Star Wars: War Of The Bounty Hunters Alpha #1 - Marvel Comics

STAR WARS: WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS ALPHA No. 1, July 2021

Announced in February 2021 by “Marvel Worldwide” as “the Star Wars comic event you’ve been waiting for”, this canon crossover miniseries’ prelude arguably asks quite a bit from its readers within the space of its opening few panels. For whilst Charles Soule’s script for “Precious Cargo” undeniably depicts Boba Fett demonstrating just how bad ass a bounty hunter he can be whilst battling inside the deadly Garkata Fighting Arena, some fans of George Lucas’ “galaxy far, far away” might find the Kamino-born clone somewhat unrecognisable from that depicted on the silver screen in Irvin Kershner's "The Empire Strikes Back".

To begin with, “one of the most feared bounty hunters in the galaxy during the reign of Emperor Palpatine” is apparently penniless to the point where he can’t even pay a doctor to repair Han Solo’s fast-failing carbonite block on the smuggler’s moon of Nar Shaddaa. This total lack of funds makes little sense considering just how successful Jango’s son has supposedly become, especially when he is strongly-favoured “by the fearsome crime lord Jabba The Hutt", and seems to have been penned simply to manufacture a reason as to why he’d leave his valuable prize behind in some disreputable backwater to be stolen.

In addition, the cold-hearted killer debatably doesn’t live up to his fearsome reputation either, despite apparently shrugging off being speared straight through the chest with an arachnid’s sharp-tipped limb during his final contest. The ill-fated Doc Ragon certainly isn’t the least bit intimidated by Fett, and even chides the bounty hunter for being historically disreputable. Whilst this book somewhat bizarrely ends with a still broke Boba impotently skulking away without any of his considerable winnings in the arena simply because he’s confronted by Kanji and a couple of the local hoodlum’s gun-toting gangsters; “You owe us for the money we lost on Wyrmen Lictor. Had a lot bet on her to win. You can earn all that back for us in one fight… Unless you’d rather just walk away.”

Easily this twenty-page periodical’s greatest asset is therefore the superb artwork of Steve McNiven, which does a truly fantastic job depicting all the dark griminess of the galaxy’s nefarious underworld, and its multitude of extra-terrestrial inhabitants. The Canadian illustrator’s ability to capture every minute detail of the central protagonist’s Mandalorian armour is excellent, as is his ability to sketch the bloody path the mercenary cuts so as to efficiently achieve his “title shot” against the tournament’s multi-limbed reigning champion.

Written by: Charles Soule, Illustrated by: Steve McNiven, and Color Art by: Laura Martin