Star Wars Vol. 2: Showdown on Smugglers Moon

by Jason Aaron

[inlibrisveritas]

Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon picks up right after the ending of Skywalker Strikes and gives us some more detail on the point between A New Hope and Empire.

I think I enjoyed this one a bit more than the first volume, but despite not being as annoying there were still some things that manage to snag it the same rating in my book. This one seems to have smoothed out some rougher edges of the first volume, but it did have moments that made me want to reach into the pages and throw people around. Luke is searching for answers and direction when it comes to the Force, and all he has is an old journal of Obi-Wan’s and his lightsaber which unfortunately leads him into a wolves den. Han comes face to face with someone claiming to be his wife, and some kind of frustrating arguing occurs. It’s a decent story, which doesn’t add a whole lot to the canon but it is fun.

I really loved the Luke portion of this story and I really liked seeing some glimpses of things from the era of Jedi long since past. He’s kind of naive still and it gets him into trouble but I think it’s really setting everything up nicely for the changes we see in the movies. The Han portion of this made me want to scream, no surprise there. Most people who know me know that I don’t like Han, he is more bearable in the written canon than the movie canon but I have despised him for so long (since I was a kid) that I don’t think I’m capable of anything else. Though to be completely honest he wasn’t the entire reason I wanted to rip my hair out in this, it’s the mystery person who basically shows up to be an instigator. I can’t stand things where people won’t just say what needs to be said and instead choose to be super smarmy and cryptic which leads to unnecessary arguments and tension. It drives me bonkers. But despite all of that the overall story is pretty fun and we do get some really great action scenes with everyone.

I’m hoping the next volume in the series goes a lot better because the ones I have read just don’t seem to be adding a whole lot to the overall story.