Review: ‘Star Wars’ #45 – Leia Is a Key Witness in The Trial of Lando Calrissian
As the Rebel Alliance takes steps to rescue Mon Mothma, the trial of Lando Calrissian continues in the main Star Wars comic run. This time Leia’s in the hotseat as a key witness to testify for/against Lando’s character.
While there are no shocking developments this time, the trial is still entertaining to follow. The odds are really stacked against Lando, even with the alliance distracted and his shady lawyer doing all she can to get Lando off on a technicality.
It’s a fun and entertaining read, and I’m still looking forward to learning how Lando manages to get out of this one.
Spoilers ahead…
The first thing we saw is that the Rebels have decided to scatter their fleet, as Mon Mothma knows all their tactical intel. In the event that the Empire learns all her secrets, they have to make sure they’re not all in one place. At least this time they have the comms channels to regroup easily, unlike at the beginning of this comic run four years ago.
With The Home One in hyperspace, General Madine and Admiral Ackbar are eager to resume Lando’s trial — Madine particularly has it out for him — so it continues, despite Georgio’s attempts to declare a mistrial in Mon Mothma’s absence. It seems that was her main plan, so things are not looking great for Lando.
Captain Muskray continues his prosecution, calling Leia Organa to the stand. He asks her to explain what happened when she met Lando in The Empire Strikes Back, knowing that she would testify that Lando played a key role in the capture of “Rebel Hero Captain Han Solo”. It’s a pretty potent weapon to use in the trial, given how much the Rebellion misses him.
Thankfully, Georgio questions Leia and brings to light just how much of a bind Lando was in, pointing out that like most people in the galaxy, Lando realized too late that you can’t work with the Empire, and that he entered into an agreement with them to protect the Cloud City citizens under his charge, not just to selfishly protect his business interests.
Leia’s testimony clawed back a little of Lando’s credibility, but evidently not enough to win him the trial. However, while conferring with his lawyer in his cell, Lando manages to identify the mercenaries who kidnapped Mon Mothma. Knowing that the Rebel leaders would never trust him, he selflessly calls Chewbacca — who flat out refuses Georgio’s request to testify to Lando’s character — and asks the Wookiee to give the information to the Rebels.
It’s a truly selfless act, which Georgio points out could have been used as a bargaining chip to get him out of there. Lando isn’t interested though — not only does he believe he deserves what’s coming to him, but it’s clear that his preference is to continue fighting for the Rebel Alliance if he is indeed pardoned for his crimes. He can’t do that if he leverages information on Mon Mothma’s captors against them.
That information could prove vital, as the Rebels can’t afford Mon Mothma’s ransom fee. It will surely come to light that Lando selflessly offered this information, which would prove key to him winning this trial. It continues to be a fun read.
Rating: 7/10
Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
