Star Wars Rediscovered: Droids Vol 2 Issues #1-4 Review

"Anybody moves...everybody dies!"

Welcome to Star Wars Rediscovered and my review of Droids vol 2 issues #1-4! Take a look after the jump to see what I thought of this droid filled series. 

Writer: Ryder Windham

Artist: Ian Gibson

Colours: Perry McNamee

Letters: Ellie DeVille

Cover Art: Kilian Plunkett

Cover Art

I love the cover art to this collection, Kilian's use of colours is amazing! The sheen of purple light on all of the droids from the ships consoles looks very cool and the angle of the scene makes it look like the ship is about to zoom past us. 

Plot

Issue #1 continues off from the previous droids volume with our droids in pursuit of the criminal Olag. They track him to Nar Shadaa where Unit Zed has deputised R2D2 and C3P0 to capture him. In the final confrontation a giant slug creature accidentally crushes Olag due to fright but before their victory can be completely realised Olag's former assistant Formo kills Unit Zed and dismembers C3P0. I quite enjoyed this issue, it was quite a good chase and the final confrontation was surprising as I never expected Unit Zed would be killed quite so quickly, I quite liked his character. 
In Issue #2 we have both Olag and our droids in prison. Thankfully they are rescued by another droid who regrets betraying them which resulted in Unit Zed's death. The droid points them in the direction of a droid ship that is waiting for them while Olag also escapes from prison. This ship however plans to perform a memory wipe on all of the droids on it, R2D2 overhears this and escapes before he is forced on this but C3P0 isn't so lucky and is already on board when he hears of this. The climax of this issue is the revelation that the droid that helped C3P0 and R2D2 escape is in fact Formo's boss and seems to be in charge! 
Issue #3 is my favourite so far. We have R2D2 racing on his stolen skiff to rescue C3P0 from his

looming memory wipe but is stopped by Forma and B-9D7 who get him aboard their ship by tractor beam. C3P0 meanwhile is attacked by a massive red droid after he accidentally insulted him until the memory wipe is three seconds away and C3P0 suddenly glitches, his eyes turn green and his command stops the memory wipe. It looks like R2 will never get to his friend until B-9D7 betrays Formo by stunning her and leaving on an escape ship with R2 to find C3P0. The issue ends with C3P0 taking up the role of the droids rebel leader and R2 and B-9D7 join him in his cause to defeat Boonda the Hutt who has putting program traps in his droids. I thoroughly enjoyed this issue it was great to see C3P0 become a rebel leader even if it wasn't his choice and it was interesting to see B-9D7 seeming switch sides every minute. 
In the final issue of this arc issue #4 we are presented with Olag who having escaped from prison has travelled to try and make a deal with Boonda the Hutt. Unfortunately for him Boonda is not interested as apparently is now reformed and has shunned his criminal ways. They are at that point interrupted by C3P0 and his fellow droid rebels demanding that Boonda stops putting program traps in his droids. However they themselves are then interrupted by Boonda's protocol droid promptly exploding upon receipt of a transmission by B-9D7. He reveals that C3P0's personality change is his doing so that he could get him next to Boonda and threaten him with the bomb that is in C3P0's new leg. He also reveals that he is in fact Movo Brattakin, Boonda's main rival who upon the destruction of his body by Olag had his droid put his brain in a droid body. All seems lost for our heroes if not for the timely actions of good ol' R2D2 who sensing something was amiss with C3P0's new leg sneaks away and finds Movo before he can detonate the bomb. Our plucky R2 unit makes the ship take off and crash into Boonda's lair which then allows Formo

who appears at just the right moment to kill Movo by shooting him in the head. Our droids use this commotion to escape on their barge which leaves Boonda in a favourable business position as he gains both the leg with the bomb in it and the detonator. Finally C3P0 has a new leg attached to him and performs a memory wipe so that he has no memories of recent events, although he is aware that he had been compromised and so is worried that he can no longer be trusted. C3P0's former droid rebels decide that they want to stay together even without C3P0's leadership and so all remain on the barge. The issue ends with our two droids returning to Nar Shaddaa and locate the Ithorian who still needs the assistance of them on his mission and so they join him on for the start of another adventure.

Interior Artwork

I think generally the artwork is of a good standard but there were only a few panels in the entire four issues that I thought worked particularly well. It was on the same level as the artwork from the first

Droid's volume. The panels that I did think worked well include the panel in issue #2 of R2D2 spying C3P0's departure from the planet and his impending memory wipe. The use of shadow works well and the amount of personality coming just from his noise is immense. The image of the red droid looming over C3P0 is excellent and really shows the dangerous situation that our droid is in, the use of scale is brilliant. The panel of C3P0 inciting the other droids to rebellion is awesome! He really stands out amongst the other bland looking droids. The splash page of the land full of dead and broken droids is epic! The sense of scale works really well. The image of Movo's ship crashing into Boonda's lair is done really well. You really get a sense of the motion and chaos that this causes, the use of motion lines work well.

Conclusion & Rating

To conclude this was quite an enjoyable arc with some great twists and turns and it was great to see C3P0 in a leadership role even if it wasn't really him in control. This control that was gained over him also leaves an interesting question to ponder for the next arcs four issues, will he be fully in control of his actions and can he fully be trusted? 

Rating: 7/10 - Death Star

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