It’s hard to believe it’s already been a month since the proper start of the War of the Bounty Hunters crossover and our first entry in the Hunters’ Guide, our handy guide to the events unfolding in the expansive crossover each month. In June, the story got a big kick from the first issue of the eponymous miniseries, bringing back a fan-favorite character in a surprising and exciting way, while the rest of the series found a better way to balance their own stories and tell a small slice of the bigger story. Head below to read our Hunters’ Guide for June’s War of the Bounty Hunters!
Whereas May was all about the build-up, almost detrimentally so to a few series, June both felt different and didn’t, as most of the on-goings played catch-up but started exploring new and exciting threads of their own. The fact this crossover event was made modular by design is clear with how the rest of the series have to get their characters/story caught up to the events unfolding in the miniseries and if one chose to read just the miniseries it’s clear they wouldn’t miss out on too much by not reading these tie-ins…so far.
War of the Bounty Hunters #1: The mystery behind who stole the carbonite Solo from Boba Fett is solved and it’s a whopper of a revelation: Crimson Dawn, as headed by Qi’ra! The issue does a fantastic job of letting you make the connection before we see her, but it’s definitely still one of the best kept and exciting surprises in Star Wars comics history. Boba and the rest of the galaxy receive a message: Crimson Dawn has Solo and will auction him off. What Qi’ra’s goal here is unclear, but we know Boba’s: kill whoever took Solo from him and caused Jabba the Hutt to put a bounty on him. Will he get to Qi’ra or will she live to surprise another day?
Bonus: it’s kind of wild Qi’ra actress Emilia Clarke heard about the character’s return and was happy about it. Go comics!
Bounty Hunters #13: As Valance bumbles around trying to rescue Han because of his debt to the man from their Imperial Cadet days, returned from the dead T’onga tries to stop clan fighting that led to her brother’s death…and in the process finds out Crimson Dawn is making strikes against other syndicates while the auction distracts them. The issue introduces Deathstick, an assassin first seen in defunct mobile game, Uprising, while does a better job balancing its own story lines and tying into the crossover.
Star Wars #14: Turns out Amilyn Holdo, working deep undercover within the syndicates to gain the Rebellion resources, is the one who sends Leia and the Rebellion the message from Crimson Dawn about Han and the auction. Luke takes off with Starlight Squadron on patrols and Leia, Lando, Lobot, and Chewie head to get Han back, but a brush with a Black Sun ship causes them to crash land on their way to the auction. Come for the Lando/Lobot drama, stay for a fun little sequel cameo and the first mention of Black Sun in regards to the crossover in another really well-balanced issue of the Star Wars series.
Darth Vader #13 : Bokku the Hutt, a muscular lad whose goals remain unclear at the moment, finds himself staring at Darth Vader’s lightsaber when he tries to betray the Sith Lord. This is after Vader takes down IG-88, using the droid’s hand to uncover the return of Crimson Dawn, while the modular droid returns to who sent him after Vader in the first place: Administrator Sly Moore. The issue clarifies Vader is after the frozen Han to get at his son Luke, causing him tons of pain before killing him and thus preventing the Jedi from taking his place at Palpatine’s side. Definitely a less clumsy merger with the larger story while developing its own potentially interesting tale.
Doctor Aphra #11: Chelli Aphra and Sana Starros uncover news of the auction of Han Solo, reporting back to their current boss Domina Tagge, and she sends them there to gather information on all the syndicates attending, especially Crimson Dawn. Also find out Lucky and Ariole are headed there too, with their own mission involving their mentor potentially betraying their syndicate. Also, Durge, yes that hulking armored bounty hunter from the 2D Clone Wars micro-series, is brought into canon and probably will be around to cause trouble for everyone soon thanks to Aphra’s action. When is there not a reason to blame Aphra for something?
It’s hard to top the canon shaking reveal of Qi’ra’s return to the playing field and thankfully the other series didn’t try, instead making sure they started a rock solid story of their own while diving into the larger events of the War of the Bounty Hunters crossover in June’s issues of the story. It’ll be interesting to see how the on-goings, and the one-shots starting in July starring a The High Republic-era character, continue to tell their own stories once they get deeper into the crossover’s events, while if the miniseries started with the reveal of Qi’ra, where can it go from there? This month was just enough to make the crossover feel like a must read event, now we’ll just have to see if it can keep that momentum through October.
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.
WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS CROSSOVER
June: War of the Bounty Hunters #1 | Bounty Hunters #13 | Star Wars #14 | Darth Vader #13 | Doctor Aphra #11
May: Alpha #1 | Star Wars #13 | Bounty Hunters #12 | Darth Vader #12 | Doctor Aphra #10 / Hunters’ Guide for May