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Hello there! Padawan J here, the resident Star Wars expert from the ODPH! And I’m going to be reviewing the latest issue in the mainline Star Wars comic series from Marvel comics!
This issue is the final part in the “Trial of Lando Calrissian storyline! Lando finds himself on trial with the Rebel Alliance after it was revealed that he was giving Rebel Alliance secrets to none other than Jabba the Hutt himself! And after rescuing Mon Mothma in issue #46, the time has come for the end of trial! Now with that said, let’s jump into it!
Star Wars issue #47 by Charles Soule (writer), Madibek Musabekov (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist) & VC’s Clayton Cowles (letterer), is not the most action packed issue you might pick up at the comic shop this week, but what it lacks in action it more than makes up for it in the drama aspect. And it’s a story that I think Dick Wolf (the creator of the Law & Order shows) would be envious of.
After a suspicious start to the issue that finds Lando almost poisoned to death with a mysterious gas attack, the issue kicks off with Lando’s lawyer calling his friend Lobot to the stand. And Lobot gives a great testimonial for why Lando is a trustworthy person. And he makes a compelling case, because they’ve been friends for so long and Lando has really gone to some great lengths to help Lobot out. And before Lando takes the stand himself, he has an interesting conversation with Leia. I’d go into detail here, but you really should read the exchange for yourself.
My favorite part of the issue is when Lando takes the stand and before he can answer any questions from his lawyer, he has something to say. He says at the start of this whole thing he was willing to let it play out and he figured he’d get what he deserved. But he has the great line of exposing just how hypocritical the Rebel Alliance leadership is being. He calls them out and says, “We’re ALL criminals. Every single rebel would be executed on sight by the Empire. We break the law. They call it murder, terrorism…we call it a desperate battle for freedom.” And honestly? HE IS NOT WRONG. It’s a FANTASTIC exchange that I don’t think has been explored all that much, and I’d love to see it explored some more in Star Wars. Also this might be the first time I’ve ever hated General Madine. When you read the issue you’ll understand.
The artwork from Madibek Musabekov & Rachelle Rosenberg is fantastic and really does a great job of giving you this feeling of being confined, and not having a whole lot of hope. The color also feels very neutral and really gives off the vibe of you don’t know how this is going to go, despite the fact we do know how it’s going to end.
FINAL POINT: Charles Soule tells another fantastic story in his run on Star Wars that is a nice change of pace from the usual action packed stuff you might expect. I won’t spoil the ending because yes we do know what ends up happening, it does fill in a little bit of interesting info about how things progressed with Lando between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. This issue is definitely a must read for Star Wars fans!
Score: 8.7 out of 10
Thanks for checking out my review on Nerd Initiative. For more of my content, check out ODPHpodcast.com, follow me on Twitter, and check out more of my reviews here on Nerd Initiative: https://nerdinitiative.com/author/padawanj/!
