– Spoiler Review –
It all starts here for Star Wars comics’ biggest crossover event ever, War of the Bounty Hunters! The basic premise asks the simple question: what if something happened on Boba Fett’s way to deliver the frozen Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt? In War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha #1, writer and event mastermind Charles Soule, with industry legend Steve McNiven and colorist Laura Martin, shows us just what happens that kicks off the months’ long, complete takeover of Star Wars comics, offering only the tip of the carbonite-berg in this epic sized story.
If we were still under the impression this War of the Bounty Hunters crossover was only a month of “Prelude” issues and then a 5-issue miniseries, not a takeover of all the non-The High Republic series through October including a 5-issue miniseries, I probably would’ve expected more story from War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha #1. Knowing now how large this story will be, the fact we get the inciting incident in Alpha, wonderfully drawn with some fun, snappy writing, makes sense, plus helps set the pace and puts some scale to the scope of what’s to come.
The carbonite process didn’t go as smoothly as Lando Calrissian promised, as it begins to melt, prompting Boba Fett to divert from the delivery and head to Nar Shaddaa to fix the problem. Jabba wants Solo alive, after all, and there won’t be any payout if he’s dead and it might even cause Jabba to put a price on Boba’s head, plus would hurt the hunter’s reputation if Jabba blacklists him; better to make Jabba wait than not deliver the goods. Boba’s contact is a Besalisk named Doc Ragon, but nothing’s ever simple in the underworld: he’ll help Boba with the melting popsicle problem if he’ll take out one of the doc’s enemies, but she just so happens to be the top competitor in a gladiatorial ring. Victorious, Boba returns to find DOC dead and the frozen Solo gone, because Boba makes the biggest mistake much earlier: leaving his prize with a guy who leaves his door open on Nar Shaada, of all places! Rookie move, Boba Man! (Thanks Aphra, for that nickname!)
Of course one of the central mysteries to this entire crossover will be who took the frozen Han Solo from Boba Fett and why. It’s far too early to guess on either, as we barely get a glimpse of those who take Solo here and the solicitations for the upcoming comics have done a great job of playing coy about who is in the shadows and what’s their ultimate goal (though it looks like we won’t have to wait too long…) , so at this point I’m more curious to see how this whole crossover plays out and works across so many series instead. As it’s too early and we know the answer won’t be too far away, the one mystery I’d rather have answered sooner is a theory I have: remember Lando checking on Han’s vitals after the carbon freezing? Well, I’m wondering if he set it up to fail in an attempt to slow down Han’s arrival at Jabba’s, giving them a chance to catch up to Boba and get Han back. Soule has a history of some of the best Lando content in canon, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he has some extra nuance for the character in this epic story as well.
Soule’s Boba is a little more relaxed, less serious than other appearances so far, matching a bit more with his From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back short than the first FaCPOV or his time on Bounty Hunters, meaning I’d believe he could become the Boba we now know (and many stan) from The Mandalorian. Because of this, I’m not as worried about having Boba being such a big focus throughout this entire thing, like in the miniseries starting next month; if I can stand the guy from how Soule’s done it now, I’m sure he can keep up that quality throughout this entire story. One of my favorite funny moments with Boba comes in the final panel, hand on his helmet in resignation regarding the missing Solo, telling Bib Fortuna it’s gonna be a minute; if there’s more of this, I’m all for it. Also, the brief flashback to the Geonosis arena, of him holding his father’s helmet, was an intriguing surprising and I hope we also get to explore Boba a bit more beyond the surface level we usually do.
While this issue isn’t full of an eye-opening story, it’s certainly full of some immaculate and detailed art from Steven McNiven, Laura Martin as colorist, and Travis Lanham for lettering. Beyond a lot content from Image or the Star Wars comics from Marvel or IDW, I don’t read many other comics, nor do I dabble in the superhero worlds (I did a bit when I was younger), so this is the first time I’ve had the pleasure of reading an issue with McNiven’s art and holy deathsticks is his work truly stellar, as each panel is dripping in detail and packed to the brim, asking you to try and find all the content he’s managed to cram into each panel, big or small. It’s an even more impressive display when you consider this is the first time he’s doing is own inks, so all the work beyond colors and lettering is up to him, something highlighted in the “Director’s Cut” edition of the issue which includes his panels in black and white. Seeing those black and whites really highlighted Martin and Lanham’s work. Laura Martin was colorist on the original run of Star Wars comics when Marvel launched in 2015, but she hasn’t been back to the Saga since, and damn did she make me miss her work more with how brilliantly she brings McNiven’s art to life. The black armored Boba Fett* must’ve been difficult considering how much McNiven already had inked it in, while ensuring the packed panels were respite with colors seems like a hard task she was more than ready for; from the sickly green of Ragon gloves to the grotesque splattering of many species’ blood, there was a vibrant life to these shady underworld locations. On top of her work, Lanham’s lettering had a very difficult task before him, as he makes finding the best placement for his word bubbles and effects feel natural to each panel, making concise and appropriate choices for where to cover up some of the detailed work by McNiven and Martin; I really liked his gory effects for when heads lopped off or Boba was stuck in the shoulder Wyrmen Lictor, as their stylized look added to the grotesqueness of the moment. Overall, I really loved the look of Lictor, the spider-like woman warrior, from her many eyes, the red body covered by the white outer shell (which looked great against an all black Boba), and her sneering confidence which makes me wish we could’ve had more of her. Also, which might seem random, but the Pa’lowick (think Sy Snootles) who took the entry fee for the gladiator ring; there was something about her overall look, apathetic to him because I’m sure she sees tons of dramatic entrants, that it was easy to hear her dialogue in a bored, monotone, which was funny compared to Boba’s melodramatic pronouncement of his ring name as “Jango.”
Here are a few other things:
- Because the crossover will deal with all the current on-goings, that means the Manor will once again be covering the Bounty Hunters series. I wrote an article explaining why I stopped in the first place and how, thanks to some changes, I’m okay with covering it again as part of the crossover.
- *The whole black armor thing and calling himself Jango was Star Wars comics’ first attempt at a Clark Kent/Superman like disguise, hey?
- The following “Prelude” issues of the other on-going comics in May will likely set-up how each of those stories’ get caught up in the crossover before it begins in earnest in June, as a preview for next week’s Star Wars #13 hints at.
- There’s going to be a lot of comic issues to pick up to stay on top of the War of the Bounty Hunters crossover, from all the on-going issue’s tying in, the miniseries itself, and the 4 one-shots. Thankfully, the fine folks over at Splash Page Pod put together a handy checklist for the crossover, so save it your phone or print it out and bring it with you to your local comic shop to make sure you stay on top of this big story!
- Part of me wonders if this will have any tie-in with the upcoming The Book of Boba Fett, which would be neat, but considering how they’ve messed around with what’s happened with books/comics when bringing stuff to the screen, maybe it wouldn’t be a bad thing if it didn’t.
- At the end of each month, we’ll have a feature going over what’s all transpired in the crossover so far, then look for whole retrospective once it ends in October.
War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha #1 is a fun little start, offering some promise of the crossover’s epic size and scope, while providing some extremely gorgeous and memorable art.
+ Relaxed Boba Man
+ Stunning, jaw-dropping work from art team on all levels
+ It’s an Alpha for a reason and promises epic scope of crossover
– A little predictable, but this had to start somewhere!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.