Warning: Spoilers for Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters - Boushh #1!
In Marvel’s current Star Wars crossover event titled War of the Bounty Hunters, franchise A-listers like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Lando Calrissian are playing second fiddle to the rise of Crimson Dawn — and more surprisingly — the vast array of bounty hunters running around the galaxy instead. And while that might sound like a bad thing, through the various tie-ins focusing on their escapades in and around this event, these bounty hunters have become characters that die-hard fans and casual followers alike can root for.
Made apparent in the latest tie-in to the War of the Bounty Hunters event, Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters - Boushh #1, by Alyssa Wong and David Baldeon, these trained hunters have slowly become the most interesting aspect of an otherwise woeful story. Focusing on the plight of the fan-favorite bounty hunter Boba Fett and his attempts to reacquire a frozen in carbonite Han Solo, this event also places a lot of storytelling weight on the reemergence of a crime syndicate known as Crimson Dawn — a group that only super-fans really know or care about.
Seen throughout other one-shots that focus on new or returning hunters, the overall story of this crossover is somewhat lacking, but when delving into the backstories of this issue’s main character — Boushh — specifically, things start to flow a whole lot better. Notorious for being the disguise Leia uses to infiltrate Jabba the Hutt’s palace during Return of the Jedi, Boushh is given some great character moments in this issue, as the teases of his tragic exile from his home planet of Uba IV and the reveal of his loyal crew of fellow hunters end up doing a lot for a guy that might never have gotten the attention he deserves otherwise.
Effectively giving each bounty hunter stronger motivations, individual voices, and loyalties that are far more complex than their next job or super cool-looking costumes, these tie-ins are more intriguing and substantial at a base level almost by default. Doing a fantastic job of fleshing out Boushh in particular, these one-shots are constantly giving fans something new and exciting to jump into; a fact that’s especially important since the main story of this event hasn’t done the proper leg-work of injecting tension or high stakes into a story that everyone already knows the outcome of if they’ve ever seen Return of the Jedi.
Furthermore, other tie-ins have given fans a lot more bounty hunter content to dive into that’s been stellar all around. Introduced during this event, the new character of Deva Lompop has been shown to hold ties stretching way back to the High Republic era of Star Wars, while relatively obscure hunters like 4-LOM and Zuckuss have been portrayed as bounty bros separated by an unfortunate tragedy. Through these stories as well as the yet-to-be-released tie-in issue featuring IG-88, War of the Bounty Hunters is giving these badass hunters their chance to shine, and they aren’t disappointing.
So while this latest event might be one that die-hard fans are excited to see pan out, it’s less successful as a full-blown story for the casual Star Wars fan and more so a showcase for how cool and interesting some of these ancillary characters can be. Star Wars may finally be making people care about the bounty hunters sprinkled throughout the galaxy, but when it comes to everything else, well, there’s always the finale to look forward to.