SCOUNDREL'S WAGES

Lando Calrissian is sent into the landscape as hunted prey to several bounty hunters after crossing a Hutt.

The story revolves around Lando Calrissian, so why it is included in a series of tales of Bounty Hunters is beyond me. Yes, the bounty hunters make a brief appearance, but barely.

Lando has come to Quaffug the Hutt in order to make a deal between him and the Rebellion. This story takes place somewhere near the end of Shadows of the Empire. The bounty hunters have already tried to capture Boba Fett and failed, but Lando has not made his entry into Jabba's lair yet -that's the favor he asks of Quaffug at the end.

Instead of talking, however, Lando is taken prisoner, for winning too many sabaac games back when he was in Rafa space. Man, this Hutt holds a grudge! Lando is set upon a chase -as prey, as Bossk, Dengar, 4-LOM and another take up pursuit -but where's Zuckuss?

Lando tried, in his suave manner, to get Quaffug to release him, to talk it out, but the Hutt would have none of it. Lando gets a lucky break when an earthquake sets him apart from the bounty hunters, after he has been surrounded. It is a contrivance, and the silly thoughts ("can't get a shot off"...) don't help.

But Lando finds himself across the border to the land of a people who are displeased with the Hutt, the Jok-Halli. Luck saves him again when he finds out they are gamblers, and take their gambling debts very seriously. He wins his freedom, and promises to broker a deal between them and the Rebellion, while ruining Quaffug's trade.

The deal goes awry, though, when the Jok-Halli insist on Quaffug's death, so Lando tries one last gamble. Unfortunately, this one doesn't deal with cards or dice -it is a duel to the death. So why was he trying to save the Hutt's life when he had to kill another being? One had to get killed. But Lando once again has luck on his side, as he pocketed Dengar's laser when he took the bounty hunters hostage.

It seems to me that the three bounty hunters should be really upset with Lando for humiliating them, and should either pursue to kill him on their own, or at least the next time they meet him. But they disappear after they get back to Quaffug's palace, and don't even witness Lando's fight.

I really liked the aliens in this installment. They have four forearms, but only two upper arms, splitting at the elbow! Everything was drawn larger-than-life, especially the aliens. Their language didn't even translate! The Hutt was funny and the Gammoreans (I think that's what the guards were) were menacingly ugly.

Unfortunately, the main characters, from the bounty hunters, to especially Lando, were not done well at all. Where is Dengar's wrapping around his head? What he's wearing looks more like a hood. Bossk is very orange, and his head after getting struck by Lando, looks so tiny,

But that is made up for by the vivid colors! I love the coloring in this story. While Lando looks like a stereotypical, vain, and prideful used car salesman, with a very toothy smile, the surroundings he traverses, from the lava fields to the small town and the Hutt's lair, are amazingly depicted in the colors. And the exploding spy droid is quite three-dimensional.

The art borders on the caricature that we saw in The Yavin Vassilika, which borders on stuff that I don't like. The story needed some work, too, but was simple enough, much better than Lando's similar story in Chewbacca.

All in all, the story was decent, with high marks for the vividness of the depiction.