Star Wars: Age Of Republic - Jango Fett #1 - Marvel Comics

STAR WARS: AGE OF REPUBLIC - JANGO FETT No. 1, March 2019

Having previously “written Poe Dameron, Thrawn, Rogue One, and more from Star Wars” it may well have been hard for some within this one-shot’s 41,371 strong audience to believe that Jody Houser’s “experience with Star Wars fans has been incredibly positive, actually”, if the Emerson College graduate’s narrative for “Training” is typical of her penmanship “in a galaxy far, far away.” Indeed, despite this twenty-page periodical supposedly being about “the best mercenary in the galaxy during the final years of the Republic”, its focus disconcertingly soon shifts away from the bounty hunter and instead lamentably places the spotlight upon Jango’s cloned offspring Boba instead; “This is my son… He’ll be helping us on this job. Part of his training.”

Fortunately however, the presence of a small child in the midst of an abduction mission on Ord Mantell doesn’t mean that the third-generation geek’s narrative is in any way absent of pulse-pounding action, as the book sets ‘its stall out straight from the start’ with a rather entertainingly brief flashback scene depicting its titular character at the height of his career jet-packing in to assassinate some wealthy target despite the man’s two formidable-looking bulky bodyguards. This cold-blooded ‘hit’, tremendously well-drawn by artist Luke Ross, firmly establishes the Mandalorian’s well-established reputation, and not only helps underline just why Fett’s new crew of underachieving ‘D-List’ killers are so nervous around him, but also perhaps explains why the likes of Tiver and Rinn underestimate young Boba later on when they fatally try to double-cross the lad’s ruthless father by placing a pair of curved blades to the youngster’s throat.

In fact if anything, Houser’s script significantly ramps up the violence once everyone’s attention is firmly fixed upon Darth Vader’s future hireling, as he efficiently dispatches the first of his would-be captors with a hidden firearm, and then almost enthusiastically uses his other opponent for live target practice before blowing the Gand’s brains out with a well-aimed shot. Having previously presented the team’s successful mission in a rather light-hearted, humorous manner, so sudden a shift towards a much darker tone may well have caught many a bibliophile by surprise, especially when it subsequently appears that Jango’s son is going to blast the unarmed Rodian, Neelda, simply for not trying to stop his comrades’ coup attempt…

The regular cover art of "STAR WARS: AGE OF REPUBLIC - JANGO FETT" No. 1 by Paolo Rivera