In the cliffhanger ending of last month’s issue of Marvel Comics’ Star Wars: Han Solo & Chewbacca series, our titular heroes came face-to-face with the fearsome Wookiee bounty hunter Black Krrsantan (first seen in 2015’s Star Wars: Darth Vader comic book, but recently featured as a regular character via live-action in Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett on Disney+).
Now, in Han Solo & Chewbacca #4– released last week from Marvel– Krrsantan has taken Han hostage, and Chewie must spring into action to rescue him, first by placing a hidden tracking device on the bounty hunter’s ship, then by piloting the Millennium Falcon to the Mollo Tanka planetoid, with the suspicious man claiming to be Solo’s long-lost father in tow.
Writer Marc Guggenheim and artist David Messina make it clear from the very first page that this issue of Star Wars: Han Solo & Chewbacca is going to take a very different approach: first of all, its story is told mostly through fast-paced action, and secondly a good 75% of the dialogue is simply growls in the Wookiee language of Shyriiwook. I love this idea, largely because I’d complained previously that Chewbacca hadn’t played a terribly large role yet in the comic that is partially named after him, but also because it just works really well as a change of pace. Messina’s art is wonderful and energetic, kinetically moving Chewie from a confrontation with Krrsantan on the planet Antillon to the cockpit of the Falcon, to the hideout of shady aristocrat Augustus Graves on Mollo Tanka. But the best setpieces here are when Guggenheim lets his artist do the heavy lifting– Chewbacca and Krrsantan’s knock-down, drag-out “Wookiee Death Duel” being a major highlight, especially in moments like the giant two-fold splash page that brought to mind some favorite cinematic fight scenes.
Besides Chewbacca’s quest to retrieve his friend, however, the big question at hand is what’s going on with this man claiming to be Han’s father Ovan. I don’t think we’ll get a definitive answer until next month, but I’ve guessed from the beginning that I don’t think this guy is really who he says he is. Regardless, this breakneck issue concludes with a fairly jarring reveal– “Ovan” has stolen the Millennium Falcon while Chewie was off completing his action-packed rescue mission. I think that turn of events goes a long way toward confirming my theory about the old man, but for now that haunting image of Han and Chewie looking out over the empty cliff where the Falcon was parked is enough to have me intrigued. Overall, I thought Star Wars: Han Solo & Chewbacca #4 was quite simply a lot of fun, and I can see it reading even better once it’s contrasted against more standard comic storytelling when collected among the other issues in the inevitable trade paperback edition.
Star Wars: Han Solo & Chewbacca #4 is available now wherever comic books are sold.