Sana Starros #3
FAMILY MATTERS
PART THREE: GOOD TIMES
Sana Starros has made her way across the galaxy, pulling heists with Han Solo, getting mixed up with Doctor Aphra, and everything in between. After a bad breakup, Sana decides to chart a new path….
Upon returning to the Starros family homestead, Sana is greeted by her Grammy Thea Starros and cousin Aryssha, who is pregnant with the first children of the next generation of the Starros family! There’s only one complication: The father is an Imperial Officer named Cerasus Ehllo who is NOT fond of the Starros family and who issued an attack on the family’s home to retrieve Aryssha and have the children born into Imperial care.
Following an intense space chase, Sana, Grammy, and Mevera made their way to a rendezvous with Sana’s aunt, who just happens to be the deadly bounty hunter Deva Lompop….
Writer: Justina Ireland
Artist: Pere Pérez
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Colorist: Dono Sánchez-Almara
Cover artist: Ken Lashley
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: April 19, 2023
We ended last issue with the reveal that Deva Lompop would be entering the story, prominent on the cover of the issue as she was, and here at the start of the third issue she is front and center as she gets caught up with Grammy, Sana and Mevera. Calling her ‘auntie’, Grammy explains how Avon’s Journals have gone missing, taken by her Imperial grandson Phel. This is all news to Sana who wants nothing to do with it, and stomps to the bar only to be not-so-subtly hit on by a blue-skinned woman called Lanitra who is there to ask a favour of Deva. Enter Lompop, who tells Lanitra to prepare for a mission to Hon-Tallos, also telling Sana to tell her weequay friend Jand to meet them there. Their objective; steal a rancor.
We cut to Aryssha and her Imperial husband Cerasus aboard the King’s Ransom, deep in the Corellian sector. Aryssha is still captive, still keen to find out what her husband is up to, and their delicate dance continues as he avoids her questions while promising that soon they shall travel to Neral’s Moon and we switch again to what appears to be a zoo – Wild Wollina’s Animal Adventures on Hon-Tallos – where Deva, her employees and the Starros family (who she made very clear to Sana she treats as her own, hence being called ‘Auntie’) look to clear the park, and seeing a number of familiar creatures in tiny cages we see the Jand just as a huge hragscythe (presumably freed from its cage by Lanitra), its enormous body and two snake-like heads writhing, steps forward. With the public in danger, Deva incapacitates the creature using her venom, and then gives Sana what she needs to lure the rancor out of its enclosure – juvenile rancor urine.
Dousing herself in the urine she faces a huge adult rancor which recognises her as its cub, and she prepares to climb onto its back just as a huge explosions erupts and Wollina arrives, looking for Mevera Starros. With the rancor keeper keen to stop its abduction and Deva taking care of Wollina’s goons, we see Sana ride the rancor as Wollina gives chase, the rancor quickly swiping him off his speeder to the ground. A brief chat later and we learn that Deva helped Wollina build the zoo years before, but now Lanitra as part of the Genetian Collective has liberated it.
With Sana now smelling of rancor urine and Deva owed a favour, which in turn gives her the leverage to help the Starros family, we see Grammy has been kidnapped much to Sana’s annoyance and we switch back to the King’s Ransom in hyperspace as Aryssha asks to be excused. She overhears two officers talking about a password in Togruti, and curious she follows, only to be found by Phel and Cerasus, who are keen to unlock Avon’s Journals. Finding Aryssha, we end the issue with her horrified face as Creasus promises she will be dealt with.
A fast-paced issue, the brief hops to the King’s Ransom were the most intriguing element rather than the zoo heist to steal a rancor (which admittedly made for a great cover). This issue was tough to follow, a number of paragraphs and panels requiring double and triple reads to understand what was happening, and some inconsistent characterisation for Deva (when we first met her in War of the Bounty Hunters Deva was both regal and feral – here, too much happens ‘offscreen’ for her to feel like the threat she’s clearly intended to be) and Aryssha once again means a slow read for a mid-series issue that should be a brisk adventure as we head towards the final couple of issues.
There’s clearly enough in here to warrant further development, and maybe that’s the problem; it’s lightly sketched, which in turn makes it feel unsubstantial, and that’s a frustration as the plot and characters are undoubtedly engaging. There’s a disconnect, so fingers crossed the next issue puts the pedal to the metal and motors towards its destination, as this issue felt like a cheeseburger with plenty of gherkins but no burger.
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Ireland, Justina (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 22 Pages - 05/31/2023 (Publication Date) - Marvel (Publisher)
