– Spoiler Review –
Chewie vs Dengar. Luke vs…a big old monster. And Han spills mostly all the truth about his dear wife, Sana Solo. Things stay busy as usual in another entertaining issue #11 for Star Wars, continuing the main series’ sense of adventure and pushing us towards what should be an exciting finale.
Dengar got a little more exposure thanks to The Clone Wars S4 episode “Bounty,” where we found out there was quite the mouth under all those headwraps. But here he reveals he has tons of toys, enough to give him the edge he needs to survive a fight against a legendary Wookiee. If Dengar didn’t have those toys, it would’ve been hard to read this issue and see Chewie get beat by a middle-aged Dengar after all the awesome brawls he had in #10. Overall, I really enjoyed the fight, especially how it starts thanks to a unsurprisingly non-humble heroic move by Threepio, and how the two brawlers traded beatdowns of almost equal measure with each other in a well drawn battle. While I believe Dengar is after the bounty from Jabba on Han and Chewie, his anger at the end of their battle makes me wonder if there’s a little history between him and Han. And, this might sound a little crazy, but could it have anything to do with Sana? Well, we can find that all out now (by now, I mean next issue) since Han shows up in the end and shoots Dengar down.
But before he shows up to save his friend, Han finally breaks down and reveals the truth about him and Sana: they did get married, but it was staged as a distraction/cover-up for Han and his team to one-up a crime lord who had been screwing over fellow spice smugglers. Han admits it might have gotten a little too real before trailing off on the subject, but expect the full, final story next issue (just before we head into the crossover event, “Vader Down”). I’ve been theorizing, since Sana’s introduction in #6, that their marriage likely came from a botched job, so I’d say I was decently close on my guess. It’s a botched cover-up job when your fake marriage becomes a real marriage, if you ask me. Now the next question becomes, when and how will they get it null and void (besides the obvious answer, “before Ep. V“)?
Luke finds himself facing off against Kongo the Disemboweler, who kind of makes me want a Mortal Kombat-esque Star Wars game set in the seedy underworld of blood sports (which wouldn’t hamstring in main characters into the ring like the infamous Masters of Teräs Käsi). Needless to say, the fight isn’t going good since Kongo has near-lightsaber resistant replacement limbs, but it’s all to Grakkus’ liking as he gets to sell the biggest fight in the history of his pits and add the final bones to his collection of Jedi artifacts. The mysterious and intriguing Gamemaster doesn’t seem to approve and it’s not out of sympathy…it’s because he’s an Imperial agent! Seeing as it was mere coincidence Luke showed up and the Gamemaster had been around with Grakkus for some time (the Hutt reveals as much), what was his original mission? Infiltrate the Hutt’s ranks and steal the Jedi artifacts for the Emperor? Undermine the Hutts in some way? Expect that answered, and the Imperials to arrive, next issue!
Here are a few other things:
- Having some patience and waiting to hear the full Sana Solo story pays off and makes all the freak outs when she was first revealed seem pretty damn silly now, hey?
- Was Dengar using a plasma whip?
- Besides Threepio’s hilarious line about always being heroic, his response to Dengar asking where Han is was my favorite line of the issue: “Not here. And for the first time ever, I very much wish he was.”
- Second favorite line was from a Gran in the crowd upon seeing Luke for the first time, “Ah, I was hoping it was gonna be the little green guy.” Interesting that, no matter how hard the Empire might have tried to erase them from the official record, people still at least remember there was a little green dude as part of the Jedi.
- Aaron’s writing is just top notch this issue and Immonen’s art has definitely become my favorite for this series so far.
Look, I know everyone is at Nar Shadda now to free Luke and the Imperials on their way to take him, but I’m putting 5 crates of spice down on Artoo to be the ultimate hero in #12, which is when Star Wars‘ second arc comes to a close later this month.
+ Sana “Solo” secrets revealed
+ Chewie vs Dengar
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
Star Wars (Vol. 1)
Jason Aaron: Skywalker Strikes (#1-6) | Old Ben’s Journals | Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon: #8 | #9 | #10 | #12 | Rebel Jail (#16-19) | The Last Flight of the Harbinger (#21-25) | Yoda’s Secret War (#26-30) | The Screaming Citadel crossover (#31-32)| Out Among the Stars (#33-37) | Retrospective (#1-37)
Kieron Gillen Retrospective (#38-67) | Greg Pak and Phil Noto Retrospective (#68-75)