Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters #1 (June 2): Holy crap. Soule reveals that "War of the Bounty Hunters" is just as much a sequel to "Solo: A Star Wars Story" as it is to "Empire Strikes Back." We learn that it was a Qi'ra-led Crimson Dawn who stole Han Solo from Boba Fett. Qi'ra invites Jabba the Hutt and other "representatives of the galactic great powers" to Jekara, where she will turn over Han to Jabba as a good-will gesture. Her goal is to reestablish Crimson Dawn as a "useful organization" for said powers. The stakes, they just got higher. Beyond just the exciting plot, I was happy to see that this issue continued to focus on Boba Fett and his dryly hilarious efficiency. Does he carry around 4-LOM's severed head before throwing it off a bridge? Yes, yes, he does.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #13 (June 9): This issue is OK, though it feels mostly like a filler issue as it covers ground that we already covered elsewhere.
Dengar introduces Valance to Devono Vix, an arms dealer on Nar Shaddaa. Dengar believes that Devono's Hutt connections means that he'll know why Jabba put out the hit on Boba Fett. Valance is suddenly unhinged here as he attacks Devono instead of simply talking to him. While pursuing a fleeing Devono, Valance runs into Chewie and Threepio right before they met with Sagwa in "Star Wars" #13. It's clear that the only reason that Sacks portrayed Valance so oddly is to set up this encounter. But, I don't really get why we need this interaction with Chewie. Valance explains that he wasn't trying to kill Han on Abregado-Rae (as we saw last issue), and Chewie tells him to leave the hunt for Han to him. At least at this point, it has no bearing on the issue's outcome.
At any rate, Valance eventually tracks down Devono and dangles him off a building. (Again, I'm not sure why we couldn't just talk to him, but here we are.) Devono tells Valance that Crimson Dawn was behind the theft, though Valance doesn't believe him. Devono insists that it's true and confesses that Crimson Dawn has been buying a lot of weapons from him, including "exotic" one. When someone assassinates Devono, Dengar notes that his story got a lot more plausible.
Meanwhile, T'onga brings Losha to the Fortress of the Mourner's Wail on Dotharian, which someone has ransacked. For reasons that are again unclear to me, T'onga hopes to speak to the Mourner's Wail's leader, Lord Khamdek, who apparently knows her, though I'm not sure how. She's hoping if she explains that Cadeliah is his granddaughter that it'll bring an end to the syndicates' war. That hope seems overly optimistic to me given the fact that she doesn't know where Cadeliah is. But, it is what it is. T'onga finds Khamdek, who tries to convince her to leave before Crimson Dawn, who's responsible for destroying his troops, arrives. But, T'onga doesn't take a hint, so we'll have a fight on our hands next issue.
As I said, the odd mischaracterizations are this issue's weakest point. In terms of the larger plot, the most interesting part is the fact that Qi'ra doesn't really seem to be sticking to her promise to Jabba that Crimson Dawn wasn't looking to disrupt ongoing alliances. She's making some major moves here.
Star Wars #14 (June 16): Some issues of "Star Wars" read just like a movie, and this issue is definitely one of them.
Continuing the theme of pulling the movies into this story, Amilyn Holdo from "The Last Jedi" hears about Crimson Dawn's auction of Han and tips off Leia. Lando agrees to join Chewie, Leia, and Threepio to go after Han since they need his expertise in dealing with "a lot of untrustworthy people." But, he also uses it as a chance to swipe Talky and drop him in orbit for Jabba to collect, since he correctly surmises that Jabba also got the invitation. Lando activates Talky so that Jabba's men can locate him after Lando spaces him. But, Talky heals Lobot as he drifts in space in an attempt to convince Lando to return for him. Lando panics as he realizes that he has to leave Talky drifting in orbit since he can't very well tell Chewie or Leia why Talky is with them in the first place. I find myself brimming with hope that Lando might be able to recover Lobot, to the point where I have to keep myself from reading spoilers to see if he does.
Lando's window for figuring out a way to retrieve Talky ends when Chewie has to bring the Millennium Falcon close to Jekara's surface to avoid detection. Of course, he has other fish to fry at this point as they almost run straight into the Black Sun's ship trying to do the same thing. They manage to escape the ship's fighters and crash land on the surface, which, as we know, for this crew, is a win. As Leia says, they'll only have to go through "light-only-knows-how-many criminals, thieves and killers" to save Han. So, to quote Luke, "Same as always."
Star Wars: Darth Vader #13 (June 23): This issue is intense. There's a moment where you actually believe that IG-88 could defeat Vader, even though you know that it doesn't happen.
But, Vader is Vader. Despite someone (more on that in a minute) giving IG-88 the codes to slice into Vader's systems, Vader uses the Force to strip the remote-control device from him. As promised, he then severs IG-88's head to get the information he wants. However, IG-88's allies, the Droid Crush, rescue him. Can I just say that I love the Droid Crush? I didn't really take too much note of them when they first appeared, but they're hilarious here.
In fact, Pak has introduced some really noteworthy new characters in this run. Beyond Oshi and the Droid Crush, we've got Bokku the Hutt, who throws in his lot with Vader here (and learns that crossing him isn't a good idea), and Administrator Moore. I learned from Wookieepedia that she's a pre-existing character. But, Pak really makes her central to the plot as she's revealed to be the person who gave IG-88 the codes. Vader now realizes that she's the leader of a cabal that seeks, at the very least, to displace him. I'm sure that'll end well for her.
In other words, Pak has taught me to pay attention to the characters that he introduces, because they might just kill Darth Vader one day. Noted!
Also Read: Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #11 (June 30)
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