Chewbacca #2 Review

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The big guy certainly lives up to his reputation!

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Chewbacca #2.

Chewbacca #2

Writer: Gerry Duggan | Artist/Cover Artist: Phil Noto | Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

One thing is for sure, Chewbacca lives up to his reputation in this issue, and then he shows a vulnerable side.

Having been convinced to help young Zarro in the previous issue, Chewbacca accompanies his young companion to Jaum’s mines on Andelm IV to attempt a rescue of the imprisoned miners. Much like the bunker that controlled the shield generator on Endor in Return of the Jedi, the entrance is heavily fortified, at least for a lone Wookiee and the young lady that he is attempting to help. Also, like the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi, Zarro knows a back way in. Perhaps this is what Han Solo meant when he said that he and Chewie had gotten into places more heavily guarded than the bunker, but probably not.

Zarro’s plan is simple. She lets herself get captured, and then Chewbacca monitors where Jaum and his henchmen take her in the mine. This part of the story reveals just how incompetent Jaum and his minions are. Once they have captured Zarro, none of them apparently think to search her. Had they done so, they probably would have discovered the tracking device that Zarro was plainly wearing on her belt. Fortunately for Zarro’s plan, they appeared dumbfound that she would attempt to sneak back in and were content to throw her back into the mines where her work shifts would be doubled, and her rations would be cut in half.

This is a fun story, but it is scenes like this one that make Jaum come off as a stereotypical mustache twirling baddie instead of a credible threat. Not only was Zarro not searched, nobody asked how she got into the mines. There is no interrogation. At the very least, were I Jaum, I would want to know the details of how she managed to pull off her escape in the first place beyond the incompetence of the henchmen, and I would figure out some way of restricting Zarro’s ability to escape in the future. Failing that, I would simply have her incarcerated. If he is as sinister as this book would have us believe, it is unclear why he didn’t just shoot her, especially given his reaction to one of the other miners and one of his own underlings later in this book. The punishment that Jaum levies against Zarro really serves no purpose but to inspire a prisoner to attempt to escape again.

The single best part of this issue is Chewbacca’s reflections on his past when he attempts to enter the tunnels to track down Zarro. The tunnels are claustrophobic, and they instantly bring back memories for Chewie. He reflects on how the Trandoshans enslaved both him and his people. With the resetting of the expanded saga, Star Wars fans have been left without any type of official answer as to whether Chewbacca and his fellow Wookiees were enslaved, by whom, and for what purpose. Not all of those questions are answered here, but we now know Chewbacca was captured by the Trandoshans and imprisoned at one point. The experience was sufficiently traumatic in that it caused Chewbacca to abandon his first attempt to rescue Zarro, but not traumatic enough that he didn’t immediately try again.

Arrax, Zarro’s father, doesn’t believe in his daughter’s plan and attempts to convince Jaum to spare her. Like a bad Bond villain, Jaum reveals his plan to sell the mine and all its workers to the Empire. This sparks an attack by one of the other miners that results in Jaum shooting him. Again, Jaum fails to inspire confidence as a criminal mastermind. He has provoked a riot among his workers, which hardly enhances the value of the mines that he hopes to sell to the Empire.

Jaum’s minions corner Arrax, Zarro, and others, and just when all appears lost, Chewbacca emerges from a tunnel behind them and sets about destroying the gang. This sequence is portrayed through Zarro’s reactions as shadows from Chewbacca’s fight are cast against her. The wookiee reputation that Han Solo alludes to in A New Hope is clearly demonstrated. From there, Chewbacca cleverly constructs a weapon out of a pole and a Gonk power droid and begins to fight his way out of the caves. As an aside, this is necessary because the beetle larva that are so valuable as a weapons resource are also volatile, which makes blaster use in the caves a bad choice.

Jaum continues to demonstrate his short sightedness when he blasts one of his employees. His excuse is that his employee must be hallucinating from spice use because he reported seeing a “hairy demon” conjured by the miners. Jaum did not even ask for clarification. It was simply a blaster shot to the head. Perhaps this was a simple way of making Jaum appear even crueler after shooting the miner and inflicting a harsh penalty on Zarro in a short number of pages. Jaum has a line that exhibits some dark humor after the fact, but it harms his credibility more than it helps.

Chewbacca emerges from the caves and is ambushed by Jaum and another of his henchmen. They use a long range rifle shot to some of the beetle larva to cause a collapse that appears to bury Chewbacca. The issue ends with a promise that it will be continued in the next issue.

The idea of this story is not a bad one. Chewbacca is portrayed well. His heart of gold shines through, and the inability of the other characters to understand his words helps amplify the old moral of the story: actions speak louder of words. Chewbacca cannot talk-the-talk because nobody has any idea what he is really saying. His actions speak volumes. He has helped Zarro and the miners without any demand for reward. For the moment, leave aside that Anakin as a child did the same for Qui-Gon and Padme on Tatooine all those years ago and what happened to him later in his life.

The flaw with this issue is the villain. Granted, not all Star Wars villains can be Grand Admiral Thrawn. However, syndicate leaders should appear more capable than Jaum. It is only when Chewbacca emerges from the caves that he realizes he should not have been so hasty in shooting his henchman, and that the loss of the miners and damage to the caves will impact the sale price he hopes to get from the Empire. That type of shortsightedness does not inspire one to believe this man was capable of putting together or sustaining any type of criminal enterprise or that he possessed the business savvy to ensnare people in bad business loans that resulted in their enslavement.

Jaum’s capabilities as a slave master are likely a moot point soon at any rate. One can only speculate that Chewbacca will have escaped Jaum’s trap (no big leap of faith there), and that Jaum will quickly be defeated in the next issue. However, the Empire is likely on its way to take over the mines. One can hope they make a better showing as the villain of this series.

Favorite Panel:

So far, Noto’s Chewbacca is my favorite portrayal of this character from any of Marvel’s Star Wars series. I really enjoyed Chewbacca’s creativity in turning the Gonk droid to a weapon, and I have selected one such panel of him using that weapon as this week’s favorite panel.