“War of the Bounty Hunters” continues as Leia & Lando each try to cross some items of their to-do list in Star Wars #14 written by Charles Soule, art by Ramon Rosanas, colored by Rachelle Rosenberg, and lettered by VC’s Clayton Cowles
All too often, crossovers can have a disruptive effect on a series’ ongoing narrative: they exist on their own (usually editorially or marketing-driven) schedule and possess their own narrative goals, leaving the creators of the tie-in series scrambling to set aside their ongoing plotlines to serve the larger story. With Marvel’s “War of the Bounty Hunters” crossover event, this book has two things working in its favor to minimize this disruption. For one, writer Charles Soule is the “showrunner” of the crossover, meaning he, more than anyone else, is in the best position to set his own series up for its tie-ins. And for another, given that “trying to find Boba Fett and get back Han Solo” has been a running plot thread for this book since its relaunch in a post-Empire Strikes Back time period, it is automatically a natural fit for a crossover story that’s basically about looping the rest of the galaxy into the hunt these characters have already been conducting.
That said, some of the series’ more immediate plot threads still get put on the backburner: Operation Starlight and the immediate fate of Shara Bey, shelved in the previous issue as the crossover tie-ins began, remain unresolved as the series moves deeper into the crossover with this issue (Luke gets sent off a sidequest here, working with Starlight Squadron, a nod to some of the pre-crossover plotlines). But the way Soule has weaved various plot threads on and off the main stage of the book since its inception helps make the crossover feel less like a disruption to this series than elsewhere, and more like simply the next plotline to get the spotlight. To wit, the issue kicks off with Leia, having heard the galaxy-wide summons to bid on Han Solo issued by the resurgent Crimson Dawn in War of the Bounty Hunters #1. Energized by finally having a lead on Han’s whereabouts, this prompts her to launch a mission to infiltrate the auction on Jekara, recruiting Lando in order to take advantage of his specific knowledge of Crimson Dawn and his general rogueish-ness.
Those two characters – Leia and Lando – provide the emotional throughline for the issue. Both characters have spent much of this series trying to achieve distinct goals: Leia to rescue Han, Lando to get out from his own debt to Jabba the Hutt. Both those goals come into focus here and twist their respective characters a bit in the process. Leia, it seems, becomes overeager, losing some of her calculated, tactical patience, settling on a plan that both Lando and Chewbacca think is a bit thin and disregarding Lando’s insights into Crimson Dawn (despite those insights being the ostensible reason she brought him along). Whether Leia can succeed through sheer force of will (which is, essentially, her stated backup plan) remains to be seen. Of course, we as readers who have seen Return of the Jedi know she won’t succeed here, at least, but the question of what impact that failure will have on her character development remains, and Soule seems to be using the crossover to set up that examination.
Meanwhile, Lando uses the gathering at Jekara as a way to surreptitiously deliver the new Rebel codes to Jabba and clear his debt. But when the means of doing so – the ancient protocol droid who helped devise the codes – turns out to have a way to help his buddy Lobot, Lando’s internal struggle throughout the series comes to the forefront: do what’s best for him, or what is in the interest of others (be it the Rebels or Lobot)? It also puts into focus Soule’s somewhat unique take on Lando during a very unique time in the character’s development. Many stories, including the original Marvel comic books, put Lando into the role of hero and Rebel stalwart almost immediately after Empire, with his guilt over betraying Han the only motivating factor in his transformation from lovable but selfish scoundrel to Rebel general. Here though, Soule presents a Lando much more in transition between those two poles, using the events of the crossover (and the way it draws on elements from the Solo film) to highlight Lando’s less heroic past while putting additional strain on his efforts to be a better person. Artist Ramon Rosanas’ even draws Lando here to look a bit like a mix between Donald Glover’s younger Lando and Billy Dee Williams’ classic Lando, a visual representation of the character’s internal fluctuations. There is no doubt that Lando is amongst the Rebels to some degree as an act of atonement for what he did to Han, but it’s also not clear the full extent of which his involvement is just a means to a selfish end. As of this issue, that tension is moving further into the spotlight.
“War of the Bounty Hunters” intrusion into the series’ narrative is not only relatively limited in terms of disruption to ongoing plot lines, it serves a greater purpose, of pushing both Leia and Lando’s ongoing character arcs to the forefront. Both characters have been heading towards where this issue pushes them already: Leia to a point of foolhardy action on Han’s behalf, Lando to a moment of truth between his self-interest and a higher purpose. The events of the crossover simply escalate things for them both. In that regard, the crossover has the potential to, hopefully, impact the series’ character arcs far more than its plotlines.
Force Facts
- Leia’s contact who brings her the news of the Han auction is Amilyn Holdo, the future Vide Admiral Holdo and orchestrator of the Holdo Maneuver in The Last Jedi.
- Continuing from the previous issue and War of the Bounty Hunters #1, references to Solo abound: when Chewbacca recruits Lando for Leia’s mission to the Han auction, he mentions Elthree, his longtime companion who died during that film’s raid on Kessel (and whose droid brain technically still resides within the Millennium Falcon). Later, he references Dydren Vos, the former leader of Crimson Dawn played by Paul Bettany (who was killed & usurped in the film by Qi’ra, the present day orchestrator of the Han auction).
- Lando noting the Millennium Falcon’s renown and recognizability seems somewhat incongruous with the gag in Darth Vader #12 in which Han & Chewie were able to escape Vader due to the relative ubiquity of the Falcon’s make/model, though I suppose a few additional years of fame (and Vader’s bounty of the ship circa The Empire Strikes Back) have changed things a bit.
Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him on Twitter @AustinGorton
