MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
STORY: Rodney Barnes
ART: Paolo Villanelli
COLORS: Andres Mossa
LETTERS: VC's Joe Caramagna
COVER: W. Scott Forbes
VARIANT COVER: Joe Quinones
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2018)
Rated T
“Part I”
Lando Calrissian was the first Star Wars character portrayed onscreen by a Black man (Oscar-nominated actor, Billy Dee Williams). Although Lando is one of the oldest Star Wars characters (in terms of first appearance), he did not get his first solo comic book series until 2015 (from Marvel Comics after Dark Horse Comics having the license for two decades).
Lando is a supporting character in the most recent Disney/Lucasfilm Star Wars movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story, where he is portrayed by actor Donald Glover. The film features a young Lando, early in his criminal career, and that Lando is the star of a second Lando Calrissian comic book miniseries. Star Wars: Lando – Double or Nothing is written by Rodney Barnes; drawn by Paolo Villanelli; colored by Andres Mossa; and lettered by Joe Caramagna.
Star Wars: Lando – Double or Nothing #1 finds Lando Calrissian, the “greatest smuggler in the galaxy,” contemplating ways in which he can transform his ship, “the Millennium Falcon,” into a place of luxury and vice, much to the chagrin of his droid, L3-37. Meanwhile, a young woman named Kristiss needs a smuggler as part of her and her father's plan to free their home world, Petrusia, from the Galactic Empire's enslavement. She knows just the smuggler, Lando, but will he do it? And if he does it, will it be for the cause or for the cost paid?
Solo: A Star Wars Story is about a young Han Solo, but young Lando Calrissian steals the show. Donald Glover is magnificent in making young Lando a magnetic personality. Writer Rodney Barnes captures the essence of Glover's Calrissian in his script, and every page is simply fun to read. Barnes has made Lando a character readers will want to shadow, and Barnes' take on the acerbic L3, who has a female voice, is also quite engaging.
Illustrator Paolo Villanelli picks up the Glover vibe and transforms that into a graphical storytelling that recreates the humorous side of the Solo film. Andres Mossa, one of the best colorists working in American comics today, blends his incandescent colors into Villanelli's illustrations to spectacular effect. Joe Caramagna's strong sense of graphic design plays this dialogue-heavy script just right with some of his usual high-quality lettering that enhances the rhythm of this story.
I cannot wait to read the second issue of Star Wars: Lando – Double or Nothing. Is it too early to ask that this creative team plan a second young Lando comic book for us?
8.5 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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