Writer: Charles Soule
Art: Jesus Saiz, Arif Prianto, R.B. Silva, Guru-eFX and VC’s Clayton Cowles
Price: $3.99
Release Date: February 26th, 2020
Still in shock over learning Vader is his father, Luke and company return to Cloud City to retrieve his lightsaber. Perhaps he’ll also find a hand too!! That’s a joke fans, relax. Let’s continue on this fascinating time in the Star Wars universe and see where Charles Soule leads us!
As per usual we open with the awesome credits page/Star Wars crawl. But hold on….. we know that while a super villain, bad guy etc….. Vader is anything but a liar don’t we?! So instead of saying “Vader may be his father,” it’d work much better to say what it is, and what everyone knows it is. Vader IS his father.
As our group returns to Bespin each character seems to have their own agenda as to what they need to do. Luke’s and Lando’s are somewhat obvious. Leia’s reason remains a bit unclear. What I thought was going to happen didn’t. Not even close. This book is a quick read, but in a good way. I couldn’t get to the next page fast enough to find out what was going to happen. Soule really has Lando’s character down. All the confidence and swagger are on full display here. It’s awesome.
We’re also treated to what I’d call basically a hype video for the Empire. It came off a bit dis-jointed and awkward to me though. All we need is some bad rap music to make it complete. It does however provide some insight into the name of the Star Destroyer, Tarkin’s Will, her commander, and crew. It also adds depth, background, and possibly even some motivation to Commander Zahra’s character and her actions.
Bespin is also referred to as a planet in this issue. We all know it’s called Cloud City and unless I’m really mistaken, it’s a giant space station, not a planet at all. Soule knows better I’m sure, and worst case an editor should have caught this. If I’m wrong comment and let me know. It stuck out like a sore thumb to me.
We’re also treated to two cliffhangers of sorts that really surprised me and lead to all sorts of possibilities. I’ll admit, cloning even crossed my mind!
As far the the art I’m not sure if the writer or letterer decides on the “sound effects” but to me the turret cannon sound effect are perfect. Very “Star Wars”. I can hear them in my mind. And while the art is top notch in this book, Luke’s face remains a bit puffy and wide to me. In preview pictures, if you take away the blond hair and khaki shirt I’d have a hard time believing it’s Luke at all.
I also love variant covers, and this one by Chris Sprouse deserves mention. It really captures the look of Han in The Empire Strikes Back!
Final Thoughts:
Charles Soule is becoming one of my favorite writers as he continues to surprise me with another great issue of Star Wars! No let down at all as far as I’m concerned. Soule clearly is a fan and takes pride and care in filling in this huge gap in the Star Wars universe.