– Spoiler Review –
Star Wars #73 brings the heroes and their chaos-filled missions on a collision course in the latest installment of the series’ final arc, “Rebels and Rogues.”
Unlike several of the most recent issues, Star Wars #73 lets the moral dilemmas and debates fade to the background a bit and instead focuses on the chaos and fun of these various missions. Dar, Leia, and Han aren’t debating how their plans to turn the Empire against Boss Carpo could affect the planet’s citizens, Chewie and Threepio aren’t discussing what it means to be sentient, and Luke isn’t trying to find purpose through the Force via Warba Calip at the moment. The issue is full of humor and hijinks, but it keeps those threads bubbling just beneath the surface, as the final two issues are sure to bring them crashing through sooner than later.
Boss Carpo is one smart cookie Bith, because despite falling for Dar and Leia’s plans to make him think the Empire was turning on him, he leverages a captured Han Solo to force them to attack the Empire on his behalf. Not only did I enjoy Carpo’s deviance, seeing a non-Bith musician was a nice change of pace, especially one draped in a striking red cape and metallic claws for hands. Immediately, I was beginning to wonder if he got those hands, and his position, because he was a musician about to make it big, stuck in debt to a crime boss, and the eve of his big break the boss comes to collect…his hands! Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Carpo turns to revenge, getting the claws with what little money he had left and kills the boss, replacing him and now here we are; whoa, is that what it’s like to write fan-fic? When a design and personality are as strong as Carpo’s limited appearance here, these things happen, I guess! Fleeing Lanz Carpo, with Dar Champion in tow, Han comms Chewbacca to see if they can route their new Star Destroyer friend K43’s way, considering the Wookiee and droid were supposed to blow it up to take out some other Imperials.
But their situation got complicated real quick, what with the rock people and Darth Vader paying them a visit, but Chewie figures a little help/more chaos alongside their current predicament wouldn’t hurt. Vader, only seeing the rock people as another tool to bend to his will, begins to attempt to bring them under his control with his powerful connection to the Force. Right when he thinks they are his, after Threepio tells him so, they turn on him and the always pissed Vader is even angrier the droid lied to him; considering their history, this was a rather juicy moment, especially since neither realize the connection they share (and it hit maybe a little harder after that tear inducing moment in the new The Rise of Skywalker trailer). Worried about the choice ahead of them as they flee, Threepio comms Luke Skywalker to ask him to help solve their moral conundrum, and once he hears Luke’s voice, Vader allows them to escape in hopes it’ll draw his target to him.
Between chasing down his lightsaber from Warba and connecting cutting short, Luke is unable to help his pals with their problem. And in fact, his woes get worse, as the Imperials are close to tracking down the Rebellion’s makeshift base, so he lets his lightsaber go after he’s unable to persuade Warba and rushes off to help the Rebellion. While I laughed at the thought of all the running Luke does this issue, he gets one helluva moment when he steals an Imperial speeder and crashes it into the troop transport narrowing down on the rebels, giving them the distraction they need to escape. Warba, against her better judgment, sees Luke’s heroism and returns, giving him back his lightsaber. What’s next for Luke and Warba, and what truths she has left to tell, is something I’m definitely looking forward to after we learned last issue she sort of has the Force and grew up on Jedha.
I feel like a broken record over the genius of artist Phil Noto, but the words are all undeniably true about him, especially considering it took just the design of Boss Carpo to spawn fan-fic within my head, which does not happen very often with me. His renderings of all our heroes, especially Chewbacca, are some of my favorite across the comics, but I do have a very minor quibble: the face for Han Solo doesn’t quite match like the others, though it feels natural to his style and I’m happy he doesn’t have as close of an impression of Harrison Ford’s face.
Here are a few other things:
- While we’ve known now for a bit about December’s Empire Ascendant one-shot wrapping up this series and others taking place in the same timeframe, it wasn’t until earlier this month we got our first glimpse at what was next: the Star Wars series will relaunch and move to the post-The Empire Strikes Back timeframe, with Charles Soule taking over as writer, whose pedigree far proceeds him. But Greg Pak isn’t going anywhere, as he’ll start another Darth Vader volume, also in the same timeframe, and despite my misgivings about more Vader, he’s certainly proven himself for the task. We might have more info on the relaunch of this series with January 2020’s solicitations, likely out Thursday, 10/23.
Star Wars #73 provides loads of fun with the current predicaments of our heroes, setting them all up for a collision course in the final two issues of the series.
+ Beginning to collide the storylines together
+ Boss Carpo is extra tricky
+ Luke getting stuff done!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
STAR WARS
Greg Pak — Rebels and Rogues: #68 | #69 | #70 | #71 | #72
Kieron Gillen — Kieron Gillen Retrospective (#38-67)
Jason Aaron — Jason Aaron Retrospective (#1-37)
CURRENT SERIES COMIC REVIEWS:
Doctor Aphra
Unspeakable Rebel Superweapon (#32-36) | A Rogue’s End (#37-40) | Annual: #2
Allegiance (miniseries)
Jedi: Fallen Order – Dark Temple (miniseries)
Return to Vader’s Castle (miniseries)