The relaunched and revamped Star Wars universe, as told in the pages of Marvel Comics, has been one with a focus somewhat away from where one might expect.  The main Star Wars series has focused on the regular selection of heroes, but the miniseries have featured characters that might be considered to be a bit odd for choices to headline a series.  This is no more true than with Lando.  Although Leia was an odd choice for her own series, it was nonetheless one which featured one of the core group of characters, but although Lando played an important later on in the original trilogy, he is not completely in the core group.  A part of the problem of the previous comic series and expanded universe properties, at least to some, is that it deviated a bit too far away from what was the true essence of the Star Wars universe, but the new series have proven that there are still a lot of great stories to be told while staying closer to the original source material.

So far Lando has managed to get himself out of trouble by agreeing to steal a spaceship, which in turn got him into a lot more trouble after he found out that the spaceship belongs to Emperor Palpatine.  Much of this issue deals with the direct impact of the last panels of the second issue, when Lando found a pair of Imperial Guards awaiting him inside the vault of his new ship.  A lot of this issue is thus a battle scene between Lando’s two melee experts and these guards, though the plot is filled in a bit more with the bounty hunter that is sent after Lando.

This series is once again showing that the direction of the now canonical comic series is heading in the right direction.  There is not much here which is trying to redefine the Star Wars universe, or to send it off on some tangent, but rather the focus is on telling engaging and fun stories within this continuity.  This issue stumbles a little bit as it loses some momentum with the battle sequence, but still keeps the series moving along well.  After all, this is not meant to be a defining Star Wars experience, rather a complementary one, and it succeeds at being that.  It helps, not hinders, the main story telling of the movies and offers insights into bypassed characters along the way.

Story:  Charles Soule Art: Alex Maleev
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5  Recommendation: Buy