Star Wars: Chewbacca collects the 5 issue mini-series of the same name written by Gerry Duggan with art by Phil Noto. The trade paperback was released on March 8, 2016.
Synopsis
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Chewbacca is in the midst of a personal, secret mission when his piece of crap loaner A-Wing (must have got it on clearance from Walmart) crash lands on the planet Andelm-4. At the same time a young girl named Zarro and her bad at gambling father are being forced to work the beetle cavern mines for that precious dedlanite by mine owner Jaum. Now, like any sensible businessman/criminal overlord, Jaum is getting ready to cut a sweet deal and sell out to the Empire. When Zarro escapes from the mines and meets Chewbacca she convinces him to help rescue the rest of the slave miners and overthrow the operation. Ignorant of the Empire’s imminent involvement at this point, they manage to wreak some pretty good havoc; but when Jaum calls in his Imperial contact and the troops arrive, they need not only Chewie’s muscle but Zarro’s streetwise wits to win the day. They end up on board an Imperial Star Destroyer and manage to trick it’s commander, Kai, into thinking that Jaum is actually the one who sabotaged the operation. Escaping back to the surface, Zarro is reunited with her father. Chewbacca, having repaired his ship, gets back to his mission after presenting Zarro with the medal that he was awarded (offscreen of course) after the Battle of Yavin. In an all too brief epilogue, we see Chewie arrive on Kashyyyk and present the bandolier of a fallen Wookie warrior to said warriors son (?) before being briefly reunited with his own son. I guess. It’s hard to be sure when there is no dialog at all and everybody kind of looks alike. Anyway, the Falcon appears overhead to pick him up so he can get back to all that warring among the stars.
Review
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Chewbacca has never been one to mince words, or even use words; so I will get right to the point here. This one misses the mark. There is nothing particularly bad about it, but there is definitely nothing particularly great or compelling about it either. That’s a shame because the idea of a story headlined by Chewbacca is very intriguing. I feel like there is a lot of potential in the premise that this story just doesn’t latch on to. What we get here is another cookie cutter villain in cahoots with the Empire, a cute kid, an oppressed populace in need of Rebel rescuing, and some slightly incompetent Imperials. It’s like a bad episode of Rebels; or a good episode of Rebels. I can’t always tell the difference. In my opinion, these mini-series should shine the spotlight on a character and show them to us in such a way as we haven’t already seen them; or, failing that, at least tell a compelling story about them that we haven’t really seen before. I don’t think this one does that. It barely feels like it’s about Chewbacca as a central protagonist. Most of it feels like Zarro’s story, with Chewie as a sidekick. We don’t need another story with Chewie as the sidekick.
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Frustratingly, the best part of the story is the last few pages when Chewbacca arrives on Kashyyyk to deliver the bandolier. Whose was that? Tell me that story! Isn’t Kashyyyk supposed to be under pretty firm Imperial control at this time? The entire mini-series could have been flashbacks framed by Chewie making his way through Imperial controlled Kashyyyk to deliver the bandolier. There is actually one part in the story that came excruciatingly close to being cool and instead flamed out; literally. Jaum has a bodyguard named Tyvak. Tyvak is a Shistavenen (the wolf-man species, like Lak Sivrak). The first time in the story that he goes up against Chewie it’s from a distance; but toward the end they are about to face off at close range. You’re like, oh yeah, Wolfman vs. Wookiee! This is gonna be great! Tyvak even has a sweet knife! Yeah, no, Chewbacca basically immediately incinerates him with an engine. In fact, the best thing about the fight is the fact that when I was typing the phrase “at close range” just now it made me remember the movie At Close Range starring Christopher Walken and Sean Penn. That’s a good movie. You should check it out. Maybe I’ll review that sometime.
Now, having said all that, let me say this: the art in this book is pretty darn good. Phil Noto has a fairly distinctive style and I think it works well in this story. There are some striking images and some good full page treatments. He is able to convey some real feeling on Chewbacca’s face and with his body language. Jaum’s private army guys look like something out of a low-budget sci-fi movie from the 70’s or 80’s; and I mean that in a good way. A lot (probably most) of what makes this book worthwhile is the art.
Notes
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This story takes place sometime after ANH; I’m not sure exactly when, but it feels like it should be fairly soon after.
If that is Chewbacca’s son Lumpawaroo (Lumpy) that he hugs before departing Kashyyyk, it could present some continuity issues. In the Aftermath books, Lumpy is said to have been enslaved by the Empire for most of his childhood. In fact Chewie’s visit doesn’t depict any Imperial presence on Kashyyyk. I’ve re-read the last few pages of the final issue several times, and I’m not sure if he is hugging the same kid he gave the bandolier to or a different kid.
Comic Pack Wish List:
Jaum, Tyvak; in the story there’s a guy named Sevox, he’s blind but can’t use implants so he has himself hooked up to his protocol droid and uses him to see. That would make a great 2 pack.
Score:
The art is pretty good; and the story isn’t terrible, but frankly it feels like little more than filler. 2 Skulls.
