“Tatooine Treason”
Creative Staff:
Story: Charles Soule
Art: Madibek Musabekov
Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
TATOOINE TREASON! – A DARK DROIDS TIE-IN! As the SCOURGE OF THE DROIDS makes its way through the palace of JABBA THE HUTT on Tatooine, LANDO CALRISSIAN is faced with a dire situation as he attempts to save the life of his old friend LOBOT. Their salvation is hidden deep within the palace… …but will they live long enough to find it?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the first blush material out for the Dark Droids storyline so far, it’s managed to not be as bad as I feared – mostly because some of the stories aren’t hitting it up too hard yet. Charles Soule does a solid job as always but it’s definitely interesting going into this after rewatching the first half of Andor and wanting to feel more of that kind of property than the kind of lighter touch here. This issue has Madibek Musabekov on board for the artwork it’s welcome to have them back on the run as their designs and approach are pretty appealing. As we’ve said, there’s usually some solid consistency in the Star Wars artists overall for the “house” style that we get and Musabekov gets that easily while still keeping their own particular take on things mixed into it, giving it an appealing look overall. Rachelle Rosenberg’s color work helps to bind that together a bit more as well so that it all feels consistent.
With the focus on Lando looking to help Lobot, there’s some good stuff going on here as they arrive on Tatooine to try and find the protocol droid that they need from their previous encounter. Lando’s amused that Han seemingly kept everything of his clothes from when Lando owned the ship but it makes a weird sort of sense to use them as costumes for capers. The reality is that Lando is very serious here as Lobot is getting worse and worse and has come up with a decent plan to get into the palace. We get a good flashback to something years ago about Lando and Lobot about one of their capers and it does a good job of showing just how close the two are and the bond that they share. It helped to humanize both of them even more and reaffirm why Lando will go so hard to help his old friend. There are few people that Lando will go the distance for but it’s clear Lobot is in that category.
The problem, of course, is that the droid is about to be wiped because of a translation error for Jabba but is only saved by the groupmind droids who see his uniqueness as valuable information considering his age. That turns the palace into a place where, as Lando learns, even Boba Fett says to get out. The mob of droids are moving through it and causing problems while on the hunt for the unique droid and Lando and Lobot basically get to stumble upon it in the Rancor pit of all places. The negotiation between Lando and the droid is fun since he is trying to do his best for his friend but the droid has some real points as well as to why he doesn’t trust Lando at all. It plays out well with some good dialogue as it turns to a darker moment toward the end with an almost literal rock and a hard place feeling for the trio as events have moved on without them.
In Summary:
While I’m still very wary of the Dark Droids storyline overall, Soule is handling it pretty well in this series as we get more of a Lando/Lobot story at the moment and the droid material is secondary. And when utilized, it’s not such a big abrupt and in your face kind of thing, instead leaning toward a bit more horror and tension. The trip to Tatooine makes sense in the context of how things have unfolded but the nod to Han is awkward as hell even if it is what will be used to nudge how they deal with it in the near future. The little moments work and the lighter bits with Lando and Lobot in the past – that wig! – provide the relief the darker parts of the story needs.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 9+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: September 6th, 2023
MSRP: $4.99
