War of the Bounty Hunters Vol.1 Review [Spoilers]
Marvel Star Wars War of the Bounty Hunters Vol.1
Written by Charles Soule
Art by S McNiven, L Ross, D Messina, L Martin, N Menon, Guru-eFX
I have a mixed history with the Star Wars comics, there are some I love - the first two Vader runs of the new era, The High Republic comics, I enjoy some of the short mini series like Lando and Shattered Empire. But I struggle with the main Star Wars line, that for me takes some of the mystery away from the time between the OT movies and makes it too crowded, and that was in part why I’d shied away from War of the Bounty Hunters for a while. But having seen people’s reaction to the series and the reappearance of Qi’ra piqued my curiosity to pick up this first trade paperback from the crossover event.
The basic story hinges on Boba Fett’s prized bounty of Han Solo frozen in carbonite being stolen from him enroute to Jabba. The thieves are Crimson Dawn agents, led by Qi’ra who is now in charge of the organization, and they plan to auction Han off, Jabba believes Boba sold Solo to his rivals and puts a bounty on Fett’s head so Boba has to deal with other Bounty Hunters coming for him as well as trying to retrieve his prize.
We get a lot of cameos and appearances along the way from Zuckuss & 4-LOM to Doctor Aphra, Bossk, Black Sun, the Pykes, Dengar and Valance - I’ve never been a fan of Valance but thankfully he’s not in this much. Of course Luke & Leia are there to try and rescue Han and Dath Vader shows up and hell breaks loose, he and Qi’ra fight, Vader recognizes her training but wins easily, and Luke is able to to distract Vader from killing the frozen Han Solo. Boba of course ends up with his prize and back in Jabba’s good books.
There are some very cool canon connections, early in the book while Boba has his armor sprayed an awesome looking jet black he has flashbacks of his father’s death on Geonosis, and there is a cool High Republic Easter egg (Charles Soule of course wrote Light of the Jedi) when the oldest Hutt, Marlo, mentions Chancellor Lina Soh. And probably the biggest surprise are the Knights of Ren appearing at the end as part of Qi’ra’s crew, revealing that Qi’ra’s plan was to use Han to reintroduce Crimson Dawn to the galaxy.
This book was a lot of fun, and it doesn’t feel like it tangles the web too much between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and keeps Luke & Vader at arm’s length. The story of Qi’ra and Crimson Dawn promises to be continued in the Crimson Reign series, and her reappearance here is one of the best things about the book but I would love to learn more about her time with Maul and how he ended up stranded on Malachor in Rebels. This was also a very tidy contained story, so I am confused as to why there are more War of the Bounty Hunters trade paperbacks coming!
It was a great time to read this book with The Book of Boba Fett just a week away, and it’s certainly helped up my excitement for that series even more.
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 /5
Jonny O
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