Originally published on Patreon
The first story arc for Han Solo & Chewbacca was an interesting affair, sending Hand and Chewie on a mission with Greedo, bringing in Han's father, making that a fake-out, it was a story that had a lot of ups and down and twists along the way. But all in all, it was pretty good.
However, it ended with a couple of bad twists of fate for the titular heroes. Han ended up being shot, and Chewbacca got sent to prison. Thankfully, he finds an ally in jail in the form of Maz Kanata.
This issue picks up with Chewie, who's being targeted by some of the biggest, meanest folks in prison as they think taking down a Wookie will improve their street cred. Unfortunately for them, it's a hell of a lot easier said than done; and with the help of a new friend, Phaedra, Chewie is able to stop the attempts on his life. But, fighting gets him brought before the tribunal, who inform him because of the ten outstanding warrants on him (not including the Imperial ones) he's going to be in prison for at least a hundred years.
Whilst this is going on we catch up with Corbus Tyra and his new allies as they put together a plan to get inside an Imperial depot where the Millennium Falcon has been impounded in order to get the ship back, and retake the million credit urn. The plan, which seems needlessly convoluted and risky, pays off; but the urn is missing.
Back in prison, Phaedra tells Maz about a plan she has to escape the facility, with the help of Ponda Baba and Dr Evazan, and is willing to take Maz an Chewbacca along with her. The only catch is, for the plan to work, Chewbacca has to die.
The final pages of the issue take us to a remote world where Han Solo has been found and is being nursed back to health by the inhabitants.
So, this issue is a bit of a mixed bag for me. The stuff in prison is great, and I love that Chewbacca is getting the focus for once, rather than just being Han's sidekick. I like that we're getting to see more of his relationship with Maz, and the cameo appearances from some familiar faces is cool too.
The stuff with Corbus are the parts of the issue that get me less excited, however, a it all feels a it rushed and half explained. The mission to get the Falcon back could have happened over a couple of issues and it would have felt like it had been both more earned, and would have also made things flow better. As it was, there were times where I wasn't sure what the team were trying to do, and before I could really dig deep into it what was happening it was over and we'd moved on.
I've found that this series has been one that's had some good moments and less than good stuff in the past, and this issue really highlights that with the two story lines that have quite different qualities. Hopefully the series will keep on pushing the good stuff, and we'll get less of the bad.
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