– Spoiler Review –
In Star Wars #38 (Vol. 2), Lando’s quest to save his friend Lobot from cybernetic implants goes haywire quick as the pair stumbles into the Scourge slowly sweeping the galaxy, making for another emotional issue while the horror of the crossover creeps in.
When Lando and Lobot arrive to Jabba’s Palace, they park the Millennium Falcon at its outskirts, planning out disguises to get inside and retrieve the ancient Talky droid, the only one who seems to know how to deactivate the cybernetic implants. Lobot looks sick and sad, totally not mentally there in the room, while Lando enjoys seeing his capes haven’t been tossed by Han Solo or Chewbacca since having the ship, which is where memories come flushing back to him of the fun he and Lobot used to get up to. We saw some of their friendship before the implants took over in Soule’s 2015 Lando miniseries and adding more of those experiences to our knowledge only raises the emotional stakes in this story, as we get a delightful flashback of Lando and Lobot here. In the flashback, the two are about to sneak into a club, Lando dressed to the nines as usual but Lobot in some sick digs too, with a goofy, yet fitting wig to cover his implants, and we get to see how much heart Lando has under all that bluster. Lobot reveals he’s not sure he can match Lando’s charisma to schmooze their way in past the bouncer, saying the two of them are nothing alike. Lando doesn’t feel the same, as he sees a man who is just like him in his own way: they are both smarter than the other guy. Lobot seems dubious, but as Lando continues, telling how everyone is nothing compared to them, Lobot is smiling and laughing by the end, ready to play the part, with Lando having his armed draped around him, smiling madly as well. It’s a beautiful, short, and sweet juncture of their friendship, showing how good a person Lando can be to those he cares about, which can apply to causes he cares about, while we also see how much Lobot embraces his friend’s wily ways and charming pep-talks, which adds even more reasons why he’d give such a rousing, emotional speech as he makes the big sacrifice to sav Lando in the 2015 miniseries. In one of my favorite art moments of the issue, as it really steals the absolute wind from the smiles and happiness we glimpse in the past while reminding us of the stark present, the next page sees Lobot’s arm draped over Lando’s shoulder, them in disguises once again, but the smiles and happiness are all gone. In fact, artist Madibek Musabekov pulls back, the inverse of the flashback as it built to them arm in arm, and we see the empty expanse of Tatooine around them, how alone and boring and rank their situation is compared to the past, where life pops all around them in their adventures, the streets and the places they go bright with potential and life. Colorist Rachelle Rosenberg robs the present of all the lively, Lando miniseries’ noir colors she uses so effectively, and the switch between the two styles highlights how vibrant their life was in the past and how dark and isolated it is in the present. As much as these panels focus on showing the dichotomy of the past and present, there is one constant: Lando and Lobot arm in arm, together as always. That’s the fiendish nature of Charles Soule’s writing and this team’s work delivering a sequel to the 2015 series, as they keep squeezing out our emotions with happy glimpses of the past and reminders their present has only gotten worse, making one wonder if it’ll ever get better (and keeps me hoping 2024 will see the end of this era of comics and the start of a new one, where Soule will get to write what happens after Return of the Jedi with Lando and Lobot, maybe resolving this thread once and for all).
As Lando talks their way past the Palace door, despite it being controlled by a Scourged droid, the pair run into a random Dowutin stranger, who tries their best to warn Lando about what’s going on, but he’s so focused on saving the Talky to save Lobot he doesn’t care or believe the stranger about the droids going haywire. They head deeper into the Palace, finding Boba Fett having just finished fighting some droids, and he warns them to leave before he makes himself scarce, giving Lando pause about what the stranger told them earlier. So focused on saving his friend, he ignores the warning and presses on, noticing where Jabba’s hung Han Solo in carbonite and calling it disrespectful, but he doesn’t get to say much more once he sees all the droids coming their way…and then the grate below them pulls open and they drop into the rancor pit! As bad as it might seem, at least Lando finds the Talky droid hiding in the cave! When the issue opened, we saw the droid’s struggle with EV-9D9, who was about to wipe his memory banks, right up until the Scourge droids hear how old he is and take over the torture droid, trying to turn Talky as well, though he fights them off and flees into the Palace, eventually coming to hide in the rancor pit. As resourceful as ever, the droid with little prohibitive programming bargains with Lando about saving Lobot, ordering the smuggler to sneak him out of the Palace alive and he’ll help fix Lobot. As the Talky pushes the effects of the implants back just enough to make Lobot a little more responsive, in a show of good faith, they agree on the deal not a moment too soon, as more Scourged droids appear and the rancor awakes! As frightening as it seems, Lando is resolute in helping his friend, ready to face whatever comes next.
Rosenberg, like some of the other colorists across the other comic series dealing with Dark Droids, seems to be having fun with the menacing purple chosen for the Scourge after it takes over its host droid, as she drenches panels with the glow when the droids crowd a panel, even adding enough of it to certain familiar structures of the Palace it’s clear whose influence is overpowering on the panel. Doing so means when Talky fights back against them, resisting the Scourge droids asking it to join them, sending one of the little disc droids to begin the process, the purple is basically banished from the panels, appearing in small, non-frightening dosages, especially in the moment when Talky pours the molten lava on those pursuing him, as the purple of their eyes looks dim compared to the bright red, orange, and yellows of the melting droids; the next few panels the purple is gone, the Gamorreans destroying a seemingly innocent droid due to Talky’s increasing insistence, but it creeps back in at the edges as they reappear. Musabekov might’ve found a way to bring even more bittersweetness to Lando and Lobot’s friendship, but he also ensures the increasing and encroaching Scourge feels frightening and overwhelming. On the first page alone, we feel the Talky’s horror, as not only is EV-9D9 menacing with her normal, non-Scourged red eyes, a giant blade whirling to life to saw him up, letterer Clayton Cowles’ SFX for the spinning blade as loud as if you were in shop class and didn’t put on your earmuffs, but behind her are looming shadows of the Scourge droids, watching what’s about to happen. I love the panel when EV-9D9 is turned, as the completely unnatural angle her head is at, the bent neck the resting place of the Scourge vector discs, Cowles switching her speech bubbles to those of the Scourged around her, while the way the droids look as the are melting, their metal like thick liquid, is a chilling sight. Musabek’s outfits for Lando and Lobot are a mixture of like disco, 70’s, and Star Wars: Lando looks like you’d expect, cape and all, but the shirt and white pants are a nice change of pace from what I feel like we typically see him in, while Lobot’s diagonally striped shirt, pleather-like pants so shiny you can almost hear them, as well as funky, dangling, puffy wig, are out of this galaxy good looking and I hope someone pulls of the cosplay soon. The final page, which is proceeded by a lot of Musabekov’s detailed facial work as Lando losses his smarmy attitude and puts on a tough face in hopes of intimidating Talky, is such a fun final image, as Musabekov’s rancor is towering and so detailed it looks like it could be a still from the film, Cowles’ SFX for the creatures roar shaking the reader and the characters. The insert/final panel of Lando, mad and determined, makes you feel like he could pull off something to make their escape happen, his looks ready to kill.
Here are a few other things:
- If you’ve noticed I keep saying this era of comics should end in 2024 in these reviews and others, it mainly stems from the fact all the on-goings will hit issue #50 about one year from now at this pace, and that seems like a great milestone to reach for the era and then finish it.
- In fact, in November’s comic solicitations, we got a look at how this series will close out its time in the Dark Droids crossover, as it contains an advanced solicit for December’s issue #41.
- Much like the first crossover of this era of comics, I’m glad the final covers for these issues have a clear, distinct look to them to denote they are part of the crossover. The ones I’ve been posting for my reviews are the initial solicited covers, so they don’t have it and I’m too lazy to download and post the updated ones, but I do like the clearer branding again.
Star Wars #38 (Vol. 2) continues to mine Lando and Lobot’s friendship for fantastic, if not emotional effect, with an art team ready to bring both the emotions and the horror to boot.
+ The dichotomy of Lando and Lobot’s lives
+ Art finds ways to capture emotional differences and spark horror as well
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
STAR WARS (Vol. 2)
The Destiny Path: #1-6 — Operation Starlight: #7-11 — War of the Bounty Hunters: #12-18 — Crimson Reign: #19-24 — Special Issue: #25 — The Path to Victory: #26-30 — Quests of the Force: #31 | #32 | #33 | #34 | #35 | #36 — Dark Droids: #37