Written by Charles Soule
Art by Ramon Rosanas
Published by Marvel Comics
Star Wars #16 gets off to a rocky start by breaking a cardinal rule of any visual medium:
Show it. Don’t say it.
We begin with Luke Skywalker painfully describing to R2-D2 his inner thoughts and reflections about his fateful encounter with Darth Vader during The Empire Strikes Back.
R2-D2 is now a therapist-droid!
This type of inner thought was handled much more effectively in previous issues. Most notably in Star Wars #14 when Leia relives the horror of her love, Han Solo, being frozen in carbonite. Not a word needed to express what Leia was feeling.
But, I digress.
Credit must be given where credit is due. There are a few Ideas in Luke’s introspections, “what if?” moments really, that are nicely drawn and thought provoking.
Despite the fact that last time we saw them, Leia, Lando and Chewbacca had their hands full with Boba Fett, Boba Fett is nowhere to be seen this time around. Fett’s now making his own plans to take back Han Solo and, not really a spoiler: we know he does, eventually.
What works really well is all three of our heroes sticking to their guns and butting heads over how and when to rescue Han. Even better, they all make valid points.
Luke shows off his piloting skills and Admiral Peitt, commanding Darth Vader’s flag ship, The Executor, chews the scenery. In a good way.
We join Qi’Ra and Darth Vader in the middle of their duel which began in War of the Bounty Hunters #3. The visual depiction is much better in this issue.
We left off about the same place as in War of the Bounty Hunters #3, with Darth Vader using Han as leverage to force another confrontation with his son.
The question is, is this another pause in the War of the Bounty Hunters series to bring everyone together? Or are things about to get seriously ugly, seriously fast?
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