The hunt to recover Han Solo begins as the Rebellion licks its wounds after their previous loss to the Empire. Spoilers for Star Wars #2 follow.
The first issue of the rebooted Star Wars comic was a great introduction to this new era of the comics. Finally, we’re exploring the time between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi; a time that has barely been touched upon. And, not only that though, the issue takes place between the final scenes of Empire! This issue, on the other hand, coincides with Lando and Chewie’s mission that they set out upon right at the end of Empire. We get to see that mission while also exploring more of the Rebellion is setting out to do at this time. This issue, as well as the first, have been great tone-setters for the series going forward.
Most of this issue is devoted to Lando and Chewie’s mission to confront Jabba the Hutt regarding Han in Carbonite. There were plenty of ways that a story like this could go belly up, but Charles Soule and Jesus Saiz made sure this wasn’t the case. This part of the issue feels like a classic adventure film with charisma and humor that ooze off the page. It’s a nice palette cleanser for the rest of the more serious moments in the issue, as well as the time period in general. That’s not to say it doesn’t have its dark moments as well, it does, but it has the most humor of anything else.
As for the rest of the issue, it focuses on two things, Leia motivating the Rebellion and Luke coping with his loss to Vader. With Leia’s portion of the issue, we really get to see how motivated the surviving members of the Rebellion are which automatically makes you care for these supporting characters. These are people who should be scared out of their minds, but they’re still brave enough to continue moving forward. As for Luke, we get to see him adjusting to his new hand as well as reflecting on what his rejection of Darth Vader meant. It’s not much, more so set-up of things to come possibly, but what is here is extremely well done. Plus, there’s finally the beginning of the answer to what happened to Luke’s lightsaber after his hand was cut off.
As for Jesus Saiz’s art, like always, he absolutely knocks this issue out of the park. There are no singular pages or panels that are stand-out pages, but that’s ok. Every single page is expertly laid out to tell the story in the best way possible. There’s a fantastic flow to the story that is never interrupted no matter what is happening. Not a single story beat was wasted by inefficient art. Plus, his line art, inks, and Arif Prianto’s color art, simply put, looks great.