Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters #4

Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters #4

Marvel Comics 2021

Written by Charles Soule

Illustrated by Luke Ross & David Messina

Coloured by Neeraj Menon & Guru-eFX

Lettered by VC’s Travis Lanham

THE WAR CONTINUES!

The true machinations of the theft of HAN SOLO from BOBA FETT become clear, as one-time love of Solo QI’RA has returned her terrifying criminal organization, CRIMSON DAWN, to the galaxy. Qi’ra used Han to bring the most powerful players in the galaxy together, and now the pieces are moving toward their endgame. DARTH VADER, LUKE SKYWALKER, LEIA ORGANA, VALANCE, APHRA, THE HUTTS – all are vying for the ultimate prize, while Boba Fett’s stuck in the middle, a simple man just trying to get what’s his!

This is one of my favourite reads right now. What Charles is doing with the story is utterly sensational and that we can have so much happen between when Han was frozen and when he’s freed is just plain delightful. Plus while it involves such a large cast of characters and it doesn’t feel like the story is scattered or overdone, too much information and not enough making sense, just goes to show how much skill, talent and creativity that Charles has when it comes to his craft.

I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter really does a marvellous job in bringing the characters to life. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story we’re left in awe by the sheer amount of what we see.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen is fantastic to see. How the layers open up new avenues and explore those that have already been opened keeps the reader glued to the page. I've never seen or known the Hutt’s to be such a type of beings and that’s a true highlight. So all this adds some gorgonizing depth, dimension and complexity to the book. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.

The interiors here are bloody marvellous! The linework is clean, crisp and strong and with the varying weights and techniques being utilised to bring out the attention to detail in such strong ways is just gorgeous. From Chewy, to the armour, see outfits, to the faces and facial expressions, what we see really brings the reader into the story. Backgrounds are utilised well to enhance and expand the moments as well as work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book is amazing. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a wonderful eye for how colour works and how to maximise its impact.

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What I absolutely love is that while the tie-ins do a nice job in letting the reader get to know the characters better they aren’t necessary to enjoy these issues. It is a stand alone story in its own right and it is some bloody fine work. With some exceptional writing and stellar characterisation brought to life by these incredibly solid interiors show why Star Wars is still among the world’s top fandom.