Another issue of Rebel Heist, another one of our heroes takes the spotlight.  Rebel Heist #3 by Matt Kindt and Marco Castiello arrives in comic stores today as Chewbacca gets to pick up almost literally where Leia let off and get the trooper to his destination.

This go-round, it’s the stormtrooper with a code hidden in his DNA who’s narrating our hero’s adventure.  Unfortunately for him, he’s stuck with Chewbacca as his guide when he doesn’t think much of wookiees or understand of a lick of shyriiwook.  This is clearly not a partnership made in heaven but it’s the only way they’re going to get to this galaxy drive in time to help Han.

I absolutely respect what Matt Kindt is doing with the limited series.  I really do.  However, this is the issue where it feels a bit too formulaic and this is the first one where I wasn’t as hooked by it.  To be fair, it’s a difficult angle in this situation.  These issues have been about different rebel agents or assets having to work together with one of our heroes and having their initial perceptions changed.  For me, the problem is two-fold with this particular pairing.  First, I think that the wookiees-are-animals angle is overdone and I don’t find anything new or particularly exciting about how Kindt handled it here.  Second, while it was a necessity, it’s a bummer that the issue that focuses on Chewbacca still doesn’t let us get any more of his own words than the traditional wookiee growls.  There was something that just didn’t click this time like it did for the previous two issues.

That said, this issue isn’t necessarily bad.  There are still definitely things to enjoy about the issue.  Marco Castiello’s art seems to have gone up a notch from last issue and his pages help make up for the lack of Basic coming out of Chewie’s mouth.  There’s also a certain two-page spread towards the start of the book that’s very nicely drawn.  It does seem a little odd that the Gamorrean crime boss’s dialogue is “translated” while Chewbacca’s isn’t but I’m willing to let it slide because it’s neat to see a Gamorrean aside from Piggy portrayed as even vaguely intelligent.

Bottom line is: it’s a decent enough issue but just doesn’t hold up quite to the standards of the previous two installments.

Rebel Heist #3 gets a 3/5 from me this week.