Hunters' Guide: September's War of the Bounty Hunters Report

The penultimate month of the War of the Bounty Hunters’ mega-crossover is finally here, as all the players move into position for the upcoming grand, multi-series finale. In our latest Hunters’ Guide, we’ll be recapping all of September’s crossover events, from Aphra and Sana Starros’ big jailbreak, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader’s dogfight in the skies above Jekara, to Boushh and co going after the powerful Tagge family, and while this should be a big month, besides a few highlights, instead crossover fatigue reared its ugly sarlacc-like head.

War of the Bounty Hunters is a full 6 month affair, taking over the Star Wars comics landscape to tell its expansive story about one man just trying to make his way in the universe…by getting back a stolen bounty. By the end of September, we’ve been dealing with this simple story for 5 months, including the middling preview month of May, and while the reveal of Qi’ra’s return atop Crimson Dawn certainly brought speculation and excitement (as did the knowledge her story continues in December with Crimson Reign), the lack of anything concrete with her plans is one part of why September felt like hitting a wall rather than reaching a crescendo-level cliffhanger to set up a grand finale. Sure, the frozen Han Solo is almost within the Empire’s grasp and all the parties are converging to make it a madcap rush to claim him in the finale month’s issues, and while how it all plays out could be fun, the cliffhanger is predicated on the fate of a character/plot we already know the ending to. As for Qi’ra’s ultimate plans, there are hints and teases of what it might be, like Deathstick claiming victory for the Dawn if they gain possession of a child born of warring syndicates, but for her to get a big introduction and we’re no closer to the knowledge feels like a let down 4 months in. If just reading the miniseries itself, it might not feel like that big of a deal, as there’s only one issue left, but having read all the tie-in issues the lack of more info calls to question the need for the entire comics takeover. I know this is Boba Fett’s story, but he’s largely felt like a passenger in it as Qi’ra took center stage as she stood up to Darth Vader, and now knowing the scope of her return is a whole trilogy large, lacking a point to all these issues is my first thought in this penultimate month, not the last. The lack of distractions or new details isn’t ever truly a bad thing, as there are some stellar issues this month that didn’t concern themselves too much with the larger story, but can this crossover wrap its story up in a satisfactory manner in one last month? Will Qi’ra’s motives and plans be worth the wait? I’m confident in the former, not so much in the latter. While we wait for the final month to deliver a conclusion, let’s dive into everything that’s transpired this month:

Doctor Aphra #14: This entertaining jailbreak, which features Aphra and Sana meeting up with Lucky and Ariole, helps the former by re-kickstarting their storyline due to Aphra’s chaos killing their target for them. Despite some differences that are actually a lot of similarities, the group teams up to sow even more chaos on the ship while searching for the valuable (data and monetarily-wise) necklace Aphra stole the issue before. With their eyes on the prize, the assassin Deathstick arrives, but with all the remote explosives they planted around Crimson Dawn’s flagship, it might turn out to be a short fight. Keeping the series focused on its own aspect within the larger crossover story continues to make it one of the better parts of this endeavor. But it’s not writer Alyssa Wong’s only triumphant comic this month…

War of the Bounty Hunters #4: Boba Fett takes back over his story this issue, confronting the bounty hunting pair of Dengar and Valance with ease, separating them and gaining Valance’s help in pursuing the Empire as they take the Han-sicle away. It’s Valance’s bleeding (literally) heart that’s responsible for a dialed down seismic charge knocking out the rebels in the Falcon, but Boba’s day goes from bad to worse when the entire Hutt Fleet arrives for Han themselves. It’s all part of some Hutt intrigue, as upstart Bokku (who is working for Crimson Dawn, but you wouldn’t know it reading only the miniseries) tries to undermine Jabba’s place at the head of the Hutt Council, going against his wishes and bringing the Fleet in. As for Qi’ra, her confidence despite everything so far is both telling and scary, though who is on the other line when she opens up Dryden’s Sith Holocron, which is now hers? The Knights of Ren, considering we know Ren himself will be in Crimson Reign? We’ll find out next month.

Darth Vader #16: Sly Moore’s plans for using Luke to kill Vader, since her attempts via IG-88 nearly got her killed last time, continued this issue as she sends the Droid Crush (also from Bestoon, like Ochi) to help Luke out as father and son dogfight in the skies above Jekara. Ochi fights her regarding this betrayal while she tries to make him see sense, on how even Vader’s days are numbered. Bokku is angry about his deal with Vader not going the way he expected, so he calls in the Hutt Fleet, though if you hadn’t read WotBH #4, you wouldn’t know he convinced several of the Hutt Council members they needed to call in the Fleet since he doesn’t have that type of power yet on his own. Instead of these two issues syncing up, they felt wholly separated, neither has the full context for Bokku’s actions. Same with the Luke and Vader dogfight and a later issue this month…

Boushh #1: Who knew the family dynamics of both the Ubese, aka Boushh and his fellow exiles, and the Tagges would be so wonderfully juxtaposed and so entertaining to learn more about?!? This is writer Alyssa Wong’s other excellent issue for the month, which sees an expansion of a plotline from her Doctor Aphra series: Crimson Dawn’s moles across the other syndicates. It’s Qi’ra’s right-hand woman who sends Boushh after the Tagges, so Dawn has been going after syndicates either covertly via hunters and moles, or out in the open, like as it did attacking the Mourner’s Wail (as seen in the Bounty Hunters series a few issues back). Is the goal to be the only one? Why get rid of the others…does it have something to do with Qi’ra’s past being taken by the Dawn? I guess we might find out next month.

Bounty Hunters #16: Valance and Dengar finally catch up with the main action in the crossover…only for them to rocket past and right into the finale, as Valance leaves Dengar for dead to save his ol’ buddy Han alongside Boba Fett. Leaving Dengar probably wasn’t a good idea, as he hands Crimson Dawn some sneaky recordings he made of Valance’s holo-calls that reveal the location of Cadeliah, the daughter of the two warring Corellian syndicates. T’onga and Losha also catch up to main action, freeing Bossk, previously left for dead by Boba back in WotBH #1, and add him to their crew to bring Cadeliah to her grandfather, the leader of the Mourner’s Wail. Meanwhile, we find out what Vukorah, de facto leader of the Unbroken Clan, has been doing since her brief appearance at the auction in Doctor Aphra #12: avoiding all the mess and drinking. Me too, me too.

Star Wars #17: Luke and Vader get into a different dogfight in the skies above Jekara than the one in the Vader issue, or at least that’s how it felt since it’s really hard to tell when they take place in relation to one another. Either way, both versions include Luke continuing to admit he’s not ready yet to face Vader and needs to get back to Jedi training, something he said last month. Otherwise, it’s Lando’s big issue, as he apologes to L3-37 for what happened during Solo, including gambling away the Falcon to Han, as he helps fix the ship after Fett’s dialed down seismic charge. Leia and Lando finally make amends and he looks ready to join the Rebellion hype train as they get the Falcon ready to get Han from the Imperials.

Either from feeling like we’re rushing through such a big story or taking too long to get anywhere to learn why we have to deal with so many tie-in issues, the penultimate month of the War of the Bounty Hunters‘ crossover felt like a step back, not a step forward. Either way, very curious to see if the final issue of the main miniseries lives up to writer Charles Spike’s hype.

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.

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