Star Wars: Return of the Jedi – Max Rebo is the sixth and final one-shot comic book from Marvel celebrating the 40th anniversary of Lucasfilm’s 1983 smash-hit sequel.
Max Rebo opens with the title character in his usual spot playing the Nargalon (or Red Ball Jett organ, as Wookieepedia informs me) in Jabba’s Palace, as an Ithorian assassin attempts to assassinate the Hutt himself. The shot goes wide as the alien is taken down by Gamorrean guards and nearly takes out poor Max, striking the palace wall just behind the blue Ortolan musician. This gives us, the readers of this comic by Daniel José Older, an unusual insight into Max Rebo’s inner thoughts, as he begins to ponder his own inevitable death after the incident. We get intriguing flashbacks to Max’s younger days on the Smuggler’s Moon of Nar Shaddaa, studying music under his Dug mentor Quez Totark, and we also get to know the Weequay members of the Max Rebo Band, namely Umpass-stay (is that Pig Latin?) and Ak-Rev… you can see them banging the drums in the Special Edition of Return of the Jedi. These two friends are caught up in the quandary of life under Jabba the Hutt– is it safer with or without the slimy crimelord ruling over them? Soon events start to overlap with Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker’s rescue of Han Solo, just as Max has decided to take matters into his own feet and poison the mighty Jabba.
All of this escalates to that fateful day aboard Jabba’s sail barge the Khetanna, where Max and his band are relieved to witness Leia taking care of Jabba for them. We know that Rebo manages to escape the sail barge’s destruction, as he later goes on to play music in Madam Garsa Fwip’s Sanctuary bar in Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett– a fate that is depicted in the final splash page of this comic. But further knowledge of what happens to the Sanctuary in that series makes the ending especially ironic and puts Max Rebo back in the “Did he survive?” category of background Star Wars characters. Still, it was great to spend some additional time with Max and company here, and– while I tend to go back and forth on Older’s writing when it comes to A Galaxy Far, Far Away– I think he did a great job in this issue, keeping things compelling and often amusing for what could be a one-note puppet character, famous as he may be. Artist Paul Fry (Spider-Man 2099: Exodus) and colorist Carlos Lopez (Children of the Vault) are perfectly suited to deliver the right atmosphere to the locations and action of this story. All told, I’m kind of sad to see this series of one-shots come to an end, as I’d say there are plenty more possibilities to explore, but there’s still the From A Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi anthology short-story collection to dive into for those who wish to continue their 40th-anniversary Jedi fix.
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi – Max Rebo is available now wherever comic books are sold.