– Spoiler Review –
The Age of Rebellion is going to be packed this month, and it all begins with Age of Rebellion – Han Solo #1, which isn’t as strong as the previous efforts, but it makes up for it charm and presentation.
In Age of Rebellion – Han Solo #1, we find Han not quite ready to accept he’s basically joined the Rebellion, and in his attempt to feel free still, he nearly messes up an important mission he takes on Luke’s behalf. I enjoyed it enough, especially the Han and Chewie banter, but your overall enjoyment might stem from how deep into the canon you’ve already dug. If you’ve been reading the last few years of the mainline Star Wars comic, the 2016’s Han Solo miniseries, the recent Han Solo – Imperial Cadet miniseries, and/or seen Solo: A Star Wars Story, the idea Han has a heart of gold hidden within him is pretty old news, so having this issue deal with him trying to lie to himself he’s not joined any causes yet felt like well-tread ground. Maybe you haven’t enjoyed any of these other stories, or maybe you have but more Han no matter the subject is what you love, it’s quite understandable to enjoy how Greg Pak presents Han and his reluctance to admit how much he wants to join up with this new found family.
Regardless, this issue is still plenty fun thanks to the strength of Pak’s understanding of Han and Chewie, from how Chewie is always the voice of reason and caution, to Han’s blundering through situation after situation, really having no idea what he’s doing. Han thinks he’s not part of the Rebellion, he keeps getting pulled back in. Even Chewie tries to tell him they’re part of something worthwhile now, and grumbles all the way through Han’s latest debacle, which sees them lose all their reward money that Ben Kenobi promised them. The biggest giveaway of Han’s allegiances is how excited he is, as is Chewie, when Luke Skywalker boards their ship. Even that short scene is done well by Pak and I can’t wait to see how he deals with the Big Three, plus Chewie, Threepio, and other supporting characters when he takes over for the Star Wars series in July.*
On art, we have Chris Sprouse, with Karl Story on inks, and Tamra Bonvillain on colors. Unlike the first Hero issue of this “Age,” Princess Leia, there’s not a variety of teams working here and I appreciated the consistency, though it thankfully wasn’t too noticeable in the first place. While Sprouse offers his own take on our heroes, there’s a familiarity to their poses and general facial composure that makes it an approach I can get behind, while Story and Bonviilain make things a little muted, darkened, especially as Han gets caught up with his old crime buddies, fitting the lack of heroics to the lack of a brighter palette. One of the coolest bits of art was how the team handled bringing Star Wars Resistance’s Flix’s unique species, the Gozzo, to the comics, and their strong-arming of Han for all his money makes me believe Flix’s mom was in the group. I might end up liking this Hero team more than Age of Republic’s!
Here are a few other things:
- In case you missed it, at Celebration Chicago 2019’s Marvel panel, Greg Pak, alongside artist Phil Noto (!!), were introduced as the new creative team on the mainline Star Wars series after Kieron Gillen leaves. Their first storyline, which sees the Rebellion misleading probe droids Vader sends across the galaxy to find them, sounds like a fun, action-adventure romp. You can read up a bit more about the first two issues in July’s solicitations.
- Also in the July solicits? The first details on the next and final “Age,” Age of Resistance!
- There’s a really great little interview over at Marvel with Greg Pak about Age of Rebellion and his upcoming work for the Star Wars series. While I felt like Tarkin/Leia issues rhymed with Age of Republic‘s Hero and Villain issues did, Pak seems to imply here he didn’t actively try to make any such connections like that happen. Regardless, I’ll still be looking for them if they can be found.
Age of Rebellion – Han Solo #1 is a fun enough time, even for well-tread ground.
+ Great Han and Chewie content
+ Hero art really is fitting (love the Gozzo appearances)
– A little too well-tread
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
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