Publisher: Marvel
Released: January 26th 2016
Received: Marvel Unlimited
Issues: Star Wars 7-12
Rating: 
Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon is the incredibly fast paced and action packed follow up to Skywalker Strikes. Fans of the Star Wars franchise as well as fans of Jason Aaron will appreciate this volume, as it carries a strong plot (or rather, multiple plots) and stays true to the characters created in the films.
Star Wars can be read in release order alongside all the other Star Wars graphic novels, or it can be read as a standalone. However, if read as a standalone be aware that there will be plots crossing over, so some details will be missed.
Showdown of the Smuggler’s Moon takes place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, and thus it doesn’t have an excessive amount of time to be working with. Despite this we’ve been provided with an interesting and compelling story arc. In volume two we see our core group split up; Han and Leia are off in one direction, Luke and Artoo in another, and Chewie and Threepio in yet another direction. Even with all the space between them (no pun intended), they’re all willing to come together at the drop of a hat if one of them is in danger.
This volume is full of plot twists, character’s from the past, and fighting; lots and lots of fighting. Han has no shortage of enemies, so it’s no surprise that people from his past keep creeping up. I’m sure he would love to have one mission without something happening, but at least this time he has no one to blame but himself (not that he will, of course). Luke is quickly raking up his own stack of enemies, thanks to his actions in A New Hope, which certainly doesn’t help matters either.
Because of the nature of the sudden plot twists that occur in this volume, I think saying less is more in this case. I will say that the artwork is stunning; with strong lines and beautiful color palettes. It’s everything I’m starting to expect from a Star Wars graphic novel.
I can’t wait to move on and read volume three (Rebel Jail) and see where it leads our team next. Luckily for me I’m a bit behind, and still have two more volumes after that to read!
