Star Wars: The Mandalorian #4
CHAPTER 4: SANCTUARY
Upon delivering the Child to the Client, Mando began to question what the intentions were for this bounty.
After seeing the danger that the Child was in, Mando decided to rescue him and fight his way past the Imperial guards and other bounty hunters.
Greef Karga confronted Mando, but Mando escaped and is now on his way off planet….
Writer: Rodney Barnes
Penciller: Georges Jeanty
Inker: Karl Story
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover artist: Phil Noto
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: 5th October 2022
We continue our journey through the first season of The Mandalorian, arriving at Chapter 4, Sanctuary. You’ll remember that as the episode where Mando, already weary from the responsibility of looking after the welfare of the Child, almost decides to relinquish his role as a Mandalorian and essentially retire to the tranquil world of Sorgan until the reality of their shared situation comes back to haunt them both.
We open on Sorgan as the villagers are attacked by marauders, chasing them into the waters around their encampments and watching as they pillage their homes. Cut to the skies and Mando and the Child are swinging by looking for a safe world to lay low for a couple of months. With no starports or industrial centers, Sorgan is perfect and so Mando takes the Razor Crest down, landing on the outskirts of the village and walking into town, finding an inn and ordering bone broth for the Child. Inside he spots a quiet, well-built woman and after asking about her story from the barkeep he steps outside, only to be attacked and fighting to a draw. The woman is Cara Dune, and after giving Mando the brief version of her military career – fighting for the Rebellion post Endor, mopping up Imperial warlords until they were defeated until only monotonous guard duty remained – she makes it clear that Sorgan only has room for one of them, and so Mando makes plans to leave. Leave, until he is approached by the locals who want help to repel the raiders and offer to pay him. He is too expensive for them, but he takes their money, silently agreeing to help and giving that money to Dune, enlisting her services in the process.
A plan is made; teach the locals how to fight and lay traps for the AT-ST the raiders have somehow acquired. Mando and Dune begin their instructions, and soon they head out to the raider’s encampment, starting a fight and luring them back to the village where the red windows of the AT-ST raider ominously glow in the dark as the villagers try to bring it forward into the trench they have dug. Only the actions of Mando and Cara are able to bring it to its knees, sending the marauders fleeing and saving the villagers.
We wrap up with the Child clearly loving the attention of the Sorgan children and the tranquillity of the village so much so that Mando is pretty much set on remaining on the idyllic world. Hes on the verge of taking off his helmet when Cara spots a bounty hunter in the trees and eliminates him just as he’s about to kill the Child, and the tracking fob confirms Mando’s worst fears – he was after the kid and so they depart, leaving for the Razor Crest and the stars.
As with the previous three issues, it’s tough to review this without being conscious of the source material its drawn from being out in the world for three years. The art from Georges Jeanty is attractive, while the colours from Rachelle Rosenberg are as on-point as ever, as is the script from Rodney Barnes, but Marvel and/or Lucasfilm really need to step up the pace on adaptations. No one expects the issues to land the week after the episode, but certainly it needs to be in readers hands more promptly than 156 weeks after debuting. We’re in an era of Disney Plus expansion and numerous book releases, so there’s a lot of other ‘stuff’ to draw readers attention. Being a Mandalorian comic is a huge pull – an original ongoing would be very welcome, set in the years before he met the Child while he was building his reputation – but (and I fear I’ll be reiterating this over the next 4 issues and beyond) while the work between the covers (and this cover is by Phil Noto, another poster-worthy gem) is perfectly acceptable, the title is largely redundant.
