– Spoiler Review –
War of the Bounty Hunters – 4-LOM & Zuckuss #1, the next in a series of one-shots for the War of the Bounty Hunters crossover which delve into side tales the main stories don’t have time for, pits long time bounty hunting pals against one another after their disastrous defeat at the hands of Boba Fett.
In the opening issue of the War of the Bounty Hunters miniseries, the core of the crossover, Zuckuss and 4-LOM wind up tracking down Boba Fett first after Jabba the Hutt puts a bounty on him, but the pair don’t last long. Boba kicks Zuckuss off a platform and he rips off 4-LOM’s head to track down who put the bounty on him, discarding it on Tatooine. War of the Bounty Hunters – 4-LOM & Zuckuss #1 picks up in the aftermath, while also providing backstory on the odd couple, for a funny, entertaining, and wild tale that ends unexpectedly. Written by Daniel José Older, I expected nothing less, as he brings his trademarked humor and energy to two characters I didn’t care much about before this issue but suddenly feel somewhat invested in, while the punchy script’s full of delightful side characters and some fun action, brought to excellent life by first-time-to-Star-Wars artist Kei Zama with Felipe Sobreiro on colors and Ariana Maher with lettering. Beyond making me care about what happens to the eponymous characters and their long-standing friendship, I really enjoyed how Older infused so much life into every character, from the Lurmen who wants to collect limbs to the pair’s target in the past that causes them problems in the present, there’s a richness to the slice of world he’s carved which pulls readers in and helps one get lost in the story.
As Zuckuss recovers from his fall, he tells his pal Trot (the aforementioned Lurmen who loves collecting limbs) about his history with 4-LOM, recounting an early mission taken on behalf of Deva Lompop.* Trot is a reluctant listener, hurrying along Zuckuss’ winded narration, and when he interrupts to help his friends with beating up scum in their bar, it only reminds Zuckuss of what he lost: a friend and partner who understood and worked well with him. Once 4-LOM makes his return, albeit now a giant, multi-limbed (yay for Trot!) monstrosity hellbent on killing Zuckuss, the way this Nar Shadda crew of misfit aliens comes together to help fight back 4-LOM, mainly to keep them from messing up their streets, deepens Zuckuss’ lost once 4-LOM is beaten back and freed from his new masters control, slipping away into the darkness of Nar Shaddaa. Older breaking up such a close-knit crew, one we’ve known worked together for so many years, was a big surprise for me, though with 4-LOM out there, somewhere, after this and questioning his drive to kill Zuckuss, maybe the two can find a way back to one another. That I care to maybe see a reunion is a testament to the tale spun here, as it’s less about their missions together or being bounty hunters, but how important it is to have a friend and partner, while it also deals with that loss in its own, slightly exaggerated way as the Findsman recounts their past.
Beyond Ramsin†, the rest of the cast in 4-LOM & Zuckuss #1 are non-humans, a near rarity in most Star Wars storytelling, though fellow luminous author Justina Ireland largely did the same thing in her one-shot, though with Boba as main character it’s not as non-human-centric as this issue. Star Wars’ various aliens and cultures have always delighted me and made me love the franchise more, but they’ve largely played secondary to most of the human-led drama, so any tale where the aliens take center stage helps diversify the galaxy more and shows how easy and entertaining it can be. Plus, Older goes out of his way to capture unique syntax often, instead of sticking to drab, conventional dialogue, which helps fleshes out the characters and provide extra flair to keep species feeling unique from humans. And lastly, I really enjoyed how basically all of them say each other’s names, the bare minimum I used to collect data for the comic section of the diversity reports by Eleven-ThirtyEight and now discuss in my year-in-reviews.
How soon can we have Kei Zama back working on Star Wars comics?!? I need them back, shorter than Han Solo can fly the Kessel Run! Zama’s work really impressed, from its atmospheric feel, be it the bare but detailed Tatooine sands or the rain-soaked streets of Nar Shaddaa, the littlest of details evoked the character of the planet, grounding moments in those biomes. And drawing all alien creatures, especially with the Gand Zuckuss as the main character, expressing their emotions through simple facial gestures wasn’t enough and Zama was the right artist for the job, using instead larger, more noticeable hand gestures or framing to get the character’s feelings across, much artists have been doing for the masked Darth Vader, but at least with Zuckuss Zama has the eyes to work with too; most other aliens have a more recognizable facial structures and she can anger and excitement more to the forefront there, with everything from exaggerated to subtle looks. I particularly loved the staging, layouts, and the high-octane action of the rain-filled Nar Shaddaa street battle, be it the upgraded 4-LOM’s massive form swinging its various limbs and characters dancing around them, the hints of rain always in the background, and also the suddenness of the explosive action, as one panel might be calm but the next is excessive, like when 4-LOM saves Zuckuss in the past or 4-LOM ground pounds a surprised Zuckuss. Felipe Sobreiro’s colors elicit the warmth of Tatooine’s suns or the cold, uncaring streets of Nar Shaddaa, while I often enjoyed how colors stemmed from any big, aggressive action happening in the panel, like the yellow-ish orange being the dominant color when Mareesee shoots the massive 4-LOM or the heavier reds when traditional blasters go off. And one of my favorite parts of Ariana Maher’s lettering is the speech bubbles with the characters’ heads attached, as while different colored speech bubbles is often the go-to, it’s something that can get confusing or intermixed, while this is clear for use readers and allows Maher to focus more on differentiating a character’s delivery via her lettering than which character is which talking. When the upgraded 4-LOM speaks the wavy bubble with the scraggly letters inside almost gave him a Frankenstein’s monster vibe, this distorted voice that’s certainly different than the original; the alien writing and black filled bubbles for the Jawas was a cool way to represent their language. The various SFX, like Zuckuss ramming 4-LOM into a wall or the “da ga da” repeating like an old fashioned Tommy Gun helped sell the action, but it also came in places I appreciated and didn’t realize we needed, like Zuckuss’ opening “splash” into the puddle of water when he collapses in the beginning.
This issue released the same day as Bounty Hunters #15, another of the tie-ins for the War of the Bounty Hunters crossover, and I’d suggest reading this first as BH #15 sort of “spoils” the ending of 4-LOM & Zuckuss #1 and some jokes land better that way, but in the end it isn’t much.
Here are a few other things:
- *These one-shots are loosely connected by bounty hunter Deva Lompop, who had a memorable introduction in Jabba the Hutt #1, but only cameos here for the briefest of moments. I was a little disappointed, but they did say loosely connected, so there was never any guarantee she’d be front and center every one-shot.
- †The lone human character in this story Sardis Ramsin, is a bit of a recurring character for Older, who expanded on the once random stormtrooper in his From a Certain Point of View story and later placed him in his novel Last Shot, and now we catch up with the character on Tatooine after his desertion, doing rather well for himself. There’s also a cru, a species created for his The High Republic Adventures, that makes an appearance here. I’ve always enjoyed when authors do stuff like this!
- At the beginning of August we just released our latest Hunters’ Guide, covering the events of the crossover during July, so check that out if you need a refresher or didn’t read all the tie-in issues! After August, there’s just September and October left for this event’s story and I’ll be very curious to see if it can live up to the hype of changing the status quo of Star Wars comics! And later this month, when November’s solicitations drop, I wonder how they’ll keep this change secret.
War of the Bounty Hunters – 4-LOM & Zuckuss #1 keeps the one-shots lively and entertaining with a great little discussion on friendship.
+ Friendships never end, right? Right?!
+ Non-human silver platter
+ You’re welcomed back all the time, Kei Zama!
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
August: Bounty Hunters #15
July: Bounty Hunters #14 | Doctor Aphra #12 | War of the Bounty Hunters #2 | Darth Vader #14 | Jabba the Hutt #1 | Star Wars #15 / Hunter’s Guide for July
June: War of the Bounty Hunters #1 | Bounty Hunters #13 | Star Wars #14 | Darth Vader #13 | Doctor Aphra #11 / Hunters’ Guide for June
May: Alpha #1 | Star Wars #13 | Bounty Hunters #12 | Darth Vader #12 | Doctor Aphra #10 / Hunters’ Guide for May