Warning: spoilers ahead for Star Wars #10!
If Darth Vader hadn’t performed his little stunt on the second Death Star, then the award for most impressive act of redemption in the original Star Wars trilogy would have gone to Lando Calrissian, hands down. Sure, Lando betrayed his old friend and, in turn, screwed over the entire Rebel Alliance, but Vader’s arrival on Cloud City did complicate matters just a tad. The fact that Lando was finally legitimate after a lifetime of conducting shady business deals exacerbated his already difficult predicament at the time, and refusing to work with Vader would have most likely threatened everything he’d built up until that point and even resulted in the Empire harming the people of Cloud City who depended on him. Regardless, the fact that Leia Organa not only forgave Lando, especially as he was responsible for getting the man whom she loved encased in Carbonite, but still convinced the Rebellion to accept him, is a major exercise in selflessness.
But after the events in Marvel’s Star Wars #10 written by Charles Soule with art by Jan Bazaldua, it appears as though Lando no longer deserves that reward. After the events of this issue, Leia and the entire Rebellion now look like utter fools for giving this Bantha fodder what would later be his third chance by the time Return of the Jedi begins. It was implied that after Lando turned on Vader to save Leia, C-3PO and Chewbacca from Boba Fett at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, he was on some major thin ice and therefore had to prove his worth to the Rebels.
In the ninth issue of Marvel’s Star Wars series, which takes place after The Empire Strikes Back, Lando’s big chance arrives when the Rebellion gives him his first mission: to help them find a droid that is the only sentient being in the galaxy who knows a particular language. The Rebels need new communication codes as the Imperial Empire has already deciphered every mode of communication that the Rebels use. Without new codes, the Rebels cannot communicate amongst themselves safely without fear of the Empire intercepting their transmissions and tracking them down. Learning this secret language from this droid is their key to creating new codes.
At first, Leia’s trust in Lando is justified. First, he and his team apprehend their asset. Then, not only does Lando’s friend Lobot turns out to be the Rebellion’s secret weapon, but when the droid initially refuses to comply, Lando makes an effective enough threat for the droid to quickly agree to cooperate. Things take a turn for the worst, however, when Lando later takes a call from Bib Fortuna, Jabba the Hutt’s majordomo and chief of staff. Based on the conversation, it’s discovered that Lando was not just under the influence of Darth Vader by the time Han, Leia, C-3PO and Chewie first landed on Cloud City. Like Han, Lando had gotten himself entangled in Jabba’s business dealings and was in over his head. Basically, Jabba will let Lando live if Lando provides valuable information about the Rebels.
Unfortunately, Lando quickly tells Bib about the droid and the Rebel’s intentions, but doesn’t appear to disclose any pertinent information other than the fact that the Rebels have learned the secret language they’d been after. Things start to go south when Leia debriefs Starlight Squadron pilots about their newest mission in Star Wars #10. The squadron will visit every rendezvous point where the fleet was assigned to meet after the Battle of Hoth to both relay the message that the Empire had compromised their transmissions and to provide the new language code they received from the droid. Unfortunately, the very first place they visit turns out to be a trap.
Although readers never see Lando actually betray the Rebellion, his brief conversation with Bib Fortuna, in addition to how Leia and her Rebel comrades all seem to be under the impression that the Imperials must have known they were coming, don’t look good. Sure, Jabba isn’t an Imperial, but Bib Fortuna mentioned that Jabba could sell the information that Lando provided to their Imperial allies. And it sure looks like Lando provided something.
