Review: Han Solo & Chewbacca #2

A comic book starring Han Solo and Chewbacca should be joyful and full of energy and mischief. Unfortunately this book is a dull heist filled with plot devices and absolutely void of joy, humor or even Chewbacca.

The fact that Chewie is only in a few scattered panels in a book with his name on it is criminal. Star Wars books have long failed to give Chewbacca the respect that he deserves, in fact even going so far as to kill the character in the classic extended universe. But it is perplexing to draw focus to him on the title and cover of a book and still do absolutely nothing with him for the entire issue.

The book has Han, Chewbacca and Greedo working together to get an Urn that Jabba wants on Corellia. The twist is that their unexpected ally in their quest is a man claiming to be Han’s theoretically dead father. Han does not believe this man is his father but spends the entire issue vacillating between sentimentality and anger towards the supposed imposter. Greedo has to keep Han in line as they infiltrate Locris Securities undercover.

On Tatooine, Bib Fortuna gets a visit from Marshal Buck Vancto who wants info on Jabba’s dealings with Han. Meanwhile Han and his ‘dad’ discover the safe at Locris is empty and that Greedo has stolen an artifact with a tracer. The issue ends with the Locris guards arriving in force, and still no sign of Chewbacca.

Hopefully this issue will be an anomaly and Chewbacca will feature heavily in rescuing Han next issue. As it is this book is a dry annoyance with a character in Han’s father who is either a fraud or an unnecessary true family member. We don’t need Han’s father to be active in the Star Wars universe. We just need great stories of heroes and heists with true stakes.

The art here feels just as average as the story, with characters that are recognizable but never interesting. David Messina is an extraordinary artist, but his work in this issue just feels vastly uninspired. Marvel’s Star Wars books are so amazing at their peak. It makes series like this even more egregious when they waste valuable comic book time and space on false reunions and unimportant quests. Hopefully the creators disprove this in future issues but as of now there is no artistic or creative drive to recommend this book.

Writing: 1 of 5 stars
Art: 2.7 of 5 stars
Colors: 3 of 5 stars

Overall: 2.2 of 5 stars

Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Art: David Messina
Colors: Alex Sinclair
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Author Profile

M.R. Jafri

M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.