"Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters"

 

            The following is a review for the Marvel Comics Event “Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters.” While it bridges points between the “Star Wars” films, series, video games, novels, toys, and other established points in “Star Wars” canon, the main focus is the comic book event distributed by Marvel Comics. That said, there will be references to other points in “Star Wars” lore only to benefit facts needed to properly write this review.

            Howdy, one and all, thanks for coming into From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin, the blog run by Tim Cubbin. This is Tim Cubbin writing this review.

            Okay, for those of you who are new here, no doubt lured in by the “Star Wars” tags (which I have never actually covered before, so this is my first foray into “Star Wars”), I need to explain how this will work. I live and breathe Marvel Comics. Now, Marvel is allowed to distribute “Star Wars” comics because Marvel is owned by Disney, and “Star Wars” is owned by Disney. Dark Horse was also in possession of the rights to “Star Wars” at one point since Disney originally did not own “Star Wars” at that time, while 20^th Century Fox first owned the rights, but sold to Disney. I know, I know, confusing and probably irrelevant to this, but I felt it should be said since I also put Marvel and Marvel Comics as tags and had to connect it to this for you old school “Star Wars” fans. So any time I read a Marvel Comics event in comics, or prose novels or graphic novels, I have to review it. Now, don’t get me wrong, I read other books, and I often review them as well (I’m also about to write a review of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” which will be posted today after this as well, by the way, just so you “Harry Potter” fans get a heads-up), but Marvel is my main publisher. So over the past three days, I read the entire “Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters” consecutively (I also read them as they became originally available on Marvel Unlimited, but this time I read the whole thing in order), and of course, I knew I had to review it as it was: 1) a comic event; 2) Marvel; and 3) “Star Wars”; so here I am now, on my laptop, typing this review, just for you, my lovely readers, for free (I’m an unemployed certified journalist), because I just want to put my words out there, and I’m a decent human being.

            Now, I know some of you have been to this blog before, and some of you don’t know who I am and are only reading this because… well, “Star Wars,” but your support is graciously appreciated. So I try to keep a pretty set standard format for doing my reviews, so prior readers may already know what to expect. I start of by introducing some of the main players so you know who some of the characters are. In this case, there are a lot of characters, so each character is only going to get a few words. Then I tell the general storyline or the driving focus for the event (in this case I’ll tell you where it fits in in the “Star Wars” timeline). Then, if it has multiple series in the event, I break down each series’ individual stories. In this event, the main story was five issues with tie-in stories surrounding it from the four major “Star Wars” comic series at the moment (“Star Wars,” “Star Wars: Darth Vader,” “Star Wars: Bounty Hunters,” and “Star Wars: Doctor Aphra”) as well as several one-shots of specific characters. However, the story was essentially the same in every series, so tightly connected, with the story continuing from one tie-in to another that separating the stories is highly difficult. As a recompense, I will tell you the series that the individual character was most affiliated with. After all that, I will talk about how I felt about the events, such as my thoughts, things I liked and disliked, what I wanted more or less of, praises and complaints, and do my best to avoid spoilers. Following that, I’ll give it a numeric score (we’ll get to that when we get to it). Then I’ll tell you if I recommend it or not to “Star Wars” fans (which you probably are if you’re reading this). Then I do a little more drivel to wrap up and let you go from this visual pleasure or pain, depending how you felt about reading this.

            Okay, enough of the long, boring introduction, let’s get to what you actually WANT to read if you’re still reading this (I know some people have already bailed on this out of boredom). Let’s start with the major characters and the series they are each most prominent in:

            Leia Organa: Princess of Alderaan and General of the Rebellion against the evil Empire. (“Star Wars”)

            Luke Skywalker: Jedi in training, member of the Rebellion. (“Star Wars”)

            Han Solo: Member of the Rebellion, currently frozen in Carbonite. (“Star Wars”)

            Chewbacca: Wookie, Han’s best friend, member of the rebellion. (“Star Wars”)

Lando Calrissian: Not quite a member of the Rebellion, but he helps out. (“Star Wars”)

            C-3PO: Protocol droid. (“Star Wars”)

            R2-D2: Astromech droid. (“Star Wars”)

Emperor Palpatine: Most evil and powerful being in the Galaxy. (“Star Wars: Darth Vader”)

            Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader: Luke’s father, Palpatine’s second in command, pretty evil. (“Star Wars: Darth Vader”)

            Valance: Bounty hunter. (“Star Wars: Bounty Hunters”)

            Dengar: Bounty hunter. (“Star Wars: Bounty Hunters”)

            Zuckuss: Bounty hunter. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – 4-LOM & Zuckuss”)

            4-LOM: Bounty hunting droid. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – 4-LOM & Zuckuss”)

            Doctor Chelli Aphra: Rogue archeologist. (“Star Wars: Doctor Aphra”)

            Just Lucky: Bounty hunter. (“Star Wars: Doctor Aphra”)

            Sana Starros: Smuggler, Aphra’s partner. (“Star Wars: Doctor Aphra”)

            Vukorah: General for the Empire. (“Star Wars: Doctor Aphra”)

            T’Onga: Bounty hunter. (“Star Wars: Bounty Hunters”)

            Losha: Bounty hunter, T’Onga’s wife. (“Star Wars: Bounty Hunters”)

            Ariole Yu: Lucky’s apprentice. (“Star Wars: Bounty Hunters”)

            Jabba the Hutt: Crime lord. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – Jabba the Hutt”)

            Deva Lompop: Bounty hunter, often employed by the Hutts. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – Jabba the Hutt”)

            Boba Fett: Jabba’s favorite bounty hunter. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters”)

            Boushh: Bounty hunter, hired to kill Domina Tagge. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – Boushh”)

            Domina Tagge: Head of the Tagge Company, rich, relatively evil corporation, has hired Aphra and Sana Starros. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – Boushh”)

            IG-88: Bounty hunting droid, famed for its efficiency. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – IG-88”)

            RB-919: Cyborg repairer of droids. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – IG-88”)

Qi’ra: Leader of the Crimson Dawn, Han Solo’s ex, kind of awful. (“Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters”)

            Now, let’s talk about the story. Now, for those of you who are major “Star Wars” fans, I’ll tell you the timeframe when “War of the Bounty Hunters” takes place. It actually fits very neatly into “Star Wars” lore. This takes place between “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back” and “Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.” Anyone who can call themselves a “Star Wars” fan knows that Han Solo was frozen in Carbonite and ended up in the clutches of Jabba the Hutt. “War of the Bounty Hunters” was the untold story of how Jabba obtained the frozen body of Han Solo. In this story, Jabba the Hutt wanted possession of Solo’s frozen body and thought that Boba Fett, his favorite bounty hunter, had stolen Solo’s body to sell to the highest bidder behind Jabba’s back so he could get a better offer than what Jabba offered. This was not actually true, Fett was just having a hard time finding Solo and taking him back to Jabba. Due to this misconception, Jabba put a high bounty out for anyone who could bring him Fett first. The people who actually obtained Solo was the Crimson Dawn, led by Lady Qi’ra (which those who have seen “Solo: A Star Wars Story” will remember). Qi’ra set up an auction to sell off Solo’s body to make her profit, yet she secretly intended to cause a double-cross and get Solo to Jabba anyway after she got the credits from the highest bidder at the auction. She set out the invite to every party who felt they could benefit from obtaining Solo’s body and could afford the highest bid (and we’re talking 1,000,000 credits here). Most intrigued were the Hutts and the Empire. Jabba wanted Solo as his prize due to Solo’s immense debt to Jabba. The Empire wanted Solo to draw in a rescue attempt from the Rebellion in a final attempt to crush the biggest threat facing the Empire. Palpatine did not wish to attend the auction, sending out Darth Vader in his place. Rebellion members Leia, Chewbacca, and Lando sneak upon the Vermillion, the ship and base of the Crimson Dawn, in a failed attempt to rescue Han before the auction, leading to a battle between the Rebellion and Boba Fett. Luke refuses to attend the auction after his confrontation with Vader after learning Vader is his father, and says he is not ready to face Vader again. Aphra and Sana Starros also attempt to sneak into the auction to obtain secrets for Domina Tagge, as well as to swipe some valuables, as this auction was sure to have rich people, and make some credits on the side, but are captured by the Crimson Dawn. Vader arrives at the auction late, following the Hutts winning the auction but does not intend for the Hutts to maintain hold of Solo’s body. Fett then tries to abscond with Solo’s body while no one is looking to regain the favor of Jabba the Hutt and makes him a target of all the other bounty hunters and the Hutts and the Empire all at the same time.

            And that is all I’m telling you about the story. Now, for my thoughts. Have to say, I was pretty shocked how much I enjoyed it. I actually watched the first six “Star Wars” films and “Solo: A Star Wars Story” again after my first read-through just to fully prepare for a binge-read of “War of the Bounty Hunters.” And I have to say, I’ve always thought that “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” were high quality films. I watched them with my grandpa when I was a kid and loved them, and when 20^th Century Fox rereleased the films in theaters as special editions, I begged for my mom to bring me, which she did and seeing these on the big screen was just amazing. Fans have said the prequel trilogy was terrible, but being as young as I was at the time, I actually liked them. It’s like with “Star Trek.” My parents got into it as “The Original Series” and yet I preferred “The Next Generation.” It’s a generational thing, I guess. So, yes, I loved the prequel trilogy, but after all the negativity around VII,, VII, and IX, I haven’t actually fully watched them. I immensely disliked “Rogue One,” but I really loved “Solo.” So the focus on “Solo,” “A New Hope” and “The Empire Strikes Back,” all being movies I enjoyed, you would totally imagine I’d either love “War of the Bounty Hunters” or hate it. Did I feel it was good? No… I thought it was amazing! Untold stories in franchises are always tricky, they may deviate, violate, breach continuity, and that can always ruin enjoyment. I thought it fit continuity perfectly. I focused a lot on that as I read it, totally being nitpicky, and I couldn’t find inconsistency. It all made sense to me. And Crimson Dawn seemed like a dead thread after “Solo,” so I felt it was interesting that it was picked back up and continued. I found it very welcoming as a lifelong fan of “The Empire Strikes Back,” I felt it just slipped right in there. My apprehension going in was proven unfounded. So, as you can tell, I loved it.

            Now, I have to give the ever-important numerical score. Previous readers know I give a scale from one to ten, and it’s pretty obvious how that works, but one is the lowest score I can give, ten is the highest. That’s the trickiest thing I felt going into this review. I couldn’t tell if I should give it a nine or a ten. I loved it! But did I LOVE it? Prior readers will know I don’t easily just throw out tens, so anything eight or above means it’s something special. So I have been thinking this over carefully over the course of writing this review, and now it’s time so I give it… (Drumroll please)… TEN! Reading it consecutively and watching the films, I totally loved it. I honestly can’t find anything to dislike in it. So if I give it a ten, well, then, it’s probably something (but it’s entirely my opinion, so feel free to agree or disagree with me, you’re entitled to your opinion).

            Okay, next up, do I recommend it? Yes! Honestly, if you like, love, or are a diehard fan of “Star Wars,” I totally say you should give this a read. I honestly can’t say enough. Like I said, untold tales are always spotty, but to me, this fit like a glove. I leave that up to you. Now, I can’t tell you if it’s as good as “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett” which I have not watched yet (I know, what a crime!) but this story totally makes me want to find time in my busy schedule to watch them, and when my plate is cleared, I totally will. But I did find “War of the Bounty Hunters” did a good portrayal of Boba Fett when looking at the original films. So, yes, “Star Wars” fans, give it a looksee (does anyone say that anymore? I’m so old…).

            And with that, I’m wrapping this up. This blog does have tons of reviews, and expect a “Civil War II” review and “Civil War/Civil War II” comparison tomorrow, and a “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” review in a few hours, and I also give my B’ings complaint series (expect another of those next week), I also write essays editorials, and I write short fiction and nonfiction and free-verse poetry from time to time, so feel free to keep looking at my work, both past and future. If you check out more of my work (and are actually still reading at this point, I’m sure I lost a lot of readers at this point), you are THE BEST and your support is greatly appreciated. So I’ll let you go for now, but I’ll be back, and hopefully you will too, and until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!