Star Wars: Lando #4

The Scimitar catches up to the Imperialis in Star Wars: Lando #4.  Chanath Cha sneaks aboard the Emperor's personal yacht while Lando Calrissian and Korin Pers discuss the value of the Sith artifacts.  Korin is able to identify the pieces as those of Lord Momin, an ancient Sith sculpturer, and claims the artifacts are worth a moon or two.  Meanwhile, Aleksin falls under the spell of the Sith helmet on display and cuts off the arm of Pavol with a lightsaber.  Lando and Korin escape the secret chamber, locking Aleksin and Pavol in the room.  Korin surmises Aleksin has been corrupted by the Sith artifacts and announces she is leaving.  Elsewhere, Chanath disables the escape pods, trapping Korin on the ship.

Back in the artifact chamber, Pavol confronts Aleksin and the two begin fighting.  Korin heads to the bridge to reactivate the escape pods, but it captured by Chanath.  Lando grabs another blaster from the armory to free Korin, but is himself captured.  Chanath recognizes Lando and upon removing her helmet, Lando in turn recognizes Chanath, presumably a former lover.  Chanath tells Lando she was sent by Emperor Palpatine to kill whoever took his ship or destroy it if it cannot be retrieved.  The final panel shows Aleksin and Pavol emerging from the chamber, both wielding lightsabers.

This penultimate chapter continues to rely on exceptional dialogue to drive the story.  The plot remains light, but there is enough intrigue surrounding the Sith corruption to keep readers interested.  Years ago, this story would have been told in one or two issues, to the detriment of the character defining dialogue and cliff hanger endings.  I think there is a happy medium to be found here and if this story was shortened by one or two issues, the individual issues would be meatier on plot and provide enough room to define characters through dialogue.

Star Wars: Lando #4a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (September 2015)