Today saw the release of the seventh (and penultimate) issue of Marvel Comics’ Star Wars: The Mandalorian season 2 adaptation, and below are my thoughts on this installment.
Now that I own seasons 1 and 2 of The Mandalorian on 4K disc, I’m a little less concerned about these stories being preserved in some other physical format, but Marvel Comics’ adaptation of that second season is still going strong as it hurdles toward the finale. Issue #7 adapts the episode entitled “The Believer,” which involves our heroes retrieving the acerbic criminal character named Migs Mayfeld from a New Republic prison work camp to help them steal the coordinates to Moff Gideon’s ship, since Mayfeld used to work for the Empire. And reading through this issue, I actually thought that writer Rodney Barnes and artist Georges Jeanty did a pretty amazing job of translating it from the Disney+ screen to the printed page.
I’ve had minor quibbles with these comic adaptations before, but this chapter doesn’t hit any of those stumbling blocks, instead finding the perfect pacing as the familiar narrative plays out through sequential art. Obviously the dialogue here– like in past issues– is almost entirely lifted from the episode in question, but the way in which it’s presented almost perfectly captures the tone of “The Believer,” right down to actor/comedian Bill Burr’s attitude– I can almost hear his unmistakable Bostonian accent coming out of the drawings. The action is well-choreographed as well, with a number of pages dedicated to the chase sequence that sees Mayfeld and Din Djarin racing through the jungle of the planet Morak in an Imperial tank carrying an explosive fuel called Rhydonium. And while the process of getting it to the local mining facility doesn’t quite make sense– why not just fly it there?– that comes directly from Jon Favreau’s script, so Barnes can hardly be blamed.
With this second-season adaptation wrapping up in just a couple weeks, I have to wonder what’s next for Marvel’s plans in bringing these Star Wars Disney+ series to the world of comics. Personally I think it would make a lot of sense for the team to jump to The Book of Boba Fett before tackling The Mandalorian season 3, but we’ll have to wait and see exactly how that plays out. In the meantime, this is still a fun way to revisit these stories in-between watching them via streaming, or now– thankfully– via physical discs that don’t require a subscription to watch anytime I please.
Star Wars: The Mandalorian #7 is available now wherever comic books are sold.