Star Wars: Han Solo

"This is a Han Solo who doesn't quite know who he is anymore. He doesn't think about politics, and suddenly he's thrust into this life-or-death struggle for beliefs he didn't even know he cared about&mdash;and it has changed him. He doesn't want to believe  that change, but he has."

- Marjorie Liu

Star Wars: Han Solo is a Marvel comic book miniseries written by Marjorie Liu and illustrated by Mark Brooks. The comic is set between the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope and Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, and centers on the character of Han Solo in his early days with the Rebel Alliance. The five-issue series began publication in June 2016.

Development
"Basically, I was told that the story takes place between Episodes IV and V, and then they sort of just let me loose. I turned in several different ideas, but the core of them&mdash;what I kept at the front of my imagination: He's this working-class dude who lives paycheck to paycheck who has a business to run. He's the Han we know and love. He's a con artist, he's a smuggler, he's this wisecracking, streetwise dude, but he's got this internal conflict where there wasn't one before. He's really trying to figure out who he is."

- Marjorie Liu

Star Wars: Han Solo was first announced by Entertainment Weekly on March 4, 2016. The comic book mini-series, set to begin its release in June 2016, is written by Marjorie Liu and illustrated by Mark Brooks, with cover art by Lee Bermejo. Liu chose to write a story in which Han Solo has to contend with the fact that his life has changed and that, as someone who was once only out for himself, he is now part of the Rebellion against the Galactic Empire. He is sent by Leia Organa, a particular favorite of Liu's, on a mission to root out spies in the Rebellion.

When Liu came onto the story, she was told it was set between Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope and Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back but was otherwise given the freedom to craft the story. She pitched a number of different ideas while retaining a core concept that Solo is a wise-cracking and streetwise everyman, con artist, and smuggler who is in business for himself, but who now has an internal conflict about his allegiances that he had never contended with before. This allowed the story to become one about the identity of Han Solo. Chewbacca, whom Liu sees as the heart and soul of his friendship with Solo, is also part of the story.

The story centers around the Dragon Void Run, a race that was inspired by the film The Cannonball Run. Lieu took inspiration from the film and saw the comic's story as "Han Solo in Cannonball Run in space," which allowed her to develop the idea of an ancient and infamous starship race, one that every pilot dreams of being part of and winning. Although the race is a cover for the mission he is sent on, part of Solo's struggle is whether or not to take the race seriously: If he abandons his mission, he could actually win the race.

A new character introduced in the story is Loo Re Anno, part of an ancient and dying race that first founded the Dragon Void Run. She too is a pilot, but she is reaching the end of her age and believes that this will be her last race. The species is a newly-created one for Star Wars: Han Solo, as Liu was encouraged by Lucasfilm to develop new species. Two villains also pose the primary threat to the characters in the comic, someone from Solo's past and someone who wants to stop him from succeeding in his mission. The Empire also makes a more minor appearance, and they are not the main villains of the story.

The death of Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens had an impact on how Liu approached the story. She had to decide whether to allow herself to be influenced by what would happen to Solo in the future, and while she had not completely answered that question by the time of her interview with Entertainment Weekly, she acknowledged it would be impossible to not think about the character's ultimate demise.