Lando – Double or Nothing is a fun series and it segues into the Solo film well. I liked Barnes’ take on the character with the fast talking and the way he views himself, including the whole narrating of his story through that view. The story itself felt a little overdrawn and not as personal and interesting as it could have been but it was fun and more time with Lando and Ellthree is definitely up my alley. Paolo Villanelli had a lot to cover in illustrating this run with so many characters moving about and capturing the charm of Lando himself but it was a success in that department as it looked great and contains some crazy designs at times. Hopefully, this team will get to pair up again to tell another story for Lando, Ellthree, and the Falcon.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: September 19th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
