Ever since his first on-screen appearance in 1978’s The Star Wars Holiday Special, the fearsome bounty hunter Boba Fett, with his distinctive helmet and armor, has been an instantly identifiable element of the Star Wars universe. In 1980, he made his live-action debut in The Empire Strikes Back, tracking the Millennium Falcon to Bespin’s Cloud City, establishing a formidable reputation for the character that reverberates to this day, even though he made his (presumed) untimely end in the following film.
This week Marvel Comics released a one-shot comic book in its Star Wars: Age of Rebellion series with the to-the-point subtitle “Boba Fett,” and the issue continues the legacy of the mysterious mercenary in the Mandalorian armor by filling in a brief gap in his history between Episodes IV and VI of the larger Star Wars saga.
The story of Star Wars: Age of Rebellion – Boba Fett takes place entirely on the Outer Rim planet of Carajam, where Fett has just captured a target in a Rebel Alliance flight suit while riding a pretty sweet-looking droid steed. We see our antihero’s reputation through the eyes of a fellow bounty hunter named Zingo Gabnit, who soon becomes Boba Fett’s next mark, having betrayed the guild both work under.
What follows is an extended, occasionally explosive chase sequence, with Fett characteristically silent for almost its entirety. It’s chilling and suspenseful in a Terminator kind of way, and further evidence that the man in green tends to get his prey at any cost. Though local Carajam residents see Boba Fett as a sort of hero, ridding them of bad men, the book’s matter-of-fact denouement is a reminder that this guy is still as cutthroat as they come.
Star Wars: Age of Rebellion – Boba Fett is tightly scripted by frequent Marvel contributor Greg Pak (X-Men, Hulk, Hercules) with fantastic, evocative art by Marc Laming (Fantastic Four, Planet Hulk) and an interesting though familiar history of the Boba Fett character presented as an afterword by StarWars.com writer Bria LaVorgna.
Boba Fett is a character who oddly hasn’t had a lot to do since Disney purchased Lucasfilm and wiped out the existing Expanded Universe, though I always wonder how long it will be until that changes. It would be very nice to see more stories like this focused on the most recognizable bounty hunter in the galaxy, be they set before his fall into the Pit of Carkoon or otherwise.
Star Wars: Age of Rebellion – Boba Fett is available now wherever comics are sold.