“War of the Bounty Hunters: Just Rewards”
Creative Staff:
Story: Greg Pak
Art: Raffaele Ienco
Colors: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: VCs Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
Throughout the search for HAN SOLO, DARTH VADER has carved his way through shadows, unraveling mysteries cloaked in deceptions and betrayal. Now Vader finally takes care of all his business in this blockbuster conclusion to the WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS story arc. But is he the true master of betrayal in this tale? Or is there another?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This installment is the last one for Vader within the War of the Bounty Hunter storyline, something that ran on for too long and that I lost interest in about halfway through with a bunch of repetition. This installment works well enough, convoluted as it is, and sets up for some interesting things to happen in the future, especially once the works go to a post-ROTJ era work. Again, I continue to be glad that Raffaele Ienco is handling the art duties here again as he continues to have such a way with the designs, expressions, and just the movement of the characters that feels like it has some real weight to it. There’s a lot of good stuff with this installment overall and I really dig the vibe of the whole thing.
There is a lot going on in this issue but it accomplishes its main goals by the end I think. Vader’s intent on taking down Skywalker at this point, enough so to try and do something with him once all is said and done, but he’s dealing with Ochi and how he’s contacting him to let him know that Solo is being taken out from under him. The problem is that Solo is meaningless now as he has Skywalker in his sights and some don’t realize that. But as we’ve seen along the way, some of those that are working this operation are doing things for the Emperor directly, and that Palpatine has bigger plans for Skywalker. Which is why, naturally, once Vader almost has Luke he ends up having to let him go as Palpatine orders Vader to handle the Hutt insurrection that’s going on personally instead of leaving it up to Piett.
The culmination of events are a little frustrating in some ways because it again comes down to a kind of loyalty test for Vader, who doesn’t get the prize he was after but the consolation prize of slicing up some Hutts has to tide him over. The main thrust that we get when the talking starts is that the Crimson Dawn is a far bigger threat than realized and that the Empire is going to focus heavily on them, which has Vader getting Ochi to make it clear to the League of Assassins that they work for Vader now. Of course, that takes its own twists and turns with some intriguing reveals about Crimson Dawn that I’m curious to see unfold. I do like the idea of some of this someday being reworked into live-action form as there’s a lot of potential for it.
In Summary:
The War of the Bounty Hunters wasn’t a success for me as it was trying to do too much, became too drawn out, and too repetitive. It was a decent idea that would have been better across six books and then done and over with. I’m interested in seeing how Crimson Dawn is being built into a Big Bad that can be exploited post-Empire while also having Empire remnants to deal with, but that’s still down the line. The material we get here has a lot going on and it’s very busy, but the end result is decent enough and covers some ground that I’m interested in. It’s a big picture piece that doesn’t work as well when you focus on the details.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology | Amazon Kindle
Release Date: October 27th, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
