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Hello there! Padawan J here, the resident Star Wars expert from the ODPH! This week I’m here to review the latest issue in the mainline Star Wars comic series!
This issue is Part 3 in the “Trials of Lando Calrissian” storyline. A story which has seen Lando put on trial, after it was revealed that he had given rebellion secrets to none other than Jabba the Hutt himself! But things have been put on hold because Mon Mothma, one of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance has been kidnapped! And now, the one man the rebels trust the least is the only hope they have for finding Mothma!
Star Wars Issue #46 by Charles Soule (writer), Madibek Musabekov (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist) & VC’s Clayton Cowles (Letterer) spends most of the issue focusing on between Mon Mothma & a woman by the name of Hachi having a philosophical discussion about the rebellion & Mothma’s place in it. The other half of the issue focuses on the rebels coming up with a plan to rescue Mothma and trying to track her down.
We find out that Mothma was kidnapped by Scarabi Mercenaries, and that Chewbacca recognized the leaders voice in the ransom message that was sent. They’re not sure where they are, because in the entire galaxy Chewie has only seen 5 safe houses for the group, but what they do know is that they’ll honor their word and do exactly what they say. Kes Dameron (Poe’s father) offer’s to lead a group to track them down ASAP. Leia agrees, and while she’s going to gather the funds together to potentially pay the ransom Chewie suggests there’s another person who needs to come with them. None other than Lando Calrissian.
SPOILERS BELOW
The best part of the issue is the conversation Mothma has with Hachi, about why exactly Mothma joined the rebels. It doesn’t make sense to Hachi because she brings up that before all this started Mothma was a Senator, and a wealthy one at that. So despite Palpatine dissolving the Senate, she doesn’t understand why she gave it all up to join the Rebel Alliance. And after giving the philosophical answer, that freedom is an essential right of all beings and should never be taken, she tells a story about a peach. It might be confusing yes, but just stick with me.
She tells about how she grew up loving watervine peaches, and really savoring the moments she had to eat them because it was a rare fruit that only grew in a small region of her homeworld Chandrila. And then one day they were gone entirely from the planet, without any trace or hint of why. And it wasn’t until she was a Senator and she made an inquiry into what happened, did she find out that a high ranking Imperial officer decided that only he & his cronies decided that they should be the only ones to eat it. So he took what was available, and burned the rest of the crops. Wiping out the fruit forever, making a decision by himself for the entirety of the galaxy.
The story is slightly lost on Hachi because she says, “I’m free. No one tells me what to do or how to live.” And then Mothma drops what might be the most incredible line I’ve read in some time, “That’s only because they haven’t gotten around to it yet.” Mothma lays it out for her, telling her that the Empire doesn’t care who you are or what you do. They’ll use you for whatever purpose they need, and as soon as you’re a liability they will throw you away. Hachi doesn’t believe this and gives the ignorant response, “That’s not how it is! Not for everyone!” And Mothma drops the mic on her by saying, “Tell that to the people of Alderaan.”
The issue warps up with the Lando & Chewbacca tracking down Mothma with a group of rebels and freeing her and taking her back to the rebel forces on Home One, the flagship of the Rebel fleet. And Mon Mothma is ready to wrap up the trial of Lando right now. And it seems that’s where things are going to lead in issue #47.
END OF SPOILERS
Final Point: Charles Soule is one of the best storytellers in Star Wars right now, and this another entry is another feather in his cap. A compelling story that gives some backstory, and fleshes out one of the more unknown figures in the Star Wars franchise in Mon Mothma. We’ve seen a little bit of why she does what she does with the Rebellion in the Andor series and in the Revenge of the Sith novel, but what we see in this issue gives us more of a concrete reason than simply “the Empire is bad”. The entire storyline involving the “trial” of Lando has been fun to read and this adds to it. And despite the fact we already know how things play out, this run takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, it’s still interesting to see things develop and play out in a largely unexplored time period in the Star Wars mythos.
Score: 9.5 out of 10
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