Star Wars: Rebel Heist #1

By Matt Kindt, Marco Castiello, Dan Parsons & Gabe Eltaeb

With the Star Wars licensing transitioning to Marvel from Dark Horse in the near future, you can expect if there are any more Star Wars titles from Dark Horse they will not be on-goings like Star Wars and Star Wars: Legacy, rather mini-series, being four or five issue arcs much like Rebel Heist, which putts Matt Kindt, whose recent credits include Justice League of America at the helm of the title, with Marco Castiello handling pencils, Dan Parsons on inks and Gabe Eltaeb doing the colours.

Set before the events in Empire Strikes Back but after A New Hope, Rebel Heist casts Han Solo in the spotlight, as viewed by a newcomer to the franchise, Jan – who’s also a newcomer to the Rebel Alliance and on his first mission, finds himself being rescued by Han during a botched mission. The rest of the book allows for some pretty tense action, with both characters on the run from their pursuers.

Kindt nails Han’s personality, writing him very well. How he’s seen through the eyes of Jan is great to watch – there are several comedic moments that come as a result of this, including one midway through the book where Jan thinks he’s co-piloting the Millennium Falcon. It’s a ‘fish out of water’ tale as Jan finds himself hopelessly out of his depth, and the action is as much about him as it is about Han. The pace is solid and there’s a build-up to an interesting twist, which should certainly get readers coming back to the next issue, drawing them in. There’s no lightsaber action here, but the end result is pretty fun and worth a read.

The pencils of Marco Castiello are pretty solid. Han Solo looks like Han Solo and it’s distinctively got a Star Wars feel, with the inks from Dan Parsons and Gabe Eltaeb’s colours really helping set the tone and atmosphere for the book. It’ll be interesting to see what they can bring to the table next issue – because based on what is on offer here, Rebel Heist is certainly the type of book that readers will want to stick around for.

The book isn’t perfect though. The script comes across as a little too heavy in places with plenty of narration, but that’s due to the nature of the storyline being told and it kind of works. It’s pretty much the only real issue here, because mostly the book is pretty strong.

If you’re a fan of Star Wars action that doesn’t for now have any Jedi in it and like reading stuff set between the timeline of the original saga, then this will be right up your street. Matt Kindt is an impressive writer and he should be able to tell an impressive tale over the course of this four issue mini-series. Recommended.