Canon Comic Review: War of the Bounty Hunters #4

– Spoiler Review –

Boba Fett returns to the forefront in the penultimate issue of the War of the Bounty Hunters miniseries, the epicenter for the entire crossover initiative, though it leaves one wondering how this will manage to wrap up its story satisfactorily.

War of the Bounty Hunters #4 is a busy issue, dealing with several different threads introduced as different characters and series have clashed with its story, and it ends with Boba Fett’s crusade to gain back the frozen Han-sicle closer to its conclusion but feeling even further away. It felt like the miniseries lingered too long on the auction on Crimson Dawn’s flagship, the Vermillion, but also maybe too little, as only 5 issues feels rushed for this all to wrap up in the following issue. While we know this story is just part one of a Qi’ra trilogy on its way, part two being the recently announced Crimson Reign miniseries due out in December, this miniseries has technically been Boba’s story at least so as this issue ends, it felt more like an issue prior to the penultimate one, not the penultimate part of the story. Reading all the tie-in issues definitely guarantees the ending to the War of the Bounty Hunters crossover will feel satisfactory, but for readers who are only enjoying the miniseries, with the whole thing made modular in design so you wouldn’t need to read it all, this almost feels too sudden. I’m sure I’ll be wrong, as this is Charles Soule we’re talking about and he’s proven time and time again, more often than not, he can wrangle together a satisfying ending.

Boba has felt like a passenger in his story for the last few issues, though it’s quite understandable with the large ensemble of characters, the packed events at the auction, and the headline grabbing return of Qi’ra, so it was nice the miniseries returned its attention to him for a portion of this penultimate issue. Scoping out the Empire taking the Han-sicle to their ship, Boba’s about to attack and finally get his bounty back but Dengar gets in the way. The two trade some barbs, with Boba’s cuts nicking Dengar’s headwraps, and Valance appears to back up his partner-in-crime, something we’ve seen built up in the Bounty Hunters series. A quick battle ensues, with Dengar left behind and floating away on one of Jekara’s rivers and Valance with his hand cannon to Boba’s helmet. What I enjoyed about Soule’s take on Boba returns in full force in the subsequent scenes, as Valance admits his unending friendship to Han Solo and Boba admits he’d have better luck getting his bounty back if they team up. It’s a pretty great exchange that might not land as well for those not reading all the tie-ins, but Boba’s willingness to be so cold, blunt, and realistic is what sells Valance on the potential partnership, as it’s hard to argue with Boba that killing him would only make Valance’s job harder with getting Han back from the Empire, so why rush to revenge for their bad blood when he can take advantage of Fett’s skills until he doesn’t need them anymore. My favorite exchange in their whole negotiations is Valance saying, “You should be dead for everything you’ve done,” and Boba’s cool response, easily heard in Temura Morrison’s voice, “Someday I will be. But today…here I am.” Fett’s so serious about their teamwork, he’s even willing to listen to Valance’s demands about not harming the Millennium Falcon, so he uses a lower intensity seismic charge to knock out the ship, almost like using an ion cannon.* Thanks to Falcon finding a way to knock out the Imperial shuttle carrying Solo, Boba’s seconds away from having the Han-sicle in his grasps and then…the Hutt Fleet blast onto the scene. I agree with Fett here, on many levels: “Oh, come on.” We know Fett will end up with Han and it looks to be a thrilling series of events in the finale next month!

If Jabba let Vader take the Han-sicle, why the aggressive show of force from the Hutt Fleet, you might ask? Bokku the Hutt, that’s why, who responds to Jabba’s wise decision to pick his battles with a challenge, which the ruthless Hutt ignores as he believes Bokku is beneath him. Bokku scoffs at Jabba’s dismissal and appeals to the remaining Hutt council’s fear of losing power, which Marlo, Meeka, and Kani all seem to agree Jabba’s actions could make the Hutts look like pushovers to other rival gangs and syndicates. Bokku stirs them to action, hence the arrival of the Hutt Fleet at the very end of the issue, there to take back what is rightfully Jabba’s aka the Hutts overall. What’s interesting reading these scenes while reading the current Darth Vader (Vol. 3) run is the recent revelations Bokku is Crimson Dawn’s mole in the Hutt Council, but he’s also sort of working for Vader, so I’m curious how much of this is what Vader wants him to do or Qi’ra. It might not matter much if it’s not been made apparent to readers of the miniseries, but it’ll all come to the forefront in next month’s finale.

Leia is understandably unhappy with Luke’s choice, but instead of standing around and being angry about it, she does what she does best and launches into planning and action mode, coming up with a swift plan to take out Vader and get Han away from the Sith Lord’s saber. Lando once again tempers Leia about taking any action against Vader, pointing out Qi’ra’s deft abilities and even she couldn’t defeat him, but Luke spares them from having to argue much more by drawing Vader away (which leads to the shuttle taking Han away to the Executor). With the Sith Lord distracted, Leia, Lando, and Chewie return to the Falcon where Lobot and Threepio have been hanging out—I almost forgot they were along for the ride, to be honest–but hey, they repaired the ship so it’s not like they’ve spent the time idly (I loved Threepio’s sensing Chewie’s burnt hair and being concerned for his Wookiee pal). Lobot isn’t just handy when it comes to repairs, but his implants have access to Imperial systems and somehow he’s able to remotely set off a surge in the shuttle to disable it, since shooting would be far to risky. Once Fett takes them out, will Lobot show his resourcefulness once again or will Lando and Chewie get them up and running and out of Jekara space before the Hutts and the Empire go to war?

Like I said, this is a busy issue: there’s even Qi’ra still to talk about! Qi’ra takes a backseat this issue, and if you read the preview then you’ve seen her entire appearance here, but she does confirm she was prepared for the potential of Vader and facing him helped give Crimson Dawn some serious cred again the galactic underworld. And then she gets ready for the final part of this opening to her plan, calling in favors and help, which she starts off doing while holding what looks to be a Sith Holocron, maybe even Wayfinder! Given that she’s trying to contact someone or call in old favors, I’d imagine this is a Holocron, maybe even one she inherited from Maul or Dryden Vos, but who is she using it to contact? Is it how she contacts Ren and the Knights of Ren, who we know will appear in Crimson Reign? All will hopefully (begin) to be revealed in next month’s finale!

Illustrating once again are Luke Ross with David Messina, while colorist Neeraj Menon is joined by Guru-eFX, and Travis Lanham continues as letterer, and however these pairs are sharing these issues, it’s once again rather seamless and altogether great. While I’ll be curious to see if the team can out do their Qi’ra letting loose and bringing out her batons to battle Vader in the finale, they only come close here in an issue more focused on moving characters around for the final act, with the arrival of the Hutt Fleet a memorable page, their considerable forces seeming to dwarf even the Executor. There’s a lot of detail to Fett’s armor that I appreciated, from the dings, scratches, to signature dent, while the usage of his hands to help convey some of his relax, almost funny attitude to everything returned, but I noticed how they didn’t have him articulate much that way when reaching out to Valance for help, to show his sincerity. One of my favorite panels, while a small one, is of Boba Fett’s ship chasing the Falcon chasing the shuttle, it’s destination the Executor not too far away: the sense of scale, how the ships size up compared to where we’re viewing things, the giant Imperial ship a reminder of their might, while the two moons in the background reveal how little these games of species are to the larger galaxy. My usual complaint about the translucent colors fades for the most part this issue, as it’s darker and most panels are filled in instead of being left white and ghostly in the background, though I’m also just getting used to the style they went with and it’s not really bothering me too much anymore in the penultimate issue. The colors really come to life in the sole Qi’ra panel, her vibrant personal room full of life-filled greens and comforting reds. As for Travis Lanham’s lettering, he did the seismic charges justice in SFX form, the ellipsis acting as the loss of sound, leading to bigger and bigger letters matching the twang of the charges when they go off provided the necessary ingredients to make the memorable sound effect get its due here; when you manage that, you’re doing amazing in my book!

Here are a few other things:

*Seismic charges have always been one of my favorite weapons/sounds from the Prequel era, so it was damn awesome to see one again last year in The Mandalorian S2, and even more exciting to have the Falcon running into one as well now in this comic!
I do tend to like these issues at the beginning of the month, not the middle/end, as then it feels like it allows the other series to spread their wings instead of working to build to the same crescendo.
Crimson Reign, the comic miniseries which is the next part of the Qi’ra trilogy, is now out in December, not November. It received a snazzy connecting variant cover from Ario Anindito (who is slaying it on The High Republic comic) along with a new logo for the miniseries, which the initial covers have been updated with the new logo. The connecting variant seemed to hint Iden Versio of Inferno Squad and Battlefront II fame would somehow be wrapped up in the miniseries’ story!
As my wife and I will finally have our delayed wedding with all our vaccinated friends and family late October, followed by our honeymoon, expect some delays for comic reviews, especially the final issues of this mega crossover! Sorry for any inconvenience, but a butler needs a break every so often!

War of the Bounty Hunters #4 puts all the players in place for the crossover finale month, but it’s beginning to make me wonder how much readers of just this miniseries will enjoy the results.

+ Boba’s smarter, dialogue-filled return

+ Hutt intrigue leading to Hutt Fleet arrival

– Feels like we’re suddenly rushing to an end we were avoiding for too long

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.