Warning: contains spoilers for Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters - 4-LOM & Zuckuss #1!
During the events of the 2015 film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the Resistance, lead by General Leia Organa, are searching far and wide for her self-exiled brother, Luke Skywalker, and now in comics, it’s just been confirmed that looking for him could have been way, way easier. Of course, they would have needed to recruit a member of the Gand species' mystical tradition known as the “findsmen” to make that happen, and the ruthless bounty hunter known as Zuckuss would have been the perfect candidate!
Part of the sprawling crossover event currently sweeping the Star Wars comic universe, Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters -4-LOM & Zuckuss #1, by Daniel Jose Older and Kei Zama, shows bounty hunter extraordinaire, Zuckuss, as he recovers from a brutal beatdown by the bounty hunter known as Boba Fett (or “pup” if you’re feeling antagonistic) depicted in a previous issue. Also looking for his M.I.A. partner and fellow hunter, 4-LOM, Zuckuss stumbles into a nearby “music hall and petting zoo” lamenting the loss of his best friend.
Striking up a conversation inside the establishment with the Rocket Raccoon look alike and a personal acquaintance of Zuckuss' named Trot, Zuckuss begins to recount one of he and 4-LOM’s very first missions together. Working for the newly introduced original comic book character of Deva Lompop, Zuckuss is tasked with finding a warlord and taking them out, leading to an exchange with Trot that sees Zuckuss reminding readers of the findsmen's Force ability to track their quarry in seemingly impossible circumstances.
Talking with Trot, Zuckuss says, “It was very simple, really… Of all the bounty hunters, only Zuckuss had the power of finding,” with Trot interrupting to clarify, “Yeah, yeah — you have mystical tracking skills,” immediately giving fans a super simple way the Resistance could have found Luke during the events seen in The Force Awakens. Being a member of a Force-sensitive species called the Gand, Zuckuss has uncanny tracking skills that he’s successfully and consistently utilized to hunt down his bounties across the galaxy for years, and given that a lot of Star Wars characters have quietly hung out in the background throughout all three trilogies, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that Zuckuss was still wandering around when Leia needed help.
Furthermore, and even if Zuckuss wasn’t alive during The Force Awakens’ timeline, Leia could have easily sought out and hired another Gandian to assist in her search, especially since being a findsman is a well-known profession for this species. But to make things even easier for the Resistance, Leia could have studied this specific skill on her own (given her being a Force-sensitive character), essentially saving a ton of time and manpower during the early days of her fledgling Resistance movement while simultaneously acquiring an invaluable Force ability that the findsmen have mastered and utilized perfectly.
Unfortunately for the Resistance, General Organa went in an entirely different direction in the search for her brother, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t an easier way to go about it. And while Rey might have eventually found Luke Skywalker at the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, enlisting the help of Zuckuss or his kin would have most definitely been the smarter play.