The covers: A smugglers trio for this installment. The A cover is by Derek Charm and shows the Millennium Falcon halfway submerged in water. Han is in the foreground with Chewie just behind him, both up to their necks in water. The smuggler says, “We’re in deep trouble this time, pal. Deep, deep trouble!” This is a solid tease of where the heroes find themselves in the opening tale. In the bottom left corner is a smiling Lando Calrissian by Elsa Charretier highlighting the Tales From Wild Space tale. The B is by Elsa Charretier with colors by Sarah Stern. This is a fantastic cover of Lando in the middle of massive melee, dodging fists and broken bottles. He looks as though he’s extremely worried, while his youthful companion behind him, Jiandy, looks as if he’s having the time of his life. I’m a sucker for detailed art and this has plenty of details! The colors are also terrific, with oranges and browns used to show the crowd that’s drowning Calrissian, while he and Jiandy are given bright colors to stand out. I love this cover! In the bottom left corner of this cover is a circle showing Chewie illustrated by Charm to highlight the Solo story. The final cover is the RI cover by Mike Oeming. This has a very stylized Han, looking as youthful as he does in Solo, and Chewbacca standing in some sort of docking bay with the Falcon flying behind them. This looks like art from an animated cartoon and I like it. Overall grades: A B+, B A+, and RI A
The stories: “Powered Down, Part 1” is by Cavan Scott and opens with Han narrating how the Millennium Falcon looks as if it’s in a precarious situation, pursued by the Mist, a fast ship captained by two bounty hunters, Zuckuss and 4-LOM. Chewie is down in one of the gun turrets but can’t take the villains out. Han spies a giant mass of yellow clouds that’s not on any of his maps and sends the Falcon into it to lose the baddies. Zuckuss, who’s revealed to have a sixth sense, warns 4-LOM that something’s not right about the planet, but the droid says he deals with facts, “not superstitious flim-flam.” Both ships enter the clouds and that’s when things begin to happen. This was a neat action tale, with trouble on every page and some solid surprises. Han’s dialogue is extremely entertaining. Tales From Wild Space “Family Affair, Part 1” is by Elsa Charretier & Patrick Colinet. This focuses on Emil telling a tale of Lando Calrissian helping an old friend, Clariah, help redeem her son Jiandy. The teen is a wannabe conman and she knows if anyone can relate to him it’s Lando. What she offers as payment is hilarious and the trouble the boy gets into with Lando is fun. These are both very entertaining tales. Overall grades: Both A
The art: Derek Charm’s visuals on the first tale are great. This is an adventure of the younger Han Solo and he’s drawn to resemble Alden Ehrenreich. His visual reactions to situations are fun, while Chewie looks to be perpetually in a state of anger. Given the situation that they’re in, it’s understandable. I’ve never seen Zuckuss get this much time in a comic before and Charm really does a solid job on him, with the bounty hunter following the heroes into a dangerous locale. The reveal of the true villains on the last two pages are great. If I were to see those characters, I would be afraid. Elsa Charretier’s style is different from that of Charm’s. Her work has a little more detail than his and more closely resembles traditional comic book work. However, she is as equally skilled at having her characters emote as Charm. Lando is visually a smoothy when he speaks in the beginning of the story, but when things go south he’s got a much harsher demeanor. One constant in the visuals is the joy on Jiandy’s face. This kid is happiest when involved in a scam or is on the make to acquire something dubiously. The individual he decides to steal from has a great design. I’m looking forward to more from Charretier. Overall grades: Both A
The colors: A double threat, Derek Charm is also the colorist on his pages. I like bright colors in my comics and Charm puts plenty of them in his tale, with bright yellows the skies providing the perfect backdrop for his characters to pop. There’s also some neat work with greens for the interior of the bounty hunters’ ship. I also like when the action gets heavy, Charm uses reds or oranges to put some intensity into the illustrations. The colors by Sarah Stern are darker on the second tale, but that’s because Lando and Jiandy are going into some pretty seedy sectors. I like the subdued blues used for the first location when Lando is introduced, giving the setting a late night feel. When Lando and Jiandy go outside there’s some great oranges and browns to show the sun is setting. When the characters are in an alley the colors go darker, but Stern is smart enough to allow all contributions by Charretier to still be seen. Well done! Overall grade: A
The letters: Tom B. Long is the letterer of both tales creating dialogue, narration, and transmissions (all three are the same font), Chewie’s roars, 4-LOM’s unique speech, sounds, yells, a font for the true villains of the first tale, the story title for the second tale, and a chant. I like the sounds and the unique fonts used for characters, though I do wish that the shape of balloons wasn’t the only visual way the first three contributions were created. Still, I’m happy with what’s done. Overall grade: A-
The final line: An early adventure of young Han Solo and Chewie, plus a Lando outing arrive just as Solo hits the theaters. The stories are entertaining and the visuals are neat. You should pick this up! It’d be easier than making the Kessel Run. Overall grade: A
To order a print copy go to http://www.idwpublishing.com/product/star-wars-adventures-10/
To order a digital copy go to https://www.comixology.com/Star-Wars-Adventures-10/digital-comic/652799?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC90b3BSZXN1bHRzU2xpZGVy
To see the covers go to my Instagram account: patrickhayesscifipulse
Share this:
