– Spoiler Review –
Age of Rebellion – Boba Fett #1 does what most of Legends really couldn’t do for me with the character, making his older-aged appearances compelling, by going full Western/Man With No Name, while the gorgeous art brings the experience to vivid life.
When I was younger, Boba Fett’s armor held all his appeal and I was a big fan of the character, though even then most of Boba’s Legends stories set post-Return of the Jedi were hit or miss for me (love the Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy, felt meh about his part in the Legacy of the Force). When I got older, and his ‘father’ Jango was introduced, I found him to be far more interesting and compelling, as his Legends stories fleshed out why he ended up being the perfect candidate for the clone army and I found that to deserve more of a reputation, both with fans and within the GFFA. I have come to enjoy Boba much more during his younger years, as seen in The Clone Wars, but this is the first time, in both Legends and canon, I’ve really come to appreciate the grown-up Boba. While in a vacuum, this issue would’ve given me the same feeling, but after TCW showed his tutelage from various sources, Boba feels both like he’s earned his reputation with fans and in-universe the skills to be the baddest, best bounty hunter in the galaxy. By keeping Boba silent for basically the entirety of the issue, and everyone else doing the talking, from panic about his presence to love for his actions, really shows readers the reputation he has, instead of us being told again and again he’s the best. We see it here, making the age-old adage of “Show, don’t tell” really ring true, as it much easier to feel his reputation by the reactions of those having to deal with him.
The Age of Republic ended with a General Grievous issue which leaned heavily on Luke Ross’ wonderful art to bring its creepy, spooky tale to life. It was a great showcase of the strengths of comics, as they marry the intimateness of novels with the visuals of movies, as the art is just as important to the overall feeling of the content within the panels as the writer’s story. Boba Fett is an issue much like Grievous’ was, but somehow the art of Marc Laming, with Neeraj Menon on colors, manages to beat Luke Ross’ work, something I didn’t think could happen, though I still enjoy the entirety of Ross’ Villains work over Laming’s so far. What really struck me were a little things, the glints and reflections on Boba’s armor, as gave a real sense of presence to the space Boba took up in a panel, the chaos and fullness of the bar scene, the perfect lighting in the dark-set panels, and those voluminous explosions. And even in the way they place or frame Boba in a panel speaks louder than any words he could’ve spoken in the panels.
In a recent interview with Greg Pak, he said he wasn’t trying on purpose to create connections between Hero and Villain issues like Jody Houser did in Age of Republic, but so far there’s been a way to rhyme the Hero and Villains, intentional by him or not. For Boba Fett and Han Solo, it felt like they connected due to other people’s opinions on them and how they respond to it. For Han, everyone thinks he’s fully invested into the Rebellion, and he does his best to tell them he isn’t, but it continues to fall on deaf ears because he’s lying to himself about it. For Boba, people think he’s either by the books or a savior due to taking out his mark saves a village’s worth of people, but when he tells them he’s out just for the bounties, it doesn’t fall on deaf ears because he isn’t lying to himself.
Here are a few other things:
- Don’t forget, Greg Pak joins the Star Wars series in July and Age of Resistance begins as well!
Age of Rebellion – Boba Fett #1 goes full Western to exceptional results, with the art team being an unforgettable highlight.
+ Art shows us, not tells us about Boba
+ Full-on Western/Man With No Name
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
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