– Spoiler Review –
With Mon Mothma back and no more hindrances for the trial to continue, the defense, and Lando himself, make their case in Star Wars #47’s finale to the Trial of Lando Calrissian storyline!
While Lando is the one on trial, this storyline’s been a way for writer Charles Soule to explore and catch up with other characters too, providing readers with glimpses of how Princess Leia and Mon Mothma are processing how things have been going since this era kicked off the story post-The Empire Strikes Back. With Leia’s testimony, we see the truth of her feelings for Han laid bare and how she feels about Lando’s progress, or lack thereof, since he helped take him away from her, while with Mon we saw the power she holds in her words alone and her shining belief in the cause. Next on the block, the first witness for Lando’s defense, is of course Lobot, whose lot in life and connection to Lando is why everyone’s here in the first place. Mostly free of the implants now, we’ve had a few good little scenes between the two friends over the last few issues, but what does Lobot want to tell everyone else about his friend and what he’s sacrificed along the way? Despite his anger with Lando over this whole situation in previous issues, Lobot admits without the loyalty of his friend, he’d be dead, while he explains Lando is fully loyal to the Rebel Alliance too, just he has a hierarchy with loyalties, as he’d rather hurt the Rebellion, if only a little, if it meant saving Lobot. Of course both Ackbar and Madine have issues with these claims, especially Madine who goes off about Lando until Mon calms him down, but Advocate Georgio is happy enough with Lobot’s characterization of Lando she lets him off the stand.
To help prove Lobot’s point, before Lando takes the stand he has an unorthodox sidebar with Leia, offering up his detailed knowledge of Jabba the Hutt’s Palace thanks to his recent visit so she can save Han Solo, but only if they let Lobot go, free to make his own choices and free from punishment, something she says she’d already do but is grateful for his help. Lando takes the stand, but the Lando of the past few issues, reserved to his fate, ready to accept whatever they choose for him, including death, is one he puts aside, bringing out his old Lando charm instead. He points out they are all criminals anyways, how each one has broken the “law” due to their moral code, just like he did as accused, but he won’t fight them if they think throwing him out the airlock is the best answer, despite it being a hypocritical move, rightly according to him. And then he flashes his trademark smile, making sure everyone remembers he’s Lando Calrissian and they were lucky to have him. It’s a fun speech and great to see the old Lando back, yet is it enough to help clear his name? Probably not, but it’s part of a one-two punch, the second half being Georgio’s closing arguments, interrupting the prosecutor’s, which help bring it all home. I really liked her speech, even more than Lando’s, as in a way it sort of touches on some fan reactions to this trial happening despite being so close to one of its biggest final battles of the era, yet the speech also challenges Mon Mothma, General Madine, and Admiral Ackbar to justify actually losing such a valuable and committed asset like Lando, especially since it would deliver a morale blow they couldn’t afford. She’s got this whole trial zeroed in! I laughed quite a bit when, after she concludes her remarks by telling them to debate for 5 minutes and hand down a sentence so everyone can get on with their lives and, literally on the next page, the scene setting box denotes it’s been 5 minutes and they are ready to deliver Lando’s sentence.
We all knew he wasn’t going to be sentenced to death, but it certainly left me curious how it would all play out, so I like how Soule picked the middle ground: Lando’s considered guilty of his crimes, but his punishment is to owe the Rebellion 250 million credits (50 million more than Mon’s bounty), which can decrease over time given how he acts. How people have revealed their feelings about Lando, including his own return to form in this issue, following his years long struggle to save his friend, feels like a fitting way to unpack the journey Soule has taken Lando, and Lobot, through since writing the Lando miniseries in 2015. This storyline also seems to be as much a statement to fans who’ve enjoyed the character arc he’s given Lando, about how far he’s come, as it is a statement to the writer himself, you’ve done the hard work, you can let the character rest, for now. Georgio says as much to Lando, he’s made a significant evolution as she calls it, while the two say goodbye, for now, and I couldn’t help but think since Soule was a lawyer, Georgio saying Lando will always have her number could also be read as a tongue in cheek opening Soule’s left himself to return to writing Lando, and a new arc for him, in the future.
We have the wonderful team of Madibek Musabekov, colorist Rachelle Rosenberg, and letterer Clayton Cowles bringing the trial to the close, though it also means an end to Musabekov’s time on the series, for now at least. The art team really helps keep the suspense of the sentencing, complete with dramatic pause, making it feel like a trial you’d see in a movie or show. While I was laughing with the “Five Minutes Later” box, we see Mon, Ackbar, and Madine aligned before Lando, the perspective making readers look up at them, as if they are more important than us, but Lando, despite us being behind him and he’s colored in shadow, technically looks to be on the same level as them though everything else it meant to make us feel otherwise, like his head held down in the first insert panel. The next insert panel is an almost menacing look at Mon, where we’re still looking up at her, as she utters the words “We sentence you to…” with lots of shadows and a darker coloring from Rosenberg. After that, it’s everyone who’s been watching, aligned in a row, hanging on a thread of silence, awaiting the news, which Cowles pulls us away from and into the final panel, where Mon drops the monetary punishment news. Lando’s surprise feels genuine here, but it’s more at the amount of credits than it is at being sentenced to anything but death. The next page, the top half is made up of four skinny panels and the looks on each character’s face feels very fitting: Ackbar looks suspicious of their punishment, as he says the amount owed is on hold during the conflict; Lando seems incredulous about the seeming requirement to be a good little rebel; Mon seems pleased with the situation, which tracks given she says he should consider this outcome an improvement from expectations, hinting that’s how she really feels about it all; and Madine’s a bit more like Ackbar, but a little more angry, promising he’ll have his eye on Lando. It’s a sequence of panels like this I’ll miss most from Musabekov, who can bring out a lot of emotion, subtle or otherwise, from characters.
Here are a few other things:
- I quite appreciated the ambiguity with some of the more scandalous events with the trial, from the Scarabi kidnapping Mon to the GNK droid which emits poisonous gasses into Lando’s room at the start of this issue, as Lando asks Georgio if she had a hand in any of it and she essentially doesn’t say anything either way (though I’d place bets she was behind at least the gonk droid incident).
- However, them playing off the GNK attack as a left over Scourged droid problem, from the Dark Droids crossover, is just a reminder of how I’ve wished these stories dealt with the consequences more.
- Ruu, from The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life, is this issue’s Pride Month variant cover star!
- The next two issues, #48 and #49, will focus on Leia and the survivors of Alderaan, something she was heavily involved initially, as seen in the Princess Leia miniseries from 2015. I’m hoping this means we’ll see more of Evaan Verlaine and more characters from the comic as well!
- After the Leia story the next two issues is the big milestone of issue #50…and is it really the end for the series? Have I been misreading the solicit for the ninth trade paperback? Or are there still a few more issues left after #50, which the solicit also seems to suggest, Soule has seemed to hint as much, and I’ve been saying for awhile? With the September solicitations out later in June, which is where we’ll get details on #50, maybe we’ll get a clearer answer!
- A concept Soule introduced in his Darth Vader series back in 2017 just made the jump to live-action, as the Barash Vow was mentioned in The Acolyte’s series premiere! Check out our review to find out how!
Star Wars #47 (Vol. 2) wraps up the Trial of Lando Calrissian in the character’s usually showy style, expertly capping off years of Soule’s work on Lando’s story.
+ Perfect cap to the long running trials and tribulations of Lando and Lobot
+ Georgio and Lando’s speeches
+ Musabekov and team leading us along with the suspense and great emotional faces
– Maybe proving things needed to move on a little too well
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Bluesky, 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 | #38 | #39 | #40 | #41 — #42 | #43 — Trial of Lando Calrissian: #44 | #45 | #46