The Dark Horse contract may be winding down but they certainly have no intention of going quietly into the night!  Rebel Heist #1 by Matt Kindt and with art by Marco Castiello hits comic store shelves today and with it comes your new monthly dose of the one and only Han Solo.  (Solo what a man Solo!)

This review contains mild spoilers.

Jan, a new recruit to the Rebel cause, is on his very first mission for the Alliance.  He’s sent to Corellia and told that a more experienced Rebel operative will find him.  Only problem is that said Rebel is the one and only Han Solo.  Whether or not that’s really such a problem is up for debate though as they try and evade the Empire.

I have to say that Rebel Heist #1 certainly wasn’t what I was expecting.  I expected it to focus more on Han Solo and to be inside his head instead of the head of some raw recruit.  It was, for the most part, a nice surprise due to its unexpectedness.  Honestly, unexpected is really just a good term to use for this issue all together.  It’s interesting how Jan views Han Solo as being this living legend for helping take out the Death Star.  That’s a fact that tends to mostly be forgotten.  It’s neat to see Han Solo portrayed as being this hero to the new members of the Rebellion right along the likes of Luke Skywalker (even though he’s not mentioned here.)

There’s a twist at the end that was well executed enough to make me sit up a bit straighter and go “Huh!”  The twist gets mixed reactions from me though.  On the one hand, I love it when a comic can immediately make me flip to page one and start again.  On the other hand, I’m not quite so sure that the set up for the twist is quite as believable in terms of narration.  Unfortunately, there’s not much more I can say there without delving completely in spoiler territory.

Twist aside, this limited series is off to a good start and has more than enough of a hook to entice readers to come back for the second issue.

In terms of the artwork, Marco Castiello’s pencils are probably the only thing that’s not unexpected about this book.  That’s not to say that his art is bad but rather that it gives off the same vibe that a lot of the Star Wars comics before it had.  Castiello does do a good job with facial expressions though.  To be honest, I might be more impressed with the art if it wasn’t “competing” with Mike Mayhew and Gabriel Hardman’s work on their respective books.

I give Rebel Heist #1 a 3.5/5 and certainly find it intriguing enough to give the rest of the series a try.