Han Solo: Imperial Cadet comic #3 by Robbie Thompson

"Han Solo: Imperial Cadet #3" written by Robbie Thompson, illustrated by Leonard Kirk and Arif Prianto
     I quite liked this issue. It had intrigue, espionage, action, and surprises all rolled into one. I did not expect the way everything turned out and was surprised in several different ways. So I have to say this issue was a win for me.
     The title synopsis says that Han Solo's "reconditioning has begun..."...interesting! (Just fyi...this reconditioning is nowhere to be seen--definitely a mislead at least in my book). We left off the last issue with Han saving one of the Dree brothers from certain death. Everyone failed the exercise and the fact that Han saved one of his own is lost on the Imperial command. His crew is left doing a ridiculous amount of chores to make up for Han's misstep.
     In the first few pages, Han does all the grunt chore work for all his fellow cadets and puts another cadet's name on the work! He's a hero from the get-go...that is too sweet! ...or maybe not...you'll have to read to figure that one out! But I have to say, I'm not sure whether I like it or not. On one hand, it makes Han look like the super good guy, desperately trying to get back his love, and on the other hand, he just kinda looks like a douche. Hmmm...
     The cadet he puts the work's name under gets to fly away in a TIE but the rest of his crew must fly the freighter that carries the TIEs to the combat exercises. Everyone is super down on him until it turns out Han is quite the engineer and has the ship flying a day ahead of schedule. He even finds some day passes in the barracks and discovers a Pantolomin Cruiser is right on their route. They can chill out and have some fun, gambling away some free time. See a great montage of them all living the high-rolling life below:
     When on the pleasure cruiser, Han meets up with an old Ithorian friend Pjolan. And the tables get turned twice!!! Some very good story-telling here although the first turn was a super let down to me and the second turn was exciting and unexpected for sure. Han is certainly WAY ahead of the game anybody else is playing. Crazy!
     Question, why are Pjolan the Ithorian and this random card-playing Aqualish so freaking huge?!? I don't remember these species being so crazy large...super weird:
     While this issue didn't have any flying, the twists and turns kept me anxiously reading. I was surprised that an issue about Han as a cadet minus any real cadet-ing included could pull me in so much. But I was intrigued and surprisingly happy with what I did get. Here's to the next issue!

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