Jason Aaron and Leinil Yu are back with Star Wars #17 in which the boys get into trouble and the ladies team up while also in a lot of trouble.  Okay but actually… are our heroes ever not in trouble?

Spoilers after the jump.

I can safely say that when I first started reading Marvel’s Star Wars comics a year ago that I never expected a team up between Leia, Sana, and Aphra to be everything I ever wanted.  We only get to see the start of the team up but it’s just so very excellent.  Sana and Aphra have been excellent in contrast to Leia’s strong moral and Rebel convictions and I suspect those differences will only become more stark as they fight for their very lives.  Sana especially has way less respect for life than Leia and has no problem killing some of the murderers in the prison in order to survive.  Leia, in contrast, is intent on never becoming what the Empire is even if it means doing things the harder way.

Plus?  How cool is it that the main storyline in the Star Wars book right now is all about three very capable ladies teaming up?  Of course, how well that partnership works and how long it lasts after the threat is dealt with remains to be seen…

While I’m not quite as interested in Luke and Han’s search for more credits storyline, it was completely and utterly worth it just for Han Solo to officially be a Nerf Hauler.  I bet he had to herd those nerfs on to the ship.  The Farmboy is never again going to be sent out on his own to try and find jobs for the Falcon.  (Meanwhile, Chewbacca is going to laugh really hard when he gets back and hears about this.)

This definitely isn’t what I expected from the arc after Vader Down but I am definitely liking it and starting to feel almost cautiously optimistic about Aphra’s chances of surviving?  (Oh no, I doomed her.)  Jason Aaron’s Star Wars is definitely a book that every fan should be reading.