Star Wars #12 brings “Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon”, the second multi-part story of Marvel’s new Star Wars series to a rousing, triumphant conclusion, as all the various elements of the story come crashing together in Grakkus the Hutt’s arena, in the process reuniting the previously-scattered cast and putting to rest the mystery of Sana and Han’s marriage.
The penultimate chapter in the “Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon” story, this issue finds Jason Aaron and Stuart Immonen suitably ratcheting up the excitement and action, bringing the three separate groups of characters (Luke, Chewie & Threepio, Han, Leia & Sana) closer than ever to converging on Nar Shadda as the story heads into its finale.
While picking up the pace of the plot a bit from the previous issue, Star Wars #10 succeeds almost singlehandedly on the strength of one particular pairing of characters. After being teased in the cliffhanger of issue #9, this issue fully introduces Chewbacca into the “Showdown on Nar Shaddaa” storyline (in the same month as the first issue of his solo limited series launches) and pairs him with perhaps the unlikeliest of partners: C-3PO. The end result is comic book gold.
Continuing “Showdown on the Smugglers Moon”, Star Wars #9 is, essentially, an all-out action issue, advancing both of the story’s two plots incrementally in favor of extended action scenes. The end result is an entertaining issue that nonetheless reads briskly and is somewhat unsatisfying as a result, since not a whole lot of plot advancement or character development happens.
All-New Captain America #1 Written by Rick Remender Pencilled by Stuart Immonen Inked by Wade von Grawbadger Colors by Marte Gracia Published by Marvel Comics The point of All-New Captain America #1 is to show what new wrinkles Sam Wilson, the artist formerly known as Falcon, brings both physically and mentally to the role. In the time-honored Marvel superhero tradition, he …