Star Wars #12 brings “Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon”, the second multi-part story of Marvel’s new Star Wars series to a rousing, triumphant conclusion, as all the various elements of the story come crashing together in Grakkus the Hutt’s arena, in the process reuniting the previously-scattered cast and putting to rest the mystery of Sana and Han’s marriage.
The penultimate chapter in the “Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon” story, this issue finds Jason Aaron and Stuart Immonen suitably ratcheting up the excitement and action, bringing the three separate groups of characters (Luke, Chewie & Threepio, Han, Leia & Sana) closer than ever to converging on Nar Shadda as the story heads into its finale.
While picking up the pace of the plot a bit from the previous issue, Star Wars #10 succeeds almost singlehandedly on the strength of one particular pairing of characters. After being teased in the cliffhanger of issue #9, this issue fully introduces Chewbacca into the “Showdown on Nar Shaddaa” storyline (in the same month as the first issue of his solo limited series launches) and pairs him with perhaps the unlikeliest of partners: C-3PO. The end result is comic book gold.
Continuing “Showdown on the Smugglers Moon”, Star Wars #9 is, essentially, an all-out action issue, advancing both of the story’s two plots incrementally in favor of extended action scenes. The end result is an entertaining issue that nonetheless reads briskly and is somewhat unsatisfying as a result, since not a whole lot of plot advancement or character development happens.
Though less photo-realistic and painterly than previous artist John Cassaday, Immonen is much more of a traditional comic book artist, eschewing strict realism for more representative & kinetic action and layouts. He also has a particular knack for using body language and facial expressions to express characterization, showing readers visually what a given character is feeling at a given time just by the look on their face or the way they’re standing. It’s a skill he puts to good use here, making vivid Luke’s aw-shucks naivete as he stumbles his way through a Nar Shaddaa bar fight, Han’s combination of chagrin and frustration at Sana’s continued instance that he’s A. up to no good and B. her husband, and the transition of Leia’s reaction to Sana from wry amusement to righteous fury as the woman proves to be no easy pushover.
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