Review: Star Wars Icons: Han Solo captures everything about the hero from inception to film

Star Wars Icons: Han Solo is a great book for fans of Star Wars, Harrison Ford and movie knowledge.

Han Solo is one of the most iconic characters in history. He’s spawned countless re-imaginations throughout movies and TV, and elicits a sense of badassery whenever you use his name.

He’s the rogue scoundrel with a good heart that was perfectly captured by Harrison Ford throughout the Star Wars movies. Insight Editions published a book about him aptly named Star Wars Icons: Han Solo.

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The oversized book clocks in at 224 pages, filled with everything you could ever imagine about Han Solo from his inception – first imagined as a green alien – to the way Ford was picked for the part and then brought him to life.

It’s a fantastic book too. Because along with all the stories from so many people who had a hand in the creation or collaboration with the character, there are pictures, sketches, artwork and so much more. It’s an interactive book that lets you dive into what made Han Solo … Han Solo.

What’s great about Star Wars Icons: Han Solo is that it can be for any type of Star Wars fan. Fans who have a passing knowledge of the movies will get to learn more about the behind-the-scenes work such as how George Lucas brought him to life.

Han Solo was imagined as a Jedi alien, but slowly he morphed into the character we now love. Also, Harrison Ford wasn’t easily cast in the role. In fact, Lucas didn’t want to use anyone from his previous movie American Graffiti. He wanted fresh faces those who weren’t well known yet.

But as luck would have it, Ford happened to be installing a door in the offices that day – he was a carpenter as a side job – when Lucas was visited. They had Ford eventually read for parts and he, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher came out ahead.

How different could Star Wars have been if it wasn’t for Ford? Extremely, especially considering Al Pacino had been offered the role, but he couldn’t seem to wrap his head around the script.

All these stories and more are within the pages of Star Wars Icons: Han Solo, cobbled together from interviews, previously released articles, memoirs and countess notes. Author Gina McIntyre does a great job of bringing it all together in sections, not bogging down the reader with too much at one time – even though there is a wealth of info on these pages.

For me, I loved the candid images of Ford on set. If you’ve watched the Star Wars movies dozens of times, you know every scene, every line, and every facial expression. While Han Solo is a devilish rogue who can get under Princess Leia’s skin, the smiles and outtakes are important because it allows you to feel that Ford, Hamill and Fisher became a family while doing these films.

Before The Force Awakens, the big question seemed if Ford would come back and reprise his role. Star Wars Icons makes it seem as though that worry was for naught as Ford jumped back into the role – and finally got the death scene he pitched in Return of the Jedi.

And he didn’t want Solo’s death in ROTJ because he disliked the character. According to the book, Ford felt that killing Han Solo just showed the gravity of galactic fight and that no one was safe, bringing his full arc to a close from a selfish smuggler to a caring friend willing to sacrifice himself.

Thank you, George Lucas for not going with that storyline.

All in all, Star Wars Icons: Han Solo captures the magic of the character from Han Solo’s beginning to the latest iteration of him played by Alden Eichenreich in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

It’s currently available at Sideshow, and will have a wide release in April in time for Star Wars Celebration.