SW7N Review: Lando #2
Some of the best caper stories in print and on film involve a thief going for that “big score” out of desperation but ultimately stealing something from someone so dangerous that it buries them in over their head in ways they don’t even know. In the Star Wars universe, stealing a ship called Imperialis belonging to Emperor Palpatine could fall into that scenario. Throw in the fact he is the Sith Lord master and the ship contains possessions he would rather see destroyed than fall into the other hands, then one might start to get a bit concerned for Lando’s future.
SPOILERS!!!
We last left Lando and crew as they fled the remote Imperial shipyard with what they figured to be a pleasure craft of some dignitary. Lando is in deep with all the wrong people and this craft is the only way he can payback the debt. His friend Lobot is along for the ride.
One would think 3 Star Destroyers showing up to get in the way of your escape plan would make a thief panic. Not Lando. Seeing the Empires’s determination to prevent his escape only increases the value of the stolen vessel and its contents that much more valuable. The Star Destroyers first turn their weapons on the shipyard and then deploy some strange deterrents we have not seen before. My strong suit is not technobabble so all I can say is they increase the gravity in the vicinity of a ship, preventing it from entering hyperspace.
After some fancy flying, assisted by Imperialis’ own countermeasures, and using the Star Destroyers own tractor beams against the other, Lando and crew manage to escape. We then find ourselves on a planet called Amethia Prime. We are introduced to a new bounty hunter named Chanath Cha.
This person is a cross between Boba Fett and Deadpool (in my opinion). He catches his bounty after as they are on the run in a speedboat. Cha’s primary method of in atmosphere transportation are a pair of rocket boots that send him zooming around. He has no problem apprehending the target who begs and pleads with Cha. As soon as Chanath Cha gets a call from Emperor Palpatine he literally drops everything. As you can probably guess, Chanath Cha is tasked with tracking down the Imperialis and either retaking it or destroying it. Once again, to restate, the Emperor would rather see the ship destroyed than fall into the wrong hands.
Back onboard the Imperialis, Lando and crew begin to take a look at the contents to ascertain why the Empire is so eager to get it back. They are still unaware of who the ship belongs to. All they see are artifacts from Naboo so they assume it to be some sort of art collection. Everything is fine until Lobot opens a door to what the rest of the ship holds and is greeted by some figures we know are bad news and always mean business.
This is a solid second issue. My only complaint is the addition and appearance of Chanath Cha. In my opinion, if the ship is that valuable to Palpatine you don’t call up a bounty hunter to go looking for it…you send Darth Vader. I know that a great deal of mistrust between the Sith Lords has been established in the Darth Vader arcs, but I think it lowers the stakes when the most powerful person in the galaxy hires a random bounty hunter. Just my opinion and I will totally eat my words. The glass may very well be half full, but that is the only thing that bothered me.
Watching an Imperial commander commit suicide rather than face the Emperor to explain failure was a powerful image. Very disturbing, but it serves the task of getting inside the Empire’s head, one which Marvel and Del Rey writers have been nailing as far as I’m concerned. The Empire appears less of an evil organism and more of a set of diseased, weak cells. The Emperor wants it to be a perfect extension of his malevolence but the problem he overlooks is not everyone is as cold and evil as him. No matter what punishment he dishes out, some people would rather die than show their leader they could not be made into what he wants them to be.
Lando is worth your time and money. Head on down to your local shop and pick up this issue. Despite my above criticism, the artwork by Alex Maleev on its own is worth it. You can also order a digital copy at Marvel.com or at Comixology.com.
Kyle Larson lives in Portland, Oregon. When he's not running trails, he's reading and writing.
“Star Destroyers first turn their weapons on the shipyard and then deploy some strange deterrents we have not seen before…they increase the gravity in the vicinity of a ship, preventing it from entering hyperspace.”
Sounds like it’s most likely an Interdictor-class Star Destroyer from the Tie Fighter and X-wing PC games, and also from the EU.
These type of star destroyers create a gravity well that stops all ships in the field’s vicinity from entering hyperspace.
Agreed. Those ships looked cool, so it would be neat to see them as canon.
Don’t forget Star Wars: Empire at War!
A simply awesome and underrated game. The space battles are incredible, even if the ground battles are lackluster at best. The game is best played with mods.
What mods would you suggest? I need to play the game.
It’s not an interdictor class star destroyer with gravity well generators. They are regular Star Destroyers that deploy mines that house gravity well generators that disrupt the gravitational pull so that the Imperialisis can’t jump to Hyper space. Luckily for Lando, that ship has a couple enhancements that even Han and his Millenium Falcon would be proud of. 🙂
cool. i wanna see stories post empire and before ROTJ
Great issue. BTW, this is just a guess, but I suspect that the new bounty hunter isn’t a he.
Are all these new comics canon?
Yes. All new novels and comics are canon.
damn so lobot gets stabbed is canon
Sigh…
I love how this comic series gives some love to lesser known, but eye-catching characters such as Lobot and the Imperial Guards. I mean, they’re not personal guards/assistant for no reason. Just a little detail that I relly like about this grimmer series.
Looks interesting…
I am so sick of these comic books. They come of as cheap and obvious fan service.
Why is Lando sitting in the emperors chair from ROTJ?
Why is he playing with the same chance cubes watto had in TPM?
It’s stuff like this that makes me mad and NOT want to read the comics. And that’s just the stuff from this issue. I see too much of this garbage in EVERY issue. Just dumb.
Please create NEW original stories and content. Quit recycling old stuff we’ve seen before. It’s lazy and demeaning.
Don’t get them, then. Simple. You’re welcome!
I’m pretty sure the guys at marvel don’t
read these forums so if you feel the need to bitch and whine go send your comments to them. (if you have the guts ) I’m pretty sure nobody here is interested in your negative comments.
Why are you here, Troll?
Looks like somebody doesn’t understand the concept of covers: they’re a representation of events, not a literal depiction. The cover shows Lando in the throne to represent him unknowingly getting into the Emperor’s business, and the chance cubes are a blatant way of saying he’s making a big gamble. It’s not rocket science.
Come on, another Boba Fett rip off? This is the best Marvel can do to add a new character to the Star Wars universe?
If so, I would rather see more of the bounty hunters we haven’t see since the cannon reboot: Zuckuss, 4-LOM, Dengar, IG-88…
Nope, we’ll most likely get a transgender trandoshan…..
I am glad to see Mandalorians back. Boba Fett or not, they are some of the coolest Star Wars characters.
Hopefully in Rogue One or another spin off will feature them in the background. The Lando comic is awesome so far. Looking forward to picking up #2
Thank you everyone for your comments! These comics are not for everyone and please don’t get into name calling when someone expresses their dissatisfaction. Just because someone or someones disagree does not make them a troll.
It makes them a troll, when they know they are on a Star Wars fan site, and they know the majority of Star Wars fans will eat up this new canon, and they know that if they say anything negative about anything related to the new material that they will attract fans who will respond back fiercely.
Knowing this, makes anyone who posts trash talk a troll. There are much better word choices and ways of expressing your critiques and opinions on the subject material.
For example:
“This stuff is garbage! It all sucks, I hate Disney and I hate anybody who is responsible for this filth.”
– An obvious attempt at stating a strong opinion and negative connotation of the material presented. Which, when applied to any fan based IP with a large following, not just Star Wars, will attract rabid fans of the said IP and sow dissatisfaction with that users comment. Also, the user posts with the full intention of causing anger in anybody who reads the posted comment and who is also a fan of the IP. Aka. trolling.
“This was not the best issue in my opinion, and I think it could have been improved if they did blah blah blah. What do you guys think?”
– This is an example of a much better way of stating your opinion that isn’t blatant nonsense and an attempt at trolling everyone who reads these comments.
I’m just saying that there’s no reason why anyone should not be able to post in a manner that is respectful and yet true to themselves. Therefore, in my honest opinion this person can and should still be considered a troll in my mind, even if you or they think of themselves as not being one. What do you think? 🙂
“I know that a great deal of mistrust between the Sith Lords has been established in the Darth Vader arcs, but I think it lowers the stakes when the most powerful person in the galaxy hires a random bounty hunter.”
A random bounty hunter without the Force is a better deal than getting Vader to hunt for a ship that has a bunch of Sith artifacts. And those guard look “off” somehow. Zombies?
I find the Mandalorians quite overrated and by now overused.It’s a way of giving the fans what they want. I rather see new ideas.
Also Jawas are the best anyway!
Yeah, heaven forbid you actually give the fans what the want. They might actually have a good time and enjoy the story. We can’t have that can we?
But yeah, jawas are cool.
It’s just not as exiting, seeing the same old again and again. Hopefully J.J. can breeze some fresh air into the franchise, with exiting surprises and cool NEW characters, like Filoni did in part before him.
They have great actors, great writers and a great director and what I’m reading so far reads well, so I can hope for a grat movie.
New article up at EW. Much better than a dumb comic book.
Because EW is highly intelectual.
Are all comic books dumb, or just this one?
Why are comic books dumb if they all are?
Have you read any comic books before or none at all? If so, which ones are good and why is this one considered bad?
Do you even like comic books? If not, you should give it a try and let us know what you think, you won’t know if you like something if you’ve never tried it.
You do know that comic books are just stories illustrated with artistic 2D style over several pages of art, right?
If you are a true fan of Star Wars, you should at least accept that other people besides you like things that you don’t.
Trying to put them down by saying something that they like is dumb, is juvenile and not a good way to make friends.
The white guy looks very subservient on the cover. Android or not I’m offended.