Star Wars: Han Solo #2

Of all the Star Wars characters the one I enjoy the most is R2D2...okay no I'm kidding. I really like Han Solo, so reading this solo series(sorry I couldn't resist) is probably a good choice for me entering into the Star Wars universe. I've read some of the Star Wars main series and the two books this week are my first time reading any of the spin offs. So our favourite rogue smuggler has been tasked by Princess Leia with a secret mission to retrieve three Rebel spies. His cover is that he has entered the infamous Dragon Void race and will rendezvous with each of the three when he stops to refuel, and he needs to weed out one of the spies who may have turned traitor. This second issue opens up with a bang as Solo and his fellow racers hit the first obstacle, which is a sneak attack. Han and Chewie use their wits to over come this. Later on at the refueling point, Storm Troopers catch up with the racers and it seems that the race might be over.

So as much as I hate being negative I will focus on what I didn't like first. Some of the action early on is confusing, and I found it hard to follow what was going on. Although I like most of the art, the space scenes' backgrounds are out of focus and it wasn't very pleasing on the eyes at points. I had to re-read parts to figure out what was happening.

On the plus side of the ledger. Other then the above complaints I really liked the art. It is lavish colours and busy panels with lots of action going on, almost no wasted space. I like the story and the use of the existing characters. It's a good pace, with the first two issues feeling like chapters of a story and leave you with a tantilzing cliff hanger that makes me want to read the whatever follows. I also like that we are kept in the dark as to who the traitor is as much as Han is. I like having a story revealed and not just thrown in my face.

The book was good, maybe not one that I'm going to go out of my way to buy, but I will read the rest of the series once it's on Marvel unlimited or maybe in trade paper back. Still if you like Star Wars you probably will be happy to pick this one up.