Star Wars Rediscovered: Droids Vol 2 Issues #5-8 Review

"Wire him up well! If you don't get it right the first time, there won't be enough of his brain left to try again!"

Welcome to Star Wars Rediscovered and my review of Droids vol 2 issues #5-8! Take a look after the jump to see if this arc lives up the first first four issues. 

Writer: Jan Strnad

Artist: Bill Hughes

Colours: Perry McNamee, Chris Chalenor

Inks: Keith Williams, Rich Perrotta

Letters: Steve Dutro

Cover Art: Kilian Plunkett

Cover Art

The cover art to this arc is brilliant! The level of detail is immense with the amount of grime on both C3P0 and R2D2 really highlighted within the art. I also really like the amount of detail on C3P0, you can see each individual wire that he is made of. A great cover, Plunkett does a fantastic job! 

Plot

In this issue we have C3P0 and R2D2 on the Ithorian's ship and R2 is suspicious when they are denied access to a certain part of the ship and R2 is attacked by the ships computer when he attempts to interface with it in order to learn more about their new master. We learn about a new drug that when eaten by humans endures a permanent state of rapture and these people are called Smilers. There is a smiler on the ship that apparently is being protected by the Ithorian. They arrive at their destination and C3P0 joins his master in negotiating the sale of some Thookas, this is interrupted by the smiler who promptly rides a creatures back and is then kidnapped by some creatures in a speeder. The smiler is however rescued by a construction droid who is infected with a caretaker virus that compels it to help Smilers. They get back to the ship but then they are attacked again by creatures that want the Smiler and they succeed in capturing him. We then discover that R2 has been infected by this caretaker virus who rushes after the smiler and C3P0 follows. They are however shot by the kidnappers and kidnapped themselves. 
In issue #6 our droids are trapped on the kidnappers ship whose leader the Dictator wants to perform some form of brain experiment on the smiler so that he can gain the secrets of the rapture inducing herb and distribute it amongst his enemies. This experiment is interrupted by R2 who being influenced by the Caretaker virus shoots the computer equipment. Before the Dictator can execute our droids for this his enemies attack but are defeated by his superior forces. They escape and the droids travel with them deciding they would be better off with them than with the dictator. They still need to rescue the Smiler however who is still trapped in the Dictator's compound. 
In issue #7 we have the rescue of both R2 and the Smiler. Any hopes of rescuing them seems lost due to the force field until the Ithorian Zorneth attacks the compound in his ship giving the rebels the chance to chuck both C3P0 and another droid through the closing force field. They rescue R2 but don't manage to get to the Smiler but C3P0 convinces the other droid to remove the caretaker virus from R2 will allows him to concentrate on hacking the security system and removing the force field. This is the sign to all of the rebels to attack and this is ultimately too much for the Dictator who underestimated their forces. He has to escape on a ship without the Smiler and R2 is recognised to be a hero with or without the caretaker virus. 
In the final issue we have the reveal that Zorneth was with the Smiler when they first discovered the effects of the drug. Zorneth formulates the plan to use the rapture inducing drug on the most corrupt leaders of the universe and so replace war with peace and he has a forest full of the drug on his ship, C3P0 and R2D2 learn of this through Zorneth's most loyal droid and decide that they can have no part in this plan. Meanwhile the Dictator captures an Ithorian ship that is due to have some of the drug off Zorneth and pretends to be them until they are close and then attack. The battle looks to be turning into the Dictator's favour until the Smiler in what looks to be a moment of considered thought initiates the ships self destruct program. The droid that was most loyal to Zorneth realises that Zorneth has lost all reason and so helps our droids into an escape pod with the Smiler. The ship dramatically explodes and Zorneth's former droid is seen offering a bowl of drug infused food to the Dictator. We last see our droids flying in the escape pod with R2D2 commenting that it seemed like in that final moment that the Smiler knew what he was

doing. 

Interior Artwork

The artwork within this arc is of a good standard, the colours are really bright and vivid and pop off the page but there were only a few panels that really impressed me. I love the panel of the Smiler randomly dancing with the droid, the smiler looks so content. The panel with the creature stripping under the effects of the rapture drug made me laugh, the use of colour is great and makes it look like a cartoon and shows just how much this drug would affect society. In issue #7 we have an epic splash page of R2 rushing back to the Dictator's compound. The use of scale and shadow in this page is brilliant. The compound looks incredibly imposing and R2 looks very small.

Conclusion & Rating

To conclude this series was great fun and definitely lived up to the first four issues. I really enjoyed the idea of a drug that could put people permanently in a state of rapture and the implications this could have were explored briefly but well. If you enjoy reading the adventures of C3P0 and R2D2 then this series is a great one to read.

Rating: 7/10 - Death Star

Related Posts