“War of the Bounty Hunters: Sound of Metal”
Creative Staff:
Story: Greg Pak
Art: Raffaele Ienco
Colors: Jason Keith
Letterer: VCs Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
DARK LORD VS. DARK DROID! DARTH VADER and OCHI OF BESTOON embark upon a search for the carbonite-frozen body of HAN SOLO. Get ready for intrigue, betrayal and action in the heart of HUTT SPACE with the explosive reappearance of EVERYONE’S FAVORITE ASSASSIN DROID, IG-88! …And a shocking cliffhanger brings the shadows to life!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As we get a bit further into this War of the Bounty Hunters storyline, I like that Greg Pak is keeping Vader out of it directly but still very involved in it. It’s a big galaxy and while we love crossover, I like seeing what Pak is exploring here and using the arc to expand on the view of Vader at this point. With our recent guest artist, Raffaele Ienco returns with this issue and it’s a delight to get him back. I definitely enjoyed what we had but Ieno has such a particular touch in areas, such as Oochi’s eyes under the mask and just the way he has Vader move that I’m fascinated from panel to panel with how it plays out. It’s a great look for the book that’s both familiar yet distinctive.
The crux of events here is that as Vader is using Solo being stolen as a way to find Luke is that it’s lead him to the space barge where Bokku the Hutt has been. Vader is plain in wanting Solo but I like that it’s Oochi that smooths things out. We get a lot of dialogue but Vader has barely a handful of words said, but each one resonates heavily. What Bokku does is, in addition to coming along, is reveal that there’s a secret droid base in the outer rim that deals with repairs and more and that one of the bounty hunter groups went that way while everyone went to where Fett last was. That has Vader following suit but using Bokku’s ship to do so, opting to hide the Imperial ship within it since they’d be recognized and attacked far too quickly.
The place is almost like a camp more than anything else, albeit with some prefab buildings, but they’re using it to splice the data streams to figure out where Solo is instead of just following Fett’s path. IG-88 is running this show and we see him going after Vader hard – and cockily at that. And for good reason, as he’s getting a lot of help from insiders on Coruscant within the upper echelon that want Vader removed, seeing him as a larger threat than the Emperor is. This hints further of where Pak is going to take the book so I’m intrigued there. But in this instance, it’s just a delight seeing how IG-88 gets the upper hand for a moment and blows it as Vader is now ready to basically power up. He’d reached a certain level of power with the Force before, but Palpatine really opened his eyes with everything recently and on Exegol and that’s now reshaped his view of things.
In Summary:
I’m still not fully on board with this War of the Bounty Hunters storyline but I’m really enjoying seeing how Pak is working Vader’s involvement with it. We’re dealing fully with it but it still feels like it’s around the edges and doing its own thing instead. And we get a good clear look at some of what Vader is going to have to face in the near future as well when it comes to challenges on Coruscant. Raffael Ienco has quickly become my preferred artist when it comes to depicting Darth Vader and each issue of his work only cements it more and more. There’s a lot to like in this book as it lays out the future clearly.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology | Amazon Kindle
Release Date: June 23rd, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
