Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters: Jabba The Hutt

Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters: Jabba The Hutt

Marvel Comics 2021

Written by Justina Ireland

Illustrated by Ibraim Roberson, Present Day

Luca Pizzari, Flashback

Coloured by Edgar Delgado, Present Day

Giada Marchisio Flashback

Lettered by VC’s Ariana Maher

JABBA NEVER FORGIVES! JABBA NEVER FORGETS!

JABBA THE HUTT is one of the most powerful and ruthless gangsters in the galaxy—and BOBA FETT, his most trusted bounty hunter, has failed him. How will Jabba deal with betrayal? VIOLENTLY. And what does this have to do with a bounty hunter with ties to the HIGH REPUBLIC? Justina Ireland and Luca Pizzari’s hutt-sized spectacular is the first of four action-packed “War of the Bounty Hunters” tie-ins about the criminal underworld’s most notorious hunters and scoundrels, all told by the best Star Wars writers and illustrators in the galaxy.

I’m not really one for reading a lot of tie-in issues surrounding an event but well let’s face it Jabba The Hutt isn’t your normal everyday character and the intrigue surrounding him is high for me. While I am a fan of the films I’m not all that familiar with the world of Star Wars outside of that and that is partly what makes this so exciting for me.

I really like 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 we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as the way they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter continues to flies them out beautifully. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story, the characters and the twists & turns we find ourselves enraptured in the story.

I’m really rather impressed with the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow and evolve. That this is a continuation of the story and leads directly into the Crimson Dawn party adds some great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. The layers with their twists & turns and the characterisation is perfectly rendered throughout. The way that everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is beautifully achieved.

The interiors here are mindbogglingly brilliant work. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail work is astounding. The way that backgrounds are utilised to enhance the moments and how they 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 story is utterly marvellous. The likenesses and the creativity and imagination that is on display here is so great to see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is equally as brilliant to behold. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a master colourist playing in their favourite sandbox. I’m literally blown away by what I’m seeing visually and it just has this way of really bringing you into the story.

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I love how the past and the present are able to play off one another as the character remain the same it’s just a time difference kind of thing. That we see the relationship of the past versus the present and just how interesting and diverse the characters are and just how their history plays to their strengths and weaknesses. With some absolutely magnificent writing and characterisation alongside some utterly brilliant interiors we’ve never been this fascinated and thrilled by Jabba The Hutt.