Solo: A Star Wars Story #5 Review

Writer: Robbie Thompson
Artist: Will Sliney
Colorist: Federico Blee
Publisher: Marvel

Solo: A Star Wars Story #5 covers the famous Kessel Run as Han and company attempt to outmaneuver the Imperial Blockade.

What can I say about this adaptation that I haven’t already said in my first four reviews? You could cut half the dialogue in this series and still have too much. The 1:1 transplant of a two-hour-plus movie’s script into seven comics hasn’t been working and it feels like this issue has returned us to square one. There were a few chunks of the film that adapted well and made for decent comic excerpts, but this issue makes it clear that these were happy accidents — and not representative of any overall shift in quality moving forward.

I say that with confidence because this issue is the worst out of this generally lackluster adaptation. It can be genuinely hard to maintain focus as the writer attempts to jam every joke and offhand comment into these pages with no regard for whether the artist is left enough room to provide context. The saddest thing is that Solo #5 doesn’t really signal a drop in quality any more than the better issues represented an increase. The flaws of this adaptation (and the way it impedes itself) have always been present — they just take the captain’s chair in this issue.

The artwork in what equates to the movie’s big chase scene is awkwardly still and lifeless. The Falcon hangs frozen in every panel like it was pulled from a diorama rather than a dogfight. Suffocated under the weight of a thousand word balloons, this entire comic has the inertia of a movie dissected via PowerPoint presentation.

Solo: A Star Wars Story #5 eliminates any of the half-hope the last installments provided and mishandles the action worse than even the earliest issues. It’s (extremely) wordy, messy, and it’s completely still when it should be moving at lightspeed. All the Coaxium in the galaxy wouldn’t get this ship moving.