Written by Marc Guggenheim
Art by David Messina
Published by Marvel Comics
Any true Star Wars fan has fantasized about what sort of trouble Han Solo and his Wookie pal Chewbacca got into while running jobs for the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt, before Chewbacca’s clandestine encounter with Obi-Wan Kenobi.
This series is doing a pretty fun job of giving us just that.
Han Solo and Chewbacca are two of my favorite characters in Star Wars, so naturally there was lot of pressure for Marc Guggenheim to deliver. Mercifully, this is seasoned scoundrel Han, not “new smuggler on the block” Han. Also helping flawlessly is that we begin with Han and Chewie being saddled with the ill-fated Greedo for a smash and grab job that takes Han to his home planet of Correllia. It was pairing, or menage a trois rather, I didn’t know I needed.
Of course, this simple venture goes awry, fast. But something happens along the way that I wasn’t expecting. Something that the thought of made my eyes roll in disapproval, and yet, it somehow worked.
Han meets his father.
Yes, I know. And not in the traditional Star Wars Han Solo meaning.
Although this inaugural story boils down to your basic heist gone wrong adventure, when it’s Han Solo and Chewbacca done right with all their charm and overconfidence, you get some special. It’s that same feeling from the original Star Wars when Han chases down the Stormtroopers on the Death Star, only to run head-long into a full squad forcing him to turn tail and run.
Han and Chewie making it up as they go along is satisfying and well executed and getting to see Han and Greedo budding heads, constantly trying to out-con each other really pops. This perfectly motivates Greedo’s animosity towards Han in the original Star Wars. It was something I’ve been waiting my whole life to see.
I’m surprised most of all however, at how well Han’s father works as a character. Guggenheim manages to capture the estranged father-son relationship to maximum effect and the final panel of issue four leaves off with a surprise we all know Han should have seen coming.
Han’s Pop nicked his infamous ship, The Millennium Falcon.
Can’t wait for more.
