Written by Charles Soule
Art by Ramon Rosanas
Published by Marvel Comics
Prelude to War of The Bounty Hunters: The Hunt For Han Solo.
The fight over the ill-fated carbonite frozen Han Solo continues with none other than Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca picking up their friend’s trail.
Credit goes to Chewie, actually.
It’s his contact on the smuggler moon Nar Shaddaa that provide the information that leads himself, Luke, C-3PO and R2-D2, on board the Millennium Falcon, to Boba Fett’s last known location.
Last known to us, that is.
This installment threatens to be a McGuffin.
Joined by Sagwa, a Wookiee Chewie helped liberate on Kessel during Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Chewie’s lead, our heroes find themselves in the crosshairs of the Kanji, the criminal organization Boba Fett encountered in the previous issue, Prelude #0.
The Kanji are not pleased with Fett.
There’s no spoiler here in mentioning that Luke and company escape, though (spoiler) empty handed. And not scot-free as the Kanji recall that the Empire has a bounty on all Jedi.
A new lead to Han Solo’s carbonized whereabouts is however, teased in the very last panel.
And that’s the problem that bugged me.
The dissemination of information.
There’s a trope in television that you need to re-introduce your characters every episode to quickly bring new viewers up to speed. However, every time Spock appeared in an episode of Star Trek, we didn’t need to be told that he was a Vulcan and devoid of human emotion.
Luke knows that 3PO is fluent in over six million forms of communication.
R2-D2 knows this. 3PO knows that Luke knows. Everyone knows this!
Each time C-3PO mentions the fact that he’s fluent in over six million forms of communication in the films, it’s in the presence of characters we’ve never heard him mention that fact to before, i.e Han Solo on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back and Jabba’s droid, EV-9D9, in Return of the Jedi.
Here we’re reminding no one who needed reminding.
There are also a few plots points that only serve to distract from the immediate story: rescuing Han Solo! I get that there are other story threads happening with Luke.
I also find some interest in potential Jedi Temples being discovered. But, I find it more than a little too convenient that R2D2 is all of a sudden, a Deux Ex Machina droid providing Luke with information that unnecessarily convolutes a straight forward objective: rescuing Han Solo!
If information does not eventually lead Leia, Luke and Chewie to Jabba’s palace on Tatooine, it loses me as a fan.
Yet still, this is Star Wars.
I look forward to the next installment with the same eagerness.
