– Spoiler Review –
Age of Rebellion – Jabba the Hutt #1 is all about how one should never underestimate a Hutt, especially when there’s profit, monetary or otherwise, to be had.
The best part of Greg Pak’s Jabba in this issue is the duplicity inherit in the big shot gangster is alive and well. Is Jabba going to help some smugglers take a precious, money-making resource from the Tuskens? Is he going to give the Tuskens the protection they want? Or is he going to do what benefits him most? Jabba hasn’t been in power all these years and feared amongst many by being an open book, whose intentions and plans are easy to uncover, instead he’s gained his place in the hierarchy due to his machinations and those who wish to underestimate him. I liked how Pak’s script kept me guessing until the end, but I found this fun, enjoyable issue not as memorable as others within Age of Rebellion, though I wouldn’t call it the miniseries’ weakest.
So far, despite it not being intentional, Pak’s Hero and Villain issues have managed to connect or rhyme, but with Jabba and last week’s Lando, it’s clear it hasn’t been on purpose as I had to stretch it a bit. The connection I felt these two made is about how the two characters go about keeping those under their power satisfied, as well as themselves, with Lando digging into his own money and doing his best to get the money for his workers/loans, showing how much he cares despite his selfish exterior, while Jabba sends out others to get him the results he needs to stay in power, showing how little he cares about anyone but himself, doing things only to benefit himself and not others.
There was quite the art team assembled for this one issue. On art there was Emilio Laiso, Roland Boschi, and Marco Turini; For colors, Andres Mossa, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Neeraj Menon; and Travis Lanham keeping the lettering consistent throughout. Turini’s work is the only one I wasn’t familiar before, but all three artist and color teams kept a mostly consistent look and feel to the issue. I have a soft spot for Laiso and Rosenberg’s work due to them becoming my favorite Doctor Aphra art team, so it was easy to tell their work, and I’m pretty sure Boschi was working on the nighttime scenes towards the end, as he did Star Wars Annual #4 with Neeraj on colors, leaving Turini for the rest of the art, alongside Mossa, whose colors are easily identifiable, in a good way; I wouldn’t have minded any of these teams to have been the only ones!
Here are a few other things:
- Honestly, when I first read the preview for this issue, which ends right when Jabba holds up a glass of Tusken Wind to the smugglers, I couldn’t help but laugh and wonder if this delicacy was going to turn out to something quite disgusting: Jabba’s own gas bottled up!; sometimes I’m still a child at mind and heart. Glad they didn’t go that route!
- Next month contains the final issues of Age of Rebellion: Luke Skywalker #1 and Darth Vader #1! You can check out the solicits for the issues, but Luke’s sounds the most interesting with its situation of him taking command and the Emperor’s eerie influence somehow involved. Age of Resistance begins in July, while Pak moves onto the Star Wars series.
- Seems this was a stealth Jabba week, as he also appeared in Galaxy’s Edge #2 and Chris’ Legendary Adventures: Han Solo – The Hutt Gambit!
Age of Rebellion – Jabba the Hutt #1 delights for its duplicitous titular character, though it didn’t quite feel memorable afterwards.
+ Duplicitous Jabba
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
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