Star Wars #18 (2020)
WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS:
Collision Course
Bounty hunter Boba Fett completed his mission by bringing Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt.
After their failed attempt to save the carbonite-frozen Solo, Leia Organa, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian plan their next steps aboard the Millennium Falcon….
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Ramon Rosanas
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover artist: Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, Rain Beredo
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: November 3, 2021
With the War of the Bounty Hunters all but over, this issue essentially serves as an epilogue, and one that places the reader (to steal a Marvel character for a moment) in the position of The Watcher as we look down at a disconsolate Leia as she slumps in weary defeat, her lost love Han Solo believed dead. As Lando keeps a fretful Threepio at arms length, giving Leia and Chewie time to process we watch a Leia we don’t recognise; defeated, deflated and saying the most unbelievable statement – ‘Hope is for suckers‘. All the risk, all the work, endless hours chasing through hyperspace and to have Han just a minute from rescue has ground Leia down, and as she describes herself as feeling like a droid, on autopilot without her caustic Corellian keeping her on her toes and the Empire as powerful as ever, she’s clearly lost.
Leia isn’t the only lost soul. While Chewie keeps stoic guard over Leia, Lando turns to Lobot. He has his own obligations and promises to keep, and while he certainly feels a responsibility to Leia, Chewie and Luke his primary concern is Lobot and getting his once verbose partner-in-crime back to his old self. Here, we see another side of Calrissian, willing to fight and do the right thing for the people he cares about, but also wary enough to not give too much of himself away. It’s a cruel galaxy and as we see monthly in Bounty Hunters, friends can become foes in a heartbeat. Lando knows this, and wades the waters of relationships with caution, always keen to hold the best cards to protect himself.
Introspection ends as the Vermillion, the flagship of Crimson Dawn, casts its red shadow over the Falcon, and unable to escape thanks to Dawn agents disabling the hyperdrive, Qi’ra asks to come aboard alone to talk face to face. Leia is less than impressed, but Qi’ra persists, verbally sparring with old acquaintance Lando before presenting a bottle of Flameout (Brian Daley era Solo fans rejoice) and asking to speak with Leia, alone. Organa is in no mood for chit-chat, blasting the bottle in Qi’ra’s hand and demanding she talk, and talk Qi’ra does revealing that at every step of Solo’s time in Crimson Dawns posession, Qi’ra tried to orchestrate it so that Leia could steal Han away, but it wasn’t meant to be. Leia inspires, while by her own admission Qi’ra manipulates.
Another story is told, and we swing back years to Corellia as a young Qi’ra and Han talk after Han intercedes in a fight, a weaker kid being beaten by stronger prey and Han fixed to help. It’s the start of his determination to do some good, as small an action as it may be, and a cool Qi’ra relays this to a still simmering Leia, any semblance of civility long gone from the Princess. It’s here, when Leia is ready to hand Qi’ra over to an Alliance tribunal, that Qi’ra reveals Hans true fate, that he didn’t die but was caught by Boba Fett and sold to Jabba the Hutt, and Qi’ra leaves telling Leia how Crimson Dawn can help free him. With Han essentially safe as Jabba’s wall-hanging trophy Leia now needs to focus on the battle against the Empire.
As we roll out of War of the Bounty Hunters and wait for the start of Crimson Reign, Charles Soule lays down more than enough breadcrumbs to run through the next two parts of the trilogy. Now, Leia has a firm focus on once again tackling the Empire while Solo waits in the eternal exhale that is carbonite (do these characters know just how horrifying being carbon frozen is?). Qi’ra has revealed more of herself than she realises, while trust in Lando is once again questioned, this time by Qi’ra who knew the Solo-era Calrissian of old. This has been some nifty storytelling, bringing the story full circle to have Fett deliver Solo just as we know he did but in such a way as to still tell a rolicking tale, put doubts in the mind of all surrounding him and show the turbulence of the underworld in a manner never seen before.
At the risk of repeating myself, Charles Soule has done a superb job of delivering something entirely fresh and new between two of the most familiar bookends in cinema, the ‘I love you, I know‘ exchange of Empire and the thawing of Han Solo in Jedi. Clearly there’s still plenty of open air before that infamous Episode VI scroll-up, and if it wasn’t already (and it is) then Crimson Reign just became the next must-buy storyline in Star Wars literature. As for War of the Bounty Hunters, it’s a tale that won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
Star Wars #19 @ ForbiddenPlanet.com
