Star Wars: Lando — Double or Nothing

If there was any consensus about “Solo:  A Star Wars Story” it was that Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian was the best part of the movie.  So it’s only natural that we should get a miniseries that owes a lot to that particular take on this character.  Writer Rodney Barnes and artist Paolo Villanelli do a decent amount of justice to said take as Lando and his robot partner, L3-37, find themselves embroiled in a weapon smuggling operation.  It’s a weapon smuggling operation for good as these weapons are meant to be used by the defeated members of the Petrusian race who have been put to work in an Imperial droid production facility on the planet Kullgroon.  Lando is reluctant to help out at first, but when he’s promised enough credits to add a wet bar and classy furnishings to the Millenium Falcon — and maybe even pay off a few of the people he owes money to — he’s all in.

It’s a nice enough setup and Barnes throws in plenty of complications, ranging from organized goons to regenerating crystal spiders, to keep the title character’s struggle interesting.  Where the writer falters is in trying to show off Lando’s famous charm and charisma. This Lando is a clever think-on-his-feet kind of guy who also never. shuts. up. After a while his dialogue starts to come off as less smooth operator than “I’m sorry I can’t hear you over the sound of how awesome I am!”  Same goes for the bickering between him and L3-37 which honestly left me wondering how these two managed to stand each other long enough to become partners in the first place. Villanelli’s art is nice, however. There’s nothing too surprising about it, but he nails the look of the character from the film and his storytelling is sound with plenty of detail in the art itself to appreciate.  Hardly an essential “Star Wars” read overall, but still one that will likely have appeal to those who loved seeing the character in “Solo.”