Good day Star Wars Fanatics! I had been sick the past couple of weeks,
but I am much better now! I hope you are all in good health. If you’ve never heard of it, and you
are a Star Wars fan, War of the Bounty Hunters is a canon comic book event, or official story,
that has encompassed numerous areas of the Star Wars galaxy. It’s set between the Empire Strikes
Back and Return of the Jedi when Boba Fett was delivering the frozen Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt.
In the films, we see Han’s departure from Cloud City, by means of the cargo hold of Boba Fett’s
ship…the SLAVE I, and Han hanging on Jabba’s wall as a decoration in the next scene involving the
smuggler turned Rebel. But there was so much more to it between those events. So, this is
my full review of the War of the Bounty Hunters. The good…and the bad. Today, on Star Wars Fanatic!
Before I get started with the review, If you’re new here, or are still undecided,
hit the subscribe button now and join the growing legion of Star Wars Fanatics, where I upload
Star Wars content that mainly involves Boba Fett, Mandalorians, Bounty Hunters, and most other areas
of the Star Wars story line 3-5 times a week. When I hit 5000 subscribers, I will be releasing an
hour-long video continuing a Star Wars story that will be the completion of Jango Fett’s back story.
So, hit the subscribe button. I promise you won’t be disappointed. (enter: Welcome,
we’re glad you’re here). Now, let’s get on with the War of the Bounty Hunters review.
Beginning May 5th of 2021, the War of the Bounty Hunters began with the Alpha issue,
as a prelude to what we could expect. Prior to that, it was announced that the comic series
would be the crossover event that everyone would be excited for. I didn’t really understand what
that meant at the time, but it was said that the 6 issues would release from May
until October, and it would be a Boba Fett centric storyline about how difficult it was
to actually transport Han Solo from Cloud City to Jabba the Hutt’s palace. Little did I know,
crossover meant that it would incorporate so many other facets
of the Star Wars galaxy, other than the Boba Fett story. 34 Issues later…it is complete.
The series took on stories from War of the Bounty Hunters, Doctor Aphra, Darth Vader,
the main Star Wars story line (with Luke, Leia, and Lando Calrissean, and Chewbacca),
the Bounty Hunters series, and some single issues of Jabba the Hutt, 4-LOM and Zuckuss, Boushh,
and IG-88. So yeah…34 issues in total in this event. That’s about 28 more issues than I had
originally committed to. But I am a dedicated Star Wars junky, especially of Boba Fett’s story
and I couldn’t help myself. Now, that’s not to say the entire story was amazing. Some
was…some was less than satisfactory. Not that it was bad. It just had moments I saw as dragging
on or unnecessary. But I’m also looking at the entirety of War of the Bounty Hunters,
and not just individual comics…or even individual storylines.
I will say this though, if any of you doubt that Boba Fett can kick ass at wholesale prices,
just from watching the movies…read this. He delivers…in the scenes he’s in. There’s a reason
I’m a fan of Boba Fett and I joined the Boba Fett fan club…and this is it. Not just this story,
but because he has had a rich history other than his appearances in films for generations. But
this story leaves no doubt as to why Boba Fett was seen as the best bounty hunter of his time.
The story begins as Boba Fett is transporting Han Solo from Cloud City. He checks his prized
cargo and realizes Han is not going to make the journey. In this stage of carbonite technology,
it’s just too unstable to keep a living being intact. In essence, Han Solo would
melt into goo if something was done immediately to improve the carbonite tomb. Boba Fett decides
to stop on Nar Shaddaa, the smuggler’s moon, where he meets up with a man that can fix it
in a back-alley type of installation. But he demands payment that Boba Fett doesn’t have.
Boba then agrees to enter a fighting tournament to earn the money to pay the man.
Boba Fett disguises his armor with temporary black paint and goes by the name “Jango” in order
to stay incognito. Boba Fett is victorious in all bouts of the tournament and rises to champion. But
when he returns to the makeshift shop, his contact is dead, and Han Solo is missing. An invitation is
sent out by an unknown organization claiming that they have the stolen Solo and an auction will be
held for the highest bidder to obtain the frozen smuggler. This invitation went out to all elements
of criminal syndicates and the Empire. In the meantime, Jabba the Hutt sees this as Boba Fett
had sold Solo to the organization for more money, and Jabba put a hit out on Boba Fett.
As you can imagine, every leading bounty hunter of the time wanted to bring Boba Fett
in…the once favorite of Jabba the Hutt. So, in a twist, it’s revealed that Crimson Dawn is back,
and they actually have Solo in possession for the auction. But the twist is that now,
Crimson Dawn is being led by Qi’Ra…Remember her from Solo: A Star Wars Story? Yeah…her.
The auction proceeds and the Hutt council fight against Jabba the Hutt for possession but Jabba
wins the auction. Darth Vader storms in and takes possession of Solo in another attempt
to lure Luke Skywalker in to either be turned or destroyed. Boba Fett catches Chewbacca on fire,
Lando proves he still isn’t 100% trustworthy, Boba Fett kicks some bounty hunter hiney…and
regains possession of Solo, bringing him to Jabba’s palace for payment.
That’s just a brief account of the story. This would be an hour video if I went through the
whole thing. I will probably make another video retelling all of it later. But…moving on with the
actual review. If you only read the 6 War of the Bounty Hunters issues, you can get a good sense
of the story, and don’t really need the rest…if you’re only interested in the Boba Fett side. But
I would recommend at least looking up a synopsis of the rest of the stories. But maybe you’re only
into the Darth Vader comics…that’s okay too. You can still get a grasp if you only read those.
The same with the main Star Wars line and Doctor Aphra. You’ll get the basic understanding of the
story, without all the drawn-out details. And there is a lot that’s drawn out.
For one, the actual party/auction takes far too long. If you read all 34 issues of the series,
most of it takes place at the auction and shows the same events
over and over from different points of view. It’s interesting to see the events of Darth
Vader threatening to cut the frozen Han Solo in half…but not from every angle perceivable.
I think the whole auction was a bit overdone. That whole scene could have been cut down to one
of the series, like Vader or Doctor Aphra. Or even the main Star Wars series.
It didn’t have to be in all of them. In fact, the whole Qi’ra bit seemed to lose its edge
after an issue or two. It was neat seeing her reappear…without aging at all, but there was
no real motivation given for taking Solo, other than a couple half explained reasons. The first
being that she wanted to show her power in the galaxy by uniting the major crime syndicates…only
to show they were in her pocket…including some Imperial operatives. The other reason she gave for
taking Solo from Boba Fett, she told to Princess Leia in person. She said it was so Leia could
have Han Solo back. She knew Leia loved him and that he belonged with her. That made no sense to
me. It was just before Han Solo was frozen that he and Leia started their romantic involvement.
It just seemed like a bad reason and a ghost in the machine to explain the whole event away.
I quickly lost interest in Qi’ra. She went toe to toe with Darth Vader and lived…we
know that wouldn’t have happened. Especially when Darth Vader would
choke out his own officers for their misgivings. Why would he let her live?
Another part that annoyed me was Luke Skywalker. I know he’s this
badass savior of the galaxy and should be revered as the greatest whatever to ever live but
man…this shows it was a long road for him to get there. He was so whiny that it was annoying. Even
more so than in the Millennium Falcon in a New Hope, and even more so than on Dagobah with Yoda.
It was bad. One minute he was all ready to face Darth Vader again, the next he was chickening
out and running. Talking about how he wasn’t worthy. In fact, he left his friends to fend
for themselves at the site of the auction, just so he didn’t have to face Darth Vader.
Doesn’t sound like the Luke Skywalker we saw leave Dagobah to save his friends.
The last gripe I have is that…we knew where the story would end
up…for the most part. We knew Boba Fett would return Solo to Jabba the Hutt.
We knew nothing serious would happen to any of the main Star Wars characters,
i.e., Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Lando…etc. It was a surprise to see Boba Fett catch Chewbacca on
fire with his flame thrower. Not that it was enjoyable…just wow! This guy doesn’t play.
But with all that, I can forgive a lot of it. Why? Because I think the Boba Fett, bounty hunters,
and Doctor Aphra stories made up for it. Other than the main War of the Bounty Hunters comics,
the best parts for me were some of the one offs, Boushh, 4-LOM and Zuckuss, and IG-88.
Each had interesting stories that parted way from the auction and gave us a little better
understanding of their own characters. I actually felt kind of bad for Boushh,
after knowing he would die for Leia to use his armor in Return of the Jedi.
He was a very sympathetic character that just wanted to be accepted back into his home society.
I also felt bad for Zuckuss. He had a best friend in 4-LOM, but when 4-LOM was dismantled
and repurposed, he turned on Zuckuss…then Zuckuss felt alone and without purpose.
Bossk getting his legs cut off by Boba Fett was a treat, and the way Boba Fett got rid of characters
after they proved unworthy or outlived their usefulness was what we all knew he was capable of.
It also gave us a little more insight into Boba Fett still holding feelings of his father
dear to him. He used his father’s name when entering the tournament,
and he got outraged when Zuckuss planted a bomb on the Slave I, shouting “this was my father’s ship!”
Another noteworthy plus was watching Darth Vader cut down the Hutt council that betrayed Jabba, but
not for that reason. Bokku the Hutt was annoying with his buff abs, and I was glad to see him go.
When it boils down to it, Boba Fett doesn’t play! It was nice seeing him being the Boba Fett that
his reputation stood for. I just wish some of those he disposed of would have stayed dead.
Another plus was the artwork and the cover art.
Each issue had several variant covers and I tended to buy as many as I could find.
Why? Because I was indecisive on which I wanted. I spent way too much money on it.
But my overall scoring for this one, when you take the entire 34 issues into account,
is a 6 out of 10. I would rank the one offs, IG-88, 4-LOM and Zuckuss,
and Boushh an 8 out of 10. And if I only scored the War of the Bounty Hunters main issues,
I would also give them an 8 out of 10. I would give it a 9, but we knew where it would end up.
With all that said, I am now locked into this story and want to see where it goes.
The next crossover event begins in December and will focus even more on Qi’ra.
I do hope she gets taken out before the conclusion of this trilogy.
Sorry…not a fan of her but I do like the other stories surrounding her. Crimson
Dawn should have died with Darth Maul…or just Maul at that time.
But that’s it. That’s my full review of the War of the Bounty Hunters crossover comic event.
Have you read them? Let me know in the comments below. If you haven’t read them,
they will be released in volume sets beginning the end of this month. So,
look for those. Also, let me know if your review of the War of the Bounty Hunters was different,
or if there is something else you would like me to touch on. I wouldn’t mind reading them all again.
And If you’re new here, or are still undecided, hit the subscribe button now and join the growing
legion of Star Wars Fanatics, where I upload Star Wars content that mainly involves Boba Fett,
Mandalorians, Bounty Hunters, and most other areas of the Star Wars story line 3-5 times a week. When
I hit 5000 subscribers, I will be releasing an hour-long video continuing a Star Wars story
that will be the completion of Jango Fett’s back story. So, hit the subscribe button. I promise
you won’t be disappointed. (enter: Welcome, we’re glad you’re here). Also, hit the like
button and share the video to show your love for te work I put into this and each video I upload.
Thank you for watching and remember, this is the way…the only way!