Leia mourns missed chances, then spars with Qi’ra in Star Wars #18 written by Charles Soule, art by Ramon Rosanas, colored by Rachelle Rosenberg and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
“War of the Bounty Hunters” is finally over. That’s said without any judgement intended; rather, that usage of “finally” is an acknowledgement that, love it or hate it, it feels like this crossover has been running *forever*. This is likely due to the fact that in addition to the five issue core miniseries, a full four ongoing series, including this one, tied into the crossover, plus an additional five one-shot issues, for a full thirty-four chapters of crossover. All else aside, that’s simply A LOT of story spread out over five months (there’s more chapters of “War of the Bounty Hunters” than issues of any of the three Darth Vader series to date), and it’s hard not to read a little exhaustion on the page (or project it) as this issue opens.
In part, that may come from the fact that a good chunk of the issue functions as an epilogue of sorts to the crossover, and it does so largely by recapping, in one form or another, various highlights of the story. To some extent, this makes sense: Leia’s feelings for Han are the emotional center of the crossover, and giving her the space to grieve her failure to retrieve him (and his apparent death) is necessary. But in execution, it too often comes across as simply warmed over recitations of plot points.
Meanwhile, Lando appears to be back to his old tricks after his apparent breakthrough last issue, once again planning to run off on the Rebel Alliance in order to seek out the ancient protocol droid who created the Rebels’ new communication codes and possesses the ability to help Lobot. How much of this is genuine backsliding and how much is Lando honoring his commitments to Lobot ahead of the Rebels remains to be seen, but it was nevertheless somewhat jarring to see Lando back to scheming up ways to break off on his own when he seemed to have committed to the Rebellion last issue.
Things pick up a bit in the second half, as Qi’ra arranges a face-to-face meeting with Leia. Here there’s still more recapping, as events from the crossover are depicted again while Qi’ra reveals her secret hand behind them, the idea being that the Han Solo auction was always an elaborate, complex means to reunite Han and Leia. She also tells Leia a story from her and Han’s childhood, about a time Han risked himself to save a young boy just for the sake of inspiring the kid, however briefly.
It’s a classic “heart of gold beneath the tough guy exterior” tale, but another case of the issue being repetitious: as Leia points out, it’s largely superfluous to her (and to readers), since she is already well aware that Han is a good guy deep down inside. It does, however, allow for a couple pages of lovely art from Ramon Rosanas and colorist Rachelle Rosenberg, one of the rare opportunities they have to really swing for the fences in the issues, as they depict a wistful Han and Qi’ra looking up at the stars, yearning for a different life. It’s a sequence that channels the kind of energy that permeates sequences like the Binary Sunset in A New Hope or the Broom Boy coda at the end of The Last Jedi.
Qi’ra, for her part, claims that she’s telling the story to prove that, ultimately, she wants what is best for Han, while Charles Soule uses it as a means to differentiate between the two women who love Han and hate the Empire but aren’t exactly on the same side: Qi’ra uses manipulation to get her way, while Leia uses inspiration. To underscore her point, she then plays her trump card, and reveals to Leia that Han survived the events of War of the Bounty Hunters #5 and remains alive (albeit frozen in carbonite) at Jabba’s palace. In doing so, she snaps Leia out of her funk, which is the other narrative goal of their exchange.
The whole confrontation (which to Soule’s credit, is entirely verbal; nobody descends into fist fights or crossed swords or anything like that) serves as a boost to Leia spirits, her quipping and snarking with Qi’ra bringing back the old verve and sass that defines the character. Ironically, it also pushes Han’s ultimate rescue out further: while Qi’ra’s revelation of Han’s location seemingly draws a massive connecting line from this issue to the start of Return of the Jedi, Leia’s talk with Qi’ra convinces her that, at the moment, the Rebellion needs her more than Han does so (because, of course, this series has more tales to tell before it reaches Return of the Jedi). The result is the return of Leia, battle-hardened warrior and inspirational Rebel leader, poised for the adventures to come.
So by the end, the issue leaves things in a strong place: Leia has had a chance to mourn her failure to rescue Han, while also rediscovering her personal drive and rededicating herself to the Alliance, the series has had a chance to say goodbye to “War of the Bounty Hunters”, and much of it comes on the back of a sparkling tête-à-tête with Qi’ra that makes clear the differences between the two women heading into the “Crimson Dawn” era of the Star Wars books (an era which promises, amongst other things, more Qi’ra). Yet for all that, it’s also something of a quiet dud of an issue, one which spends many of its pages recounting previous events and character beats, rather than helping support the rededication of purpose and new status quo coming out of the crossover.
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
