Darth Maul's Crimson Dawn Has Finally Returned To 'Star Wars'

Marvel Comics continues its massive multi-issue story arc War of The Bounty Hunters with Bounty Hunters #13. Previous issues showed the struggles Boba Fett had to endure in order to get the carbonite frozen Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt, as it seems that nearly everyone else in the galaxy is looking for the captain of the Millennium Falcon as well: from Darth Vader and the Empire, to Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, and C-3PO, to Dr. Aphra and Sana Starros, to the Hutts (who think that Fett has betrayed them), and of course to countless other bounty hunters who believe themselves to be faster and smarter than the man in the Mandalorian armor.

Issue 1 of the 5-part main series concluded with the revelation that Crimson Dawn had taken Solo from Fett. The criminal organization had joined Darth Maul’s Shadow Collective shortly before Order 66. Its formal leader Maul mostly stayed in the shadows while Dryden Vos acted as the public figurehead of Crimson Dawn, with Solo’s former girlfriend Qi’ra as his second in command.

After Vos was killed by Qi’ra on Savareen, the young woman replaced her former boss under the watchful eyes of Maul. But after the former Sith was killed by Obi-Wan two years prior to the events of A New Hope, Crimson Dawn seemingly vanished, and many believed that the organization had dissolved. But now, several years later and under Qi’ra’s leadership, it is trying to get back on the map, by stealing Solo and inviting the scum and villainy of the galaxy to the planet Jekara, in order to sell the frozen smuggler to the highest bidder.

When sending out the invitations, the then still unknown new leader of Crimson Dawn presented her organization seemingly more business oriented, not wanting to disrupt existing arrangements, but rather helping the clans and syndicates by providing rare and much thought things – like a frozen Han Solo.

But already issue 0 of War of The Bounty Hunters showed that Crimson Dawn is as ruthless as ever, when its thugs brutally killed a Besalisk whom Fett had hired to restore the deteriorating carbonite.

Issue 13 of Bounty Hunters now gives another very strong indication that Crimson Dawn is not only back, but also nothing to mess around with: The cyborg bounty hunter Beilert Valance, who has teamed up with Dengar, is on the hunt for Solo. But contrary to all the others, who are looking for him not to take revenge, he rather seeks to repay a debt, as Solo had once saved his life, many years ago, when both were still in the Imperial Academy.

On the smugglers’ moon of Nar Shaddaa, the two bounty hunters lost Fett’s trace, and so they got in contact with one of Dengar's informants, an alien named Devono Vix, and Valance started to question him, what he knew about Fett's and Solo's whereabout. And Valance's way of questioning someone was beating up or shooting everyone else around Vix, before letting him hang head-down over the edge of a skyscraper, to get the information on who had Solo now.

No wonder Vix was more than willing to give away the information that Crimson Dawn has returned and taken Solo. He also talked about a mysterious “she” who would kill him, if she knew that Vix was talking. Valance found this hard to believe at first, as there had been no signs of the organization’s existence for years. And just before the alien could spill any further information about Crimson Dawn, a mysterious masked female assassin called Deathstick cut off Vix’s head and then attacked Valance and Dengar, wounding the first and suddenly making him believe that Crimson Dawn was actually back.

This is where issue 13 ends, but the cover for issue 14, to be released on July 7, shows that there will be a confrontation between Valance and Deathstick, who is actually the daughter of a Nightsister.

All this shows that Lady Qi’ra's making no compromises to protect her interests and to get the name Crimson Dawn back into the consciousness of the criminal underworld.

Written By Gerald Petschk

Source(s): Screen Rant

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