Guru Review: 'Lando: Double or Nothing, Part II'
Updated: Mar 11
Welcome back to another edition of GURU REVIEW. I'll be sharing my thoughts on Marvel's LANDO: DOUBLE OR NOTHING, PART II in today's review. LANDO: DOUBLE OR NOTHING, PART II is written by Rodney Barnes with art by Paolo Villanelli. It was released June 27, 2018. Be mindful, there will major spoilers below.
DOUBLE OR NOTHING, PART II starts off with Lando narrating the story in the form of recording his Calrissian Chronicles. How very Lando Calrissian of him.
Barnes has definitely managed to capture the young Lando charm in his writing of the character. I can't stress how on point Barnes is when it comes to making me feel like this is Lando from SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY. There are a couple nitpicks, though. I think what prevents this issue from being better than the first is the lack of L3 and Lando banter. That's what I loved the most about the first issue. We do get some L3 and Lando bickering at the beginning, but when the mission begins to unfold things get serious and the wisecracking is turned down a notch. Also, when did Lando become such a bad ass in fighting? Not saying I dislike it, I actually enjoy it very much. It just takes some getting used to, because Lando isn't the type of character I imagine is good in a fight, but he does seem to be able to handle his own in SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY and this comic series. This young Lando is a lot more intriguing than the Lando of the ORIGINAL TRILOGY, that's for sure.
There were some things that bothered me. The use of "like" and "chill" in Lando's dialogue kind of took me out of the Star Wars world. Too Earthy for my taste. Not anything to ruin the story, though. As I said earlier, he still feels like Lando, just those two instances I was like, "eh."
I do feel the first half of the comic was slow. This comic could have just started when the team reached the planet and split up. I'm also disappointed we were not given more Kristiss. It totally skips over her being captured. A missed opportunity to show more of her warrior attributes. I was really hoping we'd get more into Kristiss in this issue, so here's to hoping #3 gives her some spotlight.
Overall, DOUBLE OR NOTHING, PART II was decent. It could have been better. Starts off really slow before getting into anything exciting and by the time things have gotten interesting, it's the end of the comic book. A lot of comic book #2s fall into this trap: giving us a comic that really doesn't push the story along too far, relying on the following issues to make up for the lack of development.
I don't want to say this issue wasn't exciting, but it could have been a tad more action packed and should have given us more Kristiss. It's not my story, though, so I'm sure Barnes knows what he is doing and what kind of story he wants to tell. This won't stop me from reading the series. PART I was so good that an average PART II won't make you lose any interest.
Some PREQUEL TRILOGY era droids were spotted, so you know that made me happy. I do like the battle droid, super battle droid, aqua droid, and tactical droid appearances. Whoever it was that made the decision to add them, thank you.
Artwork is incredible, Marvel never lacks in the art department, so I rarely ever have anything negative to say about the art. Paolo Villanelli (penciller, inker), Joe Caramagna (letterer), and Andres Mossa (colorer) put their love into every panel.
LANDO: DOUBLE OR NOTHING, PART II credits
DOUBLE OR NOTHING, PART II gets 3 kyber crystals out of 5. Still a must have comic, if you're a young Lando fan. Read my review of the first issue here. What did you think of this series, so far? Let me know in the comments. May the Force be with you.