Nearly a decade has passed since Disney relaunched the Star Wars saga with The Force Awakens, and the sequel era still feels like an expanding frontier. That extended rollout seems deliberate — few fandoms have remained as divided as this one following the release of The Rise of Skywalker. Still, personal taste doesn’t erase a story’s existence, and I was ready to see more sequels-era tales. Enter Star Wars: Han Solo — Hunt for the Falcon, a limited comic series by Rodney Barnes with art by Ramon Rosanas. The first issue delivered an unexpected treat: it gives Han Solo an Old Man Logan–style arc that works in surprising ways.
Old Man Logan — conceived by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven — imagines an aged, world-weary Wolverine. That storyline, launched in 2008 and later informing the 2017 film Logan, paints a bleaker, more cynical portrait of the hero. The idea of a similarly embittered Han Solo initially set off alarm bells for me: would he become an irredeemably sour figure, endlessly bemoaning his losses? Fortunately, the first of five issues avoids caricature and instead grants Han real emotional depth.
Image: Marvel/Pete WoodsThe opening sequence is classic Han: gambling, scheming and scraping for a win. After a podrace collapse leaves him in the red, he jumps into the fray, finishing the race himself — a clear sign that this Han is adrift. He’s endured loss after loss — most notably his son, Ben Solo, and the rupture with Leia — and the smallest victory feels meaningful. That hunger to reclaim something, however small, drives his actions throughout the issue.
Loss shadows the entire issue. Lando urges Han to embrace whatever comes next, but Han clings to memories: the thrill of piloting the stolen Millennium Falcon, the camaraderie of older days. Panels that linger on holo-photos of Han with Leia and Ben make the book’s theme plain: the journey Han chases outwardly is also his attempt to outrun an interior grief. The comic leans into the same emotional architecture that made Logan resonate — the hero being propelled forward while actually fleeing his past.
Complicating matters, the Falcon itself is in the hands of gunrunner Gannis Ducain. Retrieving it means tracking Ducain down — and that quest propels the plot forward.
Image: Marvel/Dan PanosianA stop on Kashyyyk reveals Chewbacca’s life now — family, responsibilities, and an argument for bringing loved ones along. Chewbacca is willing to join Han but wants his Wookiee family included. Han brusquely refuses, and the expression on his face tells the story: he aches for connection but fears risking more loss. Thematically, that mirrors Logan’s encounters with familiar faces who force him to confront what he’s lost.
Given that the Falcon is later seen in Unkar Plutt’s scrapyard by The Force Awakens, it’s easy to suspect that Han’s retrieval mission won’t be tidy. Hunt for the Falcon could even bridge directly to the moment he first crosses paths with Rey, Finn, and BB-8.
Image: Marvel/Ramon RosanasEven tempered by age and hardship, Han’s core trait remains: he’s a rascal who pretends not to care, but he actually feels intensely. That emotional contradiction is intact in Hunt for the Falcon, and it’s what makes this take on Han compelling. I’m eager to see how the series continues. While the issue closes on an elegiac note reminiscent of Logan’s finale, I hope the series balances grief with the small joys that make the character enduring.
Star Wars: Han Solo — Hunt for the Falcon #1 is available now.
Source: Polygon
