Han Solo and Chewbacca continue to waste two of the best characters in comics. Issue 8 is even worse in that the main focus of the books seems to be shifting to Phaedra. Phaedra somehow gets to be as resourceful, creative and crafty as Han Solo is supposed to be. Han meantime seems to be entirely fangless. Greedo flat out shot him in a prior issue and Han does not even attempt to return the favor here. Also Chewbacca once again takes a back seat entirely, with almost none of the conflict or action including the Wookiee.
The issue begins on Mos Eisley in Tatooine with the trio interrogating Greedo to find the Falcon and an Urn. Greedo reveals the Urn has been taken by Tarkin. Han simply knocks Greedo out in spite of knowing Greedo just left him for dead. They head to Coruscant and disguise themselves as sanitation workers. Phaedra says the Imperials do not do background checks on their sanitation crew. This is clearly ludicrous but they are able to get all the way to Tarkin’s office under this story device.
Meanwhile Corbus Tyra who played Han for a chump is taken down by a Marshal but promises to once again deliver Han. Phaedra disguised herself as a droid. Tarkin is somehow fooled by this, leaving his office and allowing the trio to take down the guards and gain the Urn. They make their escape but Chewie is shot by a stormtrooper and falls from their ship towards the city below as the issue closes.
The art by David Messina is fantastic but entirely wasted here. Having an artist of this caliber working on such a poorly constructed story entirely focused on an anachronistic character like Phaedra is just sad. This book has so much potential, Guggenheim is sometimes a strong writer but in this book he is using bland plot devices and ignoring any development of the main characters. Just rename this book if Han and Chewie are just going to be Phaedra’s sidekicks. This is nothing like Aphra who made Vader seem even more interesting by playing off him. This is just Phaedra demonstrating all the skills and planning which Han should be doing and Chewbacca being ignored entirely.
Writing: 1 of 5 stars
Art: 4.2 of 5 stars
Colors: 3.9 of 5 stars
Overall: 2.9 of 5 stars
Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Art: David Messina
Colors: Alex Sinclair
Publisher: Marvel Comics