Written by Matt Kindt
Pencils by Marco Castiello
Inks by Dan Parsons
Colors by Gabe Eltaeb
Lettering by Michael Heisler
Cover by Adam Hughes
Published by Dark Horse Comics
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It’s a bittersweet affair when one reads a Star Wars comic these days. Disney recently decided not to keep Star Wars at Dark Horse where it’s been since 1991 and instead is shipping it off to Marvel (which Disney owns) starting in 2015. This makes sense for Disney from a financial standpoint but not necessarily from a comics one.
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It can be argued that Dark Horse’s release of the series Dark Empire coupled with Timothy Zahns Thrawn Trilogy started the second coming of Star Wars that lead to the special editions and later the prequel films. Dark Horse knows Star Wars and knows how to do Star Wars right. This is evident all throughout Rebel Heist #2.
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The book opens with a recap of the previous issue but the story in issue#2 could easily be a stand alone tale. Set sometime between the end of A New Hope and the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back, Rebel Heist taps into a time frame seldom mined by Lucasfilm where Han is still a rogue, Luke is still primarily a fighter pilot and Leia is still a mix of Princess and Secret Agent. With three whole years in which to tell stories with the Original Trilogy cast where they aren’t all ready for canes and arthritis meds, it boggles the mind as to why we still get stories upon stories set during the “Clone Wars” instead.
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Rebel Heist #2 focuses on Princess Leia Organa and her mission to rescue an exposed rebel operative and simultaneously steal a secret Imperial code. This is the Leia we are introduced to at the beginning of A New Hope, packing heat and taking names. This is a Leia who is as equally comfortable dressing to the nines and schmoozing at a party as she is strangling a man to death by using a piece of her dress as a garote. Too often in the world of the Star Wars Expanded Universe has it felt like Leia was relegated to babysitter or diplomat and it’s good to see her getting her hands dirty for a change.
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The art by Mark Castiello really does justice to the Star Wars universe. The Stormtroopers look like Stormtroopers , the aliens look right. That’s not to say that Castiello stays photo-realistic, he definitely does everything in his own style and honestly, Princess Leia has never looked better.
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Sadly, there’s no way of knowing what if anything from this book or any other Dark Horse publication will still be cannon now that Lucasfilm has decided that many parts of the EU are null and void. Cannon or not though, Star Wars Rebel Heist is still a worthwhile read for any fan of the original trilogy and must read for those fans that feel like the last ten years have been a little too prequel heavy.