After about a three-and-a-half-month hiatus, Marvel’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian comic book has returned for an adaptation of the smash-hit live-action Disney+ series’ second season, beginning (where else?) with the premiere episode “The Marshal,” which was directed by creator Jon Favreau.
Star Wars: The Mandalorian – Season 2 #1 reunites writer Rodney Barnes with artist Georges Jeanty to bring us a super-sized (and nearly beat-for-beat and word-for-word) adaptation of what is still probably my favorite episode of the show, which was released on Disney+ in October of 2020. For those who may not recall, “The Marshal” is the installment that saw bounty hunter Din Djarin return to the planet of Tatooine in search of more members of the Mandalorian creed, only to find the titular marshal of Mos Pelgo, Cobb Vanth (played by actor Timothy Olyphant on-screen) wearing the iconic green armor that fans immediately recognized as belonging to Boba Fett. Vanth enlists Djarin– with baby Grogu along for the ride– to eliminate the Krayt Dragon menace that has been plaguing Mos Pelgo, and they have to team up with a tribe of Tusken Raiders in order to make that happen. To me, this was the episode of The Mandalorian that felt most like a movie, and Favreau definitely exercised some of his more cinematic skills as a filmmaker in bringing it to the small screen. The Marvel Comics adaptation takes Favreau’s script and his shot list and basically translates it directly to the sequential-art page with little to no embellishment, not that this spectacular outing needed any.
I’ve said this before in my The Mandalorian comic review, but it’s pretty tough to review an adaptation that is this faithful to the source material. I continue to wonder if Barnes’s job is ridiculously easy or difficult in finding the proper pacing that works on the printed page, but he definitely doesn’t find himself having to come up with a lot of dialogue. As an artist, Jeanty continues to capture the spirit and energy of the series, though his likeness of Olyphant here isn’t what I would call spot-on (I’m curious if this was intentional) and his collaboration with inker Karl Story and colorist Rachelle Rosenberg is really what brings the illustrations to life. Other than that, there just isn’t a tremendous amount to say here except if you love The Mandalorian enough to want to consume these stories in a different medium (as I do), then I can continue to recommend Marvel’s adaptation. This extra-long issue in particular was a bit expensive at $6.99, but I’m guessing the middle section of season 2 will return to the series’ regular $4.99 price point. Don’t expect any expanded content or deleted scenes to be included, and I think you’ll be happy to own this comic and continue to read about the adventures of Din Djarin and Grogu, even though you’ve likely seen them already.
Star Wars: The Mandalorian #1 is available now wherever comic books are sold.