galaxy overrun by an oppressive and evil
Galactic Empire, there is little hope for a
future free from the Emperor's iron rule.
But with the Imperials distracted by a
growing alliance of rebels, smugglers and
pirates travel the galaxy for fortunes
found only by those daring enough to
grasp them.
LANDO CALRISSIAN, a man trying to
make his way through an uncaring
universe, is willing to bet all he has for a
single score — and it begins with the deal
of a lifetime....
Lando is a 2015 Marvel Comics Star Wars Expanded Universe mini-series written by Charles Soule and art from Alex Maleev. It is the second in a series of mini-series released by Marvel that focuses on a main character from the Original Trilogy.
Shortly after the destruction of the Death Star by the Rebel Alliance, Lando Calrissian and his partner-in-crime Lobot find themselves indebted to the crime lord Papa Toren on the planet Castell. In order to pay off the debt while also earning a big payday, they agree to steal a pleasure ship filled with artifacts from an Imperial shipyard with the help of scholar Korin Pers and warriors Aleksin and Pavol. Unfortunately for them, the ship turns out to belong to Emperor Sheev Palpatine himself, turning a simple job into an all out effort to stay alive as Imperial forces hunt them down.
Tropes featured in this comic include:
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Pers used to be a historian of Jedi lore and artifacts before the Empire banned the study of the subject, forcing her to find work in the black market trade of said artifacts.
- An Arm and a Leg: Leading to a "Oh, Crap!" moment for Lando and Korin, a corrupted Aleksin severs Pavol's forearm with a lightsaber.
- Artifact Domination: The Sith helmet on Palpatine's shuttle manages to take over Aleksin and Pavol's minds.
- The Baroness: Moff Ssaria is both beautiful and a cruel dictator.
- Bittersweet Ending: Lando, Channath Cha, and Lobot escape the Imperialis safely. But Aleskin, Pavol, and Korin are all dead, and Lando's debt to Papa Toren remains unpaid. And Lobot is now a mindless automaton.
- Body Horror: Let's just say that guarding Sith artifacts does not do wonders for the guards general health and well being.
- Bounty Hunter: Chanath Cha ranks right up there with Cad Bane and Boba Fett; tellingly Chanath was the first one Palpatine contacted for this job.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Aleksin gets corrupted by the Sith helmet at the beginning of the fourth issue and turns into a lightsaber-wielding menace. Pavol's attempts to stop him end with both of them corrupted by the end of the same issue.
- Cat Folk: While the first two issues were vague on whether the twins were aliens or merely humans in masks, the third issue reveals they are most definitely not human.
- The Charmer: Lando, naturally. He opens the comic having seduced a Imperial Moff, and then convinces her to let him steal a valuable artifact from her bedroom. Then we find out he and the bounty hunter Palpatine hired have a history together.
- Averted with the bounty hunter, she used to be with Lobot.
- Continuity Nod: Palpatine gives the bounty hunter he hired Maul's old ship, the Scimitar, to run down the Imperialis.
- Cool Starship:
- The Emperor's personal craft, the Imperialis. Lobot thinks it would make the Millennium Falcon jealous!
- Darth Maul's ship, the Scimitar, shows up in issue #3.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Lobot's implants constantly try to "optimize" his brain, something that he needs to consciously oppose at all times. In the last issue, he has to lower his defenses against the optimization procedure in order to save Lando and the others, and gets turned into an emotionless shell as a result.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Lando.
- Discount Gays: Aleksin and Pavol are the first same-sex couple to appear together in a canon Star Wars story note However, they are panther-like aliens rather than humans or humanoid aliens.
- Does Not Like Guns: Lando feels blasters cause more problems than they solve. Revealed to be a trick in the final issue. Even Lobot never knew that Lando was actually quite good with a blaster. Lando brags that the bluff continues to work because everyone he's ever had to use a blaster against is dead.
- Driven to Suicide: Commodore Idel shoots himself after failing to stop Lando's crew from escaping with the Imperialis. He advises his crew that if they want to avoid the same fate, he's heard the Rebel Alliance is hiring.
- Electronic Eye: Pers has a large monocle like replacement for her left eye.
- Epic Fail: In Issue 2, the Empire sends several Star Destroyers to recapture the Imperialis. They use their tractor beams to drag it aboard, but Lando tricks them into grabbing each other. The results are rather predictable.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Pers starts thinking out-loud at about how the Imperialis was being repaired at an Imperial Naval shipyard, is a Sienar Fleet Systems custom ship with some of the most advanced and restricted tech in the galaxy, is loaded to brim with priceless art and artifacts...and has a couple of Imperial Guards on-board. She quickly concludes the Imperialis is Palpatine's personal yacht and then starts yelling that Lando has just killed them all.
- Face–Heel Turn: Aleskin and Pavol turn on their allies after being exposed to Sith artifacts.
- Guile Hero: Lando would much rather talk, swindle, or steal his way out of a situation and into a payday rather then start a fight. Which is not to say he isn't good in a fight. He just doesn't like fighting.Lando: I fight my own way. With this (points to his head). Blasters are for suckers. People with no imagination.
- The Lancer: Lobot to Lando. He is far less confident in Lando's smooth-talking ability to get the duo out of trouble, and states that he would prefer to take the fight to Papa Toren instead of letting him use their debt to get the pair to work for him.
- Left Hanging: Lando's debt to Papa Toren is still unpaid. And with the Imperialis destroyed,
Lando has nothing to barter with.... - Mugging the Monster: Lando and Lobot steal a spacecraft that they believe belongs to a high-ranking Imperial. Which is true — it belongs to Palpatine.
- Mythology Gag: The pedestal with the helmet is resting on in the Imperialis hold is shaped like the emblem of the Sith Empire from Star Wars: The Old Republic.
- The droid assigned to help Chanath Cha is named 0-66.
- Aleskin and Pavol are not the first Cat Folk to be featured in a Marvel Star Wars comic. The old Marvel series had one issue, Catspaw, in which Luke, Leia, and Han help an entire planet full of them.
- Nerves of Steel: Lando. Three Star Destroyers bearing down on him actually make him happier than he was before.
- Noodle Incident: The last job that Lando and Pers worked resulted in Pers losing an eye and Lando promising to make it up to her one day.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Commander Pasqual begins panicking when he sees the Emperor's personal vessel being stolen from the shipyard. Considering how the Emperor deals with failure, this is a very justified response, as proven in the next issue when three Star Destroyers show up and blow the shipyards to pieces with the entire crew still aboard.
- Lando and Korin when a Sith-corrupted Aleksin turns on the rest of the team and severs Pavol's arm.
- Red Baron: Moff Ssaria is known by those she rules as "The Fiend of Castell" and "The Burning Moff".
- Refuge in Audacity: Lando's plan to steal a priceless artifact from Moff Ssaria is to tell her he is stealing it and explain why. Lobot is stunned by the sheer insanity of the plan and is flabbergasted that it worked.
- Running Gag: In the first issue, three different people end up pointing a blaster at Lando.Lando: Come on, now — can I please go more than a few hours without someone pointing a blaster at me?
Lobot: Certainly doesn't seem like it. - Samus Is a Girl: Korin Pers is actually a female Ugnaught; something that is not readily apparent. Chanath Cha is also a woman and is Lobot's ex-girlfriend.
- Scenery Porn: Alex Maleev's artwork is gorgeous. The colours are some of the best in Marvels Star Wars comics to date.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Attempted by Korin after Aleksin gets corrupted by a Sith helmet and turns on the rest of the team. Unfortunately for Korin, the escape pods have just been disabled.
- Screw Yourself: If Aleskin and Pavel are, as Lando suggests, actually clones.
- Twincest: Aleksin and Pavol look so much like each other that most people think they're twins and/or clones. While the truth of that remains to be seen, they're definitely lovers.
- Unexpected Character: Most fans were really surprised when the Emperor ends up appearing in a series focusing on Lando.
- Video Wills: To reactivate the escape pods, Lobot allows his cybernetic implants to fully take over his brain, making him mute and emotionless. He left a recorded message to Lando, telling him to end his life of crime and find something to believe in.
- The Voiceless:
- Averted at first with Lobot, who talks quite a bit in stark contrast to his silence in The Empire Strikes Back. Subverted in the last issue as we witness the events that turned him into the emotionless shell seen in that movie.
- Played straight at first with Aleksin and Pavol, who don't say a single word until the fourth issue. They then talk to each other, and we learn that the only people allowed to hear their voices are their closest relatives and their future victims.
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Lando tells Lobot that their heist will be one of the easiest they've ever attempted. Three guesses as to how that works out.
- You Have Failed Me: An Imperial officer destroys the entire shipyards for allowing the Imperialis to be taken. Then when he himself fails to retrieve it, suggests to his own crew that they defect to the Rebellion and shoots himself.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Lobot's last pre-recorded message to Lando.
