Star Wars #47
Chad Burdette
Recap
After the events of Dark Droids, Lando found himself at a crossroads. He has saved his friend Lobot but at the cost of being placed on trial as a traitor to the Rebellion. .
Even though he helped rescue Mom Mothma who, in the middle of the trial was kidnapped, has found the evidence is not in his favor, and not even his full confession to the crimes of which he is accused of look to be in his favor.
Does the savvy Saabbac player have any cards left to play that can save his life?
Review
Star Wars #47 concludes The Trial of Lando Calrissian and is the culmination of the story between The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi that Charles Soule has been telling since 2020 in the current volume of Star Wars. In Star Wars #7 the Rebels stole an antique protocol droids to enable them to encrypt the transmission between the fleet which scattered after The Battle Of Hoth. Lando would later turn the droid over to Jabba The Hutt, and would later steal the droid back during the events of the Dark Droid event that almost killed Lobot.
Upon his return to the Rebels, the Talkie droid exposed what Lando had done and his motivations for doing so marking Lando a traitor to the Rebellion. However, by this time Lando, after helping to destroy the statue of the Emperor on Corosaunt, had become somewhat of an icon of the Rebellion, forcing Rebel leadership into a tough position of how to handle the situation. Finding himself called before a Tribunal consisting of Mom Mothma, and the two who wanted to throw Lando out the airlock and be done with it: Admiral Ackbar, and General Madine, Lando is forced to call on Advocate-At-Large Salli Geogio, an old friend known for her “out of the box” tactics in the courtroom.
From her introduction in the one-shot Star Wars: Revelations, having Salli Geogio introduced into the mix, Soule, was able to draw on his background as a lawyer and present a defense worthy of Lando. The trial of course doesn’t go off without a hitch or two, as Momothma is kidnapped from her remote location by a group that Lando just happened to have information on about their base of operations, allowing a successful rescue mission on which Lando was allowed to help out and the attempt on his life as someone injected poisonous gas into his cell.
Where these ploys orchestrated by Geogio to help Lando, if so, Soule doesn’t reveal it here if she did, but leaves the reader wondering if it was part of her strategy from the beginning.
Lando, of course, is not sentenced to death but is told that he will repay his debt to the Rebellion by continuing to help out since he has become a leader and rallying point amongst the troops, including intel he has about Han’s situation at Jabba’s Palace. Soule also gives Lando a nice monologue about how it is strange for a bunch of Rebels to be sitting in judgement of another rebel, given the Empire’s Rule of Law. For the most part, a large part of this volume has been a deconstruction of Lando and why he does the things he does. It also shows that under the swagger he portrays on the outside, he is a decent person when it comes down to it and he can be a loyal friend, even when something doesn’t benefit him.
Final Thoughts
Star Wars #47 and the majority of this volume have been an interesting deconstruction of Lando Calrissian, something that is not shown in the movies. Soule deftly makes the trial interesting and humorous, such as the Jedi Mind Trick argument that didn't work in Dengar's favor in Star Wars: Revolution or in Lando's trial.
While this volume of the Star Wars series looks to be wrapping up, it has done so. like the other volumes before, filled in the events that took place between the movies, making the story fuller and more satisfying.
Star Wars #47: Its All In Against The House As The Trial Of Lando Calrissian Concludes
- Writing - 9/109/10
- Storyline - 9/109/10
- Art - 10/1010/10
- Color - 10/1010/10
- Cover Art - 10/1010/10
