Welcome to our first of a new monthly series, Hunters’ Guide: A War of the Bounty Hunters Report! We’ll be using this guide to look back at the month’s events in the mega-crossover for Marvel’s Star Wars comics, War of the Bounty Hunters, gathering together what we know so far and what it might mean for the month ahead. Hunters’ Guide will finish in October, alongside the crossover’s end, and we’ll have a retrospective to wrap our thoughts on the whole event then. For now though, check out what all transpired in War of the Bounty Hunters in May below!
War of the Bounty Hunters asks the question: what if Boba Fett’s trip to drop off the frozen in carbonite Han Solo to Jabba’s Palace didn’t go quite so smoothly? Somehow, the answer ballooned into a mega-crossover, which includes a 5-issue miniseries War of the Bounty Hunters, tie-in issues from every current (besides The High Republic) Marvel series, and 4 one-shot issues, all ending in October. May truly was the Prelude to the main event, which kicks off with the miniseries in June, as each of Marvel’s series were labeled “Prelude” issue, so much of what transpired wasn’t terribly eventful, but it did get the comics ready to be part of the larger story: we see Boba lose the frozen Solo popsicle, meet some new characters like to be important to the larger story, and move everyone into place. If you’re interested in the crossover, reading the War of the Bounty Hunters – Alpha #1 issue from May, the opening issue of the event which contains the inciting incident of the whole story, would probably be good enough (but almost not necessary) to enjoy the upcoming miniseries. Otherwise, the crossover was made modular in design, so one could read the miniseries alone and get the main story, while checking out the tie-in issues will help flesh it out and give readers the full experience.
So without further ado, let’s check out what each issue brought the crossover’s story (below I’ve arranged the issue in release order, which I’m equating to story order):
War of the Bounty Hunters – Alpha #1: When the carbonite encasing Han Solo begins to fail, likely killing him if Boba doesn’t do something about it, the hunter stops by a shady doctor in the depths of Nar Shaddaa; I have a theory this problem with the carbonite was Lando’s doing, when he was “checking on” Han in the chamber, but that remains to be seen. In the end, Boba gets roped into helping the doctor in return for fixing the popsicle Solo, and while Boba’s away, someone comes into the shop and steals Han. Note to famed bounty hunters everywhere: don’t leave precious cargo with people who leave their door open. The art from Steve McNiven is stunning throughout, slightly excessive gore or not, while writer Charles Soule gives Boba a humorous slant, both of which make it worth a read.
Star Wars #13 – War of the Bounty Hunters Prelude: Chewbacca is of course reaching out to all his contacts to locate Boba and therefore his frozen friend. He gets a hit: Nar Shaddaa, but by the time he and Luke Skywalker appear, it’s too late. Returning to the Rebellion, they find out a mysterious person has given them Solo’s location…and no, we don’t know who this is yet or where Solo might be. There’s an awesome display of Luke Skywalker’s growing Jedi skills and a fun appearance from Solo: A Star Wars Story which makes this issue my favorite of the month (outside of Aphra’s, of course).
Bounty Hunters #12 – War of the Bounty Hunters Prelude: This one is all about the titular hunters, for whom their profession is quite complicated. In the case of series star Beilert Valance, we learned he’s teamed up with Dengar to get Solo from Boba, as Valance believes he still owes Han a debt after their time together in the Imperial Academy. Dengar made an alliance to see which bounty he can collect on, while the issue features T’onga learning about the bounty on Boba so she’ll likely want revenge for how he nearly killed her (and originally killed my interest in the series), 4-LOM and Zuckuss (who star in August’s one-shot) learning of Boba’s location from Dengar, plus it reminds us Bossk could show up too. Like I said earlier, nothing surprising this month, just a lot of player’s moving into place.
Darth Vader #12 – War of the Bounty Hunters Prelude: After a showcase of power from Emperor Palpatine that puts Vader in his subservient place again, Vader finds a new target for his hate: Luke and his friends. He and Ochi of Bestoon meet with Bokku, a new Hutt whose name we first heard in August’s comic solicitations, to recruit their resources to steal back the frozen Han so Vader can torture his son to try to make him strong. Or something. It’s a little clumsy with fitting into the story, but it works overall.
Doctor Aphra #10 – War of the Bounty Hunters Prelude: After a mostly successful mission for Domina Tagge, Dr. Aphra and her ex Sana Starros find themselves tasked with a new one: hunting down a missing associate/cousin of Domina’s. There’s an interesting thread of Domina learning not only does her organization have leaks, but so too do her competitors and somehow it all seems connected to…Durge! There’s some brilliant, though small Sana and Aphra moments, and the humor by writer Alyssa Wong is why this series is hard to beat.
Like I said earlier, these events aren’t much more than an appetizer in May, shuffling the players on the chess board into place for the crossover proper, and you could reasonably miss them and likely begin with the miniseries in June without feeling lost. That might change a bit as the story moves forward, but it’s far too early to tell at this point.
Check back at the Manor for our reviews of the upcoming issues and our next installment Hunters’ Guide, our monthly WotBH round-up!
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
May: Alpha #1 | Star Wars #13 | Bounty Hunters #12 | Darth Vader #12 | Doctor Aphra #10