Comic Review:  Star Wars Vol. 2: Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon

Issues 7-12 of Star Wars were collected in Star Wars Vol. 2: Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon. Written by Jason Aaron with art by Simone Bianchi in issue 7 and Stuart Immonen in the remainder, the volume starts with a tale from the journal of Old Ben Kenobi...

Click HERE to order the Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon trade paper back on Amazon



On Tatooine, as Jabba the Hutt’s thugs are collecting a “water tax” from the struggling moisture farmers, Ben Kenobi struggles with not being a Jedi anymore. Having been forbidden from training Luke by his Uncle Owen, Ben battles the relentless monotony of the planet, and frets over his inability to intervene on behalf of the farmers for fear of revealing himself. However, he is forced to intervene when Luke runs afoul of the thugs.

When we last left Han and Leia, they were hiding from the Empire and being confronted by a woman calling herself Sana Solo and claiming to be Han’s wife. Sana, who assumes Han is in the middle of a scam, recognizes Leia, destroys their stolen shuttle and tells Han they are going to turn her in to the Empire and collect the reward.

Luke, having departed Tatooine with old Ben’s journal, travels to Nar Shaddaa to arrange for someone to sneak him onto Coruscant so he can rifle through the old Jedi temple in his quest for answers. Inevitably, his inquiry results in a bar-room brawl wherein his lightsaber gets stolen.

Back on the other planet, Leia punts Han into Sana and pulls a blaster on both of them just before a flock of TIE’s descends toward them.


Luke gives chase to the thief and manages to recover his lightsaber after a daring jump from a rooftop. However, Luke now finds himself confronted by Grakkus the Hutt. He wears a necklace of lightsabers, is accompanied by Magnaguards, and tells Luke that his lightsaber now belongs to him.

Meanwhile, Leia opens fire on the TIE pilots as they move to apprehend her. Sana still wants Han to join her in collecting the bounty on the Princess. Han tells her that can’t happen because he is now a Rebel and wanted by the Empire too. Having disposed of the pilots, the three of them board Sana’s ship.

Luke, now a captive of Grakkus, is taken to the Hutt’s home where he has amassed a huge collection of Jedi artifacts. Grakkus proclaims his collection “all that remains of the Jedi." He shows Luke a holocron and forces him to open it under threat of death. When Luke succeeds, the Hutt tells him that he will now be a part of his collection as “the last Jedi”. So, I guess that movie was Grakkus’s idea; blame him. R2, who was not with Luke when he got captured, sends out a distress call informing the Alliance of Luke’s capture.

Mon Mothma decides it’s too dangerous to attempt a rescue, but Chewbacca volunteers himself and 3PO for the job. As you can imagine, 3PO is ecstatic about going on a dangerous mission and practically knocks Chewbacca down in his rush to get to the ship and head to Nar Shaddaa.



While Chewie and 3PO search Nar Shaddaa for him, Luke is introduced to a man in Grakkus’s employ who calls himself the Gamemaster. I assume Grakkus doesn’t have a dungeon, otherwise the guy would call himself the Dungeon-master. Who wouldn’t if given the chance? He is to train Luke to fight as a source of amusement to Grakkus and others. He also tells him that the Jedi temple on Coruscant is no more, that it is now the Imperial palace. Apparently this is not common knowledge for people from Tatooine.

Meanwhile, having escaped the Empire on Sana’s ship, Leia gets a call from the Alliance informing her of Luke’s plight. She offers Sana money to get her to Nar Shaddaa, but Sana doesn’t want money, she wants Han. “Deal”, says Leia.

A few arms pulled from their sockets and broken windows later, 3PO and Chewie learn where Luke is being held; but a complication arises when we see a one-eyed Gungan drop a dime on Chewie to Dengar, who is after the bounty on Han.





Dengar gets the drop on Chewie while he scouts out the Hutt’s compound from a nearby roof.

Luke faces off against Kongo the Disemboweler, a rancor-y looking monster.

On Sana’s ship, Han explains to Leia that he only pretended to marry Sana on Stennes. The wedding was meant to be a diversion to cover a break-in. Leia has no interest in his excuses or explanations.

Luke’s fight against Kongo isn’t going well, his death seemingly inevitable. We see the Gamemaster slip away; identifying himself as Agent 5241, he makes contact with some TIE fighters and tells them: “if you want the Jedi alive, you better hurry”.

Han and company arrive on Nar Shaddaa just in time to intervene in the fight between Dengar and Chewie.




The Imperials spoil Grakkus’s party just as Luke is about to be eaten by Kongo. Gamemaster reveals himself to be an Imperial spy and they move to apprehend Luke and Grakkus when the Hutt triggers an EMP in the arena. This turns off Kongo’s shock collar, allowing him to go into a rampage. Artoo has recovered Luke’s and several other lightsabers from Grakkus’s collection. Leia and the gang show up just as everyone in the arena is fleeing. Since blasters don’t work due to the EMP, Artoo shoots everyone a lightsaber. Agent 5241 (Gamemaster) is about to take Luke into Imperial custody when he is waylaid by Grakkus. Did I mention that Grakkus is totally ripped? Yeah. He’s the same size as any other Hutt, but instead of blubber, it’s muscle. Leia rescues Sana from some rubble and she admits the marriage thing wasn’t real and that she only wanted Han because he had taken off with her cut of the loot. So, thankfully, Han is only a double-crossing thief and not the kind of person who would abandon a wife. Grakkus’s Jedi museum falls into Imperial hands and in the end we see Agent 5241 (real name: Sgt. Kreel) being questioned by Darth Vader about the Force sensitive boy Grakkus was having him train.






This volume is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s mostly good, but there are some stumbling blocks. First, I did not care for the art of Simone Bianchi in issue 7. When I heard there was going to be an issue featuring Ben Kenobi, I was ecstatic. The story was good, if formulaic; but the art just didn’t work for me. I understand it needed to be different from the “regular” issues, and that’s fine, but the particular style was lacking in detail and seemed to veer a little too much toward an almost “expressive” style. My opinion on comic book art is that it should be illustration first and “art” second. Stuart Immonen’s work in the rest of the issues was a welcome return to what I think is the appropriate style for a book like this, nevertheless, I wish John Cassaday had been able to continue. The story is, I think, a step up from the previous one. As much as I enjoyed that story, it was a very safe route to take: Darth Vader vs. the Rebels, Luke vs. Boba Fett. This story introduces a new villain in Grakkus, an interesting new Imperial threat in Sgt. Kreel, and Sana. The whole Sana/Han thing plays out pretty much how you’d expect, but I think she comes into her own a little more as the series continues. The scene of Leia, Han and Chewie wielding lightsabers is one of those crazy fun things that you would probably only see in a comic. The fight between Dengar and Chewbacca is a highlight as well. Chewie wails on Dengar, at one point beating him like a rented mule. The only way Dengar is able to hold his own is by using sneaky tech tricks. Nar Shaddaa is rendered well, with parts of it being depicted as a seemingly endless stretch of ramshackle slums. Some notes of interest: The Hundred Year Darkness is mentioned, and thus officially canonized; in Grakkus’s warehouse we see a Clone Wars era Jedi starfighter, a temple guard mask, and several holocrons; Kongo is a roggwart, the same species as Grievous’s pet “Gor” as seen in the Clone Wars episode “Lair of Grievous”. All in all a well executed continuation of the series that allows itself to venture into new territory.

Click HERE to order the Star Wars Volume 2 trade paper back on Amazon

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