Force Matters: Han Shoots First In ‘Star Wars’ #8
by Austin Gorton
Only one book once again for the week of 12/24, as the flagship title continues building to its conclusion.
Star Wars #8
By Alex Segura & Pete Woods
The heroes of the New Republic arrive on Nagi to help turn the tide of the Nagai Rebellion against Reyna Oskure.
- Draviil, the leader of the attack on the landspeeder carrying Luke, appears to be a new character.
- Tuula, who rescues Luke and says she’s a spiritual sister of Jesrit, is another new character.
- Valance executes Venk, the leader of the Zantarrk Gang, robbing Reyna Oksure of another key ally.
- We get a little “Han shot first” moment when he draws on Venk, disarming her, but it’s Valance who takes the killing shot, saying that while Han isn’t ashamed of his past, of being the guy who would shoot Venk in cold blood, he’s also a different, better man now, which is a pretty good expression of Han’s character post-Return of the Jedi.
- Alex Segura announced on social media that this book would be ending with issue #10 (the conclusion of the Nagai arc). Nothing regarding a relaunch of the book has been announced as of this writing, but there’s presumably a new volume coming at some point.
Once again, there’s a lot of moving pieces here and the “main” Star Wars characters take something of backseat to characters like Reyna Oksure and Rynn Zenat (Luke more or less disappears for most of the issue), but there’s also a much appreciated sense of narrative momentum. And the Han/Valance/Venk showdown is top-notch.
Cover of the Week
Woods’ variant cover isn’t the most representative cover (Leia barely appears in the issue at all), but it is a great representation of the character as she’s appeared in this volume, and the ships inside the Rebel logo are striking.
