Han Solo & Chewbacca #9
DEAD OR ALIVE, PART IV
HAN SOLO lives! After being shot and left for dead by the scoundrel GREEDO, the smuggler has been reunited with his partner, CHEWBACCA, who has allied himself with a mysterious but resourceful girl known as PHAEDRA.
Working together, they have pulled off a daring heist in the center of the Imperial capitol and stolen a valuable urn for JABBA THE HUTT.
But before they can deliver their prize to Jabba, they’ll have to get off CORUSCANT alive….
Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Artist: David Messina
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Cover artist: Phil Noto
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: January 18, 2023
At the end of the last thrilling instalment of Han Solo & Chewbacca, we saw the mighty wookiee falling, and we open this issue with Han yelling his name and reaching out as Chewie tumbles, and just when it looks like his krayt is cooked, he manages to snag a speeder and haul himself inside. Now they have the urn, they realise that it’s just a shell – inside is another unknown object, and while Han is slightly frustrated at Jabba lying about the nature of the object, he’s laser focused on their payout. It’s Phaedra who is the most inquisitive about the object and finding out what it really is, as is Chewie and so Solo agrees to take it to a friend of a friend on Nar Shaddaa.
Meanwhile on Endrias Minor, Han Solo’s ‘dad’ learns that Han is heading to Nar Shaddaa with the urn as we rejoin Han, Chewie and Pheadra searching for the Ungnaught Sava Korin Pers (first seen in the 2015 Lando mini series by Charles Soule). They find her, and after briefly discussing their shared associate Lando Calrissian, Korin is given the object to identify while Tyra lands with Marshal Vancto and finds the Falcon – proof Solo is indeed on Nar Shaddaa. Meanwhile, Khel and her team are there, realising the Sava is the best option in the city to value the artifact. Korin identifies it as a neural core belonging to the legendary droid Ajax Sigma, the first truly ‘free’ droid that began a revolution two centuries before and reminding Han of Lando’s lost droid, L3-37. Knowing the lethal ability of Ajax Sigma, and of the droid uprising it led on Kligson’s Moon, he has to take a moment to think. is it wise to deliver this to Jabba?
That’s when Khel and her team arrive and a gunfight breaks out in Korin’s office, prompting Han and Phaedra to make a run for it in case the neural core is stolen, only for them to bump into Marshal Vancto, who quickly uses a bolas to ensnare Chewie as Han and Phaedra run and Chewie breaks free to knock down Vancto. They reach the Falcon, with a plan to blast off and pick up Chewie, but Dad Solo is already there, realising the casing to the urn contained something more valuable and there we end with just one more issue to go in this hugely enjoyable and fast-paced series. The art is kinetic and busy, the script snappy and the story brisk – the perfect combination for a Han Solo tale that has satisfyingly taken 10 issues to tell, far outstretching the usual 4 or 6 issue format. The adventures of Han and Chewie are always fun to follow – the 2018 movie showed that to great effect – and more series like this would be beyond welcome.
