Star Wars (2020) #39
HOSTILE HYBROID
Lando and the rebels aboard ”Home One” were awakened by the ship’s defenses being activated as though they were gearing up for a battle.
Lando soon learned the culprit was an unwell Lobot, whose neural implants were failing, causing interference with the rebel ship and causing potentially lethal damage to Lobot.
The only thing that could help Lobot was the talky droid that Lando sold to Jabba the Hutt. However, when Lando and Lobot went to try to retrieve the talky, they came face-to-face with other droids experiencing the same deadly malfunction, as well as a giant rancor….
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Madibek Musabekov
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover artist: Stephen Segovia
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: October 18, 2023
Lando Calrissian has always had a habit of finding trouble with ease, despite his wish to avoid it, and the opening page of Star Wars #39 sees our erstwhile baron administrator in the stickiest of situations. There are scourge-controlled droids to one side, a huge rancor to the other and Lobot, himself compromised nearby. Thankfully, the ‘talky’ droid he is there to find in order to help Lobot is able to render the rancor unconscious with a sonic blast, and does so, giving Lando a few seconds to extricate themselves from the situation. With a panel opened on the floor above, they climb up the unconscious rancor and escape just as it rouses. They regoup as the angry rancor rages at the droids in its pit and ‘talky’ informs Lando that they need to be gone as soon as possible. While there are plenty of droids still present in the palace, Jabba and his entourage are out on the Dune Sea aboard the Khetana, but will be back soon.
We cut to Jabba aboard his sail barge as he orders them to return to the palace, and kill anything that stands in their way, apart from the rancor. Meanwhile, in his court, Lando, ‘talky’ and Lobot prepare to leave, but before they do Lando walks over to the carbonite block of Han Solo. He apologises, but stops Lobot as the cyborg is about to unfreeze Solo. In his weakened state he’d have little chance of escaping; he’s safer where he is.
They turn as a slew of droids enter the room and run to follow ‘talky’, diving through a hatch as the droids follow close behind and pausing to make their next move. They pause too long, as Lobot is grabbed and taken by the scourge droids. Lando demands ‘talky’ open the door as they can effect a rescue, but he is unable to do so, hacking being beyond his capabilities. Lando has had enough and blasts a limb off the droid, reasoning that all he really needs is his head and asking why the scourge droids didn’t take him as expected, but grabbed Lobot instead.
We cut to the cyborg strapped into a chair, the scourge droids explaining how they believe cyborgs are the pathway from the metal to the meat, and watch as Lando and ‘talky’ fight their way out. They reach a dark room, one ‘talky’ is too nervous to enter, and Lando moves in only to find hybrid droids with human and alien biological limbs, and sees Lobot – now controlled by the scourge – who tells Calrissian he knows Lobots every thought, how the cyborg believed Lando would save him and that Lando is the ‘luckiest cat he’s ever met’.
Jabba’s men return to the palace, prompting the scourge droids and Lobot to leave, and we see Lando return to the Falcon as the opposing forces clash and dive into a memory, as they complete a heist and escape, Lando promising that the proceeds will set them up for life and Lobot smiling, telling Lando ‘you’re maybe the luckiest cat I’ve ever met‘. We wrap up the issue in the Falcon’s cockpit as ‘talky’ enters, asking if Calrissian is going to destroy him. ‘No, I’m going to save my friend‘.
An ominous end as we roll out of issue #39 and Dark Droids continues. With this issue we’re at the halfway point of the series, and the threat of the scourge is galaxy wide, invading every facet of society, even the underworld as the scourge continues to develop, its ambition matching its capabilities. The artwork by Madibek Musabekov is impressive, the story and script by Charles Soule busy and pacey and the threat constant. No time to pause or rest, these droids are going to get you, and as the grotesque marriage of metal and flesh continues to swell we can only imagine what the next part of Dark Droids – D-Squad #2 – will bring.
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Soule, Charles (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 22 Pages - 11/01/2023 (Publication Date) - Marvel (Publisher)
