There’s so much Star Wars content these days. So, so much. Truly, there has never been a better time to be a Star Wars fan. One of the consequences of all that content, though, is that there’s so much to read through/watch/play that, at a certain point, some stories just don’t need to be told. The can be, they can even be enjoyable, but they’re just not necessary to understanding the galaxy far, far away.
And so, we have Star Wars: Beckett, the comic one-shot from Marvel detailing the exploits of Han Solo’s mentor (they knew each other for like 3 days but we’ll go with it) and his partners in crime, Rio Durant and Val. To cut right to the review, it’s fun! Writer Gerry Duggan makes the adventures of these merry misfits more entertaining than I would have expected, and weaves it into the universe well: Beckett’s fake Death Priest scam is hilarious, and I’ll admit I’m curious about a few background details that came up as well (Spoiler-y speculation: were the Tognaths we see those of Rogue One fame? Was this heist stealing from Saw Gerrera, and did it inspire him to send one of the twins to infiltrate Enfys Nest’s cadre?)
At the end of the day, though, this comic just… didn’t really do anything for me. It was fun, but I still don’t understand why Beckett, a fairly boring and predictable character from the moment we met him, got so much screen time in Solo over a character like Val, and indeed why this comic was called “Beckett” – why not Val or Rio, or all three? They all get the same page time. In a prequel comic like this, I’d hope to see some sort of character development between what we’re seeing and Beckett’s character in Solo, but I just didn’t get that here. I went into this comic wondering why exactly I should care about Tobias Beckett, and I came out the same way.
So, if you loved Solo, read this comic. If you are fascinated by Tobias Beckett (more power to you), read this comic. If you just like comics, the artwork by Edgar Salazar, Marc Laming, and Will Sliney is certainly worth the price of admission. If none of the above is true for you, though, you can skip this one, to be perfectly honest. It’s fun, but it wasn’t a story that needed to be told, and not one that I’m convinced actually adds anything to the Star Wars universe.
Star Wars: Beckett #1: Gerry Duggan/Writer; Edgar Salazar, Marc Laming, Will Sliney/Artists; Jordan Boyd/Colorist; VC’s Travis Lanham/Letterer; Tom Groneman/Assistant Editor; Mark Paniccia/Supervising Editor
“I hate monkeys. I hate them so much.” – A real thing that Star Wars Resistance writers made Oscar Isaac say.
