Canon Comic Review: War of the Bounty Hunters #5

– Spoiler Review –

With War of the Bounty Hunters #5’s dense, but fun finale, Boba Fett’s pursuit of his stolen bounty, and all the crazy forces manipulating events around him, comes to an epic conclusion alongside teases of what comes next for Qi’ra.

War of the Bounty Hunters #5 is both the ending of the miniseries but not yet of the crossover, as there are a few tie-in issue left, and while it is an ending, it’s just a beginning for Star Wars comics next big moment, Crimson Reign. I’m not kidding when I say it’s a dense issue, cramming its extended page count with some resolution to all the various subplots spinning out from the main narrative, while the deeper dives will come for side characters and plots in their respective series. In my review of the last issue and in September’s Hunters’ Guide, my recap of each month’s WotBH crossover story, I was concerned writer Charles Soule wouldn’t wrangle together a satisfying conclusion, but at least provide details about Qi’ra’s plans, and I’m happy to say my fears were unfounded, as he wrote it so you can’t have one without the other.

So where to begin?! I’ll start with the Hutt intrigue, as Bokku’s alliance to Crimson Dawn become clear to readers of the miniseries this issue. If you’ve been reading the rest of the tie-in issues, specifically Darth Vader (Vol. 3), Bokku working for Crimson Dawn was a reveal a few issues back, but here it’s brought to the forefront for an interesting conclusion. Having pushed the Hutt Council to defy Jabba the Hutt’s wishes of letting the Empire take the frozen Han Solo despite his winning bid, Qi’ra calls on Bokku to deliver a distraction to allow Leia, Lando, and Chewie a chance to steal back Han from the Empire, but this moves brings on the ire of the Emperor himself. Palpatine has Vader called off chasing Luke Skywalker to impart a lesson to the Hutts, and he arrives on their ship and kills the Council, including Bokku, while Jabba sits comfortable back on Tatooine. I’m hoping the Darth Vader series delves into Bokku’s reasoning for joining them and why he’s willing to sacrifice himself for their cause, a very un-Hutt like thing to do, because this issue doesn’t offer an explanation. With the Council dead, Jabba’s sitting pretty on this throne though we all know that power won’t last long, and definitely leaves an interesting thread after Return of the Jedi: who is in control of the Hutts after Jabba’s death? What does this all mean for the Hutts going forward? Will some of that come clear in December’s The Book of Boba Fett? Either way, the Hutt intrigue was a nice angle for the series to include, even if it didn’t dive too deep.

Admiral Piett didn’t quite like Darth Vader believing the amassed Hutt armada was beneath his attention, and in a very bold move, contacts Emperor Palpatine about everything since Vader said only Master’s orders were worth his notice. This is what halts Vader’s pursuit of Luke Skywalker’s X-wing, whose doing his best to distract his father so his friends can mount their rescue of the Han-sicle from the Executor. Their extended dog fight has been a bit confusing across a few different issues, but here it has a clear end at least, as Vader taunts Luke about not being a Jedi and being fearful of Vader, but Luke counters he will be a Jedi when they meet next. This is setup for the next arc of Soule’s Star Wars series, which will return to Luke expanding his training, while for this miniseries it feels like a logical ending for Vader’s pursuit of his son. Both the DV series and Soule’s SW should expose more of either Luke or Vader’s response to the encounter.

So what of Leia, Lando, and Chewie’s efforts to gain back Han? While we already know how it ends, it gets far closer than I ever imagined, because after the Imperial shuttle escapes the Hutts’ grasp and boards the Executor, all seems lost…until Qi’ra clears them a way forward, one of her many spies and moles giving them access to land! Lando and Chewie get REAL close to finally telling Leia about Han and Qi’ra, but they use the urgency of the situation to their advantage to avoid confirming the full truth. As for Qi’ra’s mole, Doctor Aphra #15 (Vol. 2), which released the same day, exposes the network is far deeper and wider than ever imagined! Once aboard, the group fights their way to Han’s holding place, and just as Lando’s trying to unfreeze him, fate intervenes, and so does Boba Fett, taking the opportunity away from the crew, who flee the Executor without Han. There’s an excellent little panel of Leia and Chewie hugging over losing Han again but at least we all know they’ll get him back in their next attempt!

This is supposed to be Boba Fett’s story after all, so it’s about time we chat about him, no?! Before he gets into the rebels’ way to finally gain back his stolen bounty, he boards the Executor via an old code (those always seem to check out), using Valance’s history with the Imperial navy to help navigate its maze of corridors to Han’s likely holding place. The truce between them was always tenuous and Valance is definitely too trusting, so it doesn’t necessarily surprise readers or Valance when Boba attaches a thermal detonator to the cyborg. Valance isn’t dead, his terminator-like shell preventing it, but he’s certainly been in better shape, his fate left as a cliffhanger for the Bounty Hunters series to conclude. Boba slices into Han’s holding room, confronts the rebels, and then fate intervenes like I mentioned earlier, as a stray missile from the Hutts breaches the ship and the Han-sicle tumbles out into space! Charles Soule teased pages 26-27 would be wild and Boba’s dive to get the Han-sicle is certainly that! If all of this wasn’t enough to confirm Boba’s commitment to his reputation and getting a stolen bounty back, this moment leaves no doubts. Bounty in tow, Boba completes the delivery to Jabba and thinks about taking the Hutt up on his offer to relax a while at the Palace, also helping to set the stage for the beginning of RotJ. As far as a story for Boba Fett, in the end the War of the Bounty Hunters miniseries often got away from the character and it didn’t ever feel like it went beyond the helmet, remaining a armor-deep exploration of Boba in this era, which means it at least a lot of fun overall, especially with the looser way Soule writes Fett.

And lastly, and definitely not least, Qi’ra’s part in all this. Throughout the issue, we see Qi’ra pull strings to help the rebels gather back Han, forcing Bokku to make a sacrifice and using her expansive network of moles, but the question remains: what was this all for? Qi’ra narrates the final few pages, revealing she did want Han to get back to his friends, but she can live with the outcome of Boba gaining him back for now, because her main objective was achieved: sowing instability in the power structures of the current galaxy, giving Crimson Dawn an opportunity to take over the resulting power vacuum. There’s still no clear reason why she’s so focused on this power grab and what it’s all for, as the answer for why/how the Han-sicle can save her, like she said in the opening issue, remains elusive, but I guess that’s why they made sure to announce this is just one part of a trilogy of comics focused on her story. Crimson Reign, out in December, will focus on Qi’ra finally, so I expect we’ll learn more about what happened to her and how she got to this point, and why she’s even doing all this, while the story concludes later in 2022 with The Hidden Empire (which I’m guessing will start in May). Answers might be elsewhere and elusive, but the teases for Qi’ra’s reign in the final splash page are delightful: as revealed in one of the covers for Crimson Reign, the Knights of Ren are assembled before Qi’ra, Ren at the forefront and a group of Knights that look nothing like the ones Kylo Ren comes to know decades from now, including what looks to be a kid?!; Chanatha Cha, also seen on the cover, is there standing next to a new character in a somewhat similar get-up; there’s a masked individual somewhat hidden by Qi’ra’s placement on the page standing next to Deathstick UPDATE it’s Imara Vex from the upcoming Star Wars Hunters mobile/Switch game, which is rumored to have a tie-in novel coming out; and then the two I’m most interested in, an older woman and a new droid type, somewhat similar to K-2SO’s design, standing on a platform in the distance. Who and how are all these individuals vital to Crimson Dawn’s future and how did they get caught up in her plans, especially the Knights of Ren?! We’ll find out in December!

For the final issue, the joint illustrators of Luke Ross with David Messina continues and so too does the colorists, but out is Guru-eFX and in is Rachelle Rosenberg alongside series regular Neeraj Menon, while Travis Lanham is letterer again. There are differences one can tell between the two artists, but it never takes away from the experience and it’s often so similar looking you really won’t notice unless you’re really scrutinizing each panel. I don’t know how much Rosenberg worked on the issue overall, but the translucent colors which have made most of the issues feel distant and unfocused are gone (they were still there but way less noticeable last issue), and while still bright, there’s a muted nature to the colors overall that takes away the shiny look. Travis Lanham had quite the job this issue, as there are a lot of speech bubbles as Soule simultaneously has to bring readers up to speed and continue the story, and with so many chess pieces in play, there’s a lot of conversations to dip into; it did make me wonder why the traditional credits page wasn’t used to give the story more space. There are some really great ship/space panels and pages this issue, be it the full page of the Hutt armada closing in on the Executor, TIEs engaging the fleet, as it’s still clear how large Vader’s flagship is but the Hutt’s forces are clearly overwhelming. Also, the sequences of panels when Boba Fett shows up in the Han-sicle’s holding room, from the incoming missile to Han slowly sliding out of the ship, Leia’s scream, were mesmerizing and thrilling, making me wonder if they’d really drop him from space. The following panels, as Boba jetpacks down to secure his prize are also a blast, seeing him plunge through the air and get the most out of that jetpack; it was thrilling, even knowing he’d get it in the end. Also, the final panel with the giant group Qi’ra talks to is a cool collection of new, old, and intriguing designs.

Here are a few other things:

With the bigger page count this issue, it was clear Soule was able to fit more content in as he pleased, as the last few issues of the miniseries felt a little rushed with so many characters and content to cover, and I feel like each issue should’ve been larger to help the story feel less compressed and rushed for time.

War of the Bounty Hunters #5 offers a satisfying conclusion for the miniseries itself, maybe not quite the entire crossover, while it teases what’s to come in Qi’ra’s Star Wars comics story.

+ Fun, exciting finale

+ Mostly resolving its various threads

– Only surface deep endings

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.