Back in 2019, writer Charles Soule created a big pitch document for Marvel’s flagship Star Wars series. It outlined his plans for the title, but also included was one specific story he was itching to write.
“Boba Fett clearly doesn’t take Han Solo directly to Jabba’s palace,” Soule tells StarWars.com. “Something had to happen in between that intervening time between Empire and Jedi. And I was like, ‘I would like to tell that story, and I would like it to be about Boba Fett and what happens to him.”
Finally, Soule will get his chance. Following yesterday’s mysterious teaser image of Boba Fett, StarWars.com is excited to announce War of the Bounty Hunters, an epic crossover in the Merry Marvel tradition that will indeed reveal what Fett experienced on his journey to deliver Solo. Running from May through October, it all kicks off with War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha #1 from Soule and artist Steve McNiven (“I think it’s the best work he’s maybe ever done,” Soule says; you can get a first look at the cover and interior art below) on May 5, and will then spin out into Marvel’s entire post-Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back line, including Star Wars, Bounty Hunters, Darth Vader, and Doctor Aphra. The five-issue War of the Bounty Hunters miniseries from Soule and Luke Ross, which will anchor the story, begins in June. From the sound of it, it wasn’t exactly smooth space sailing from Cloud City to Tatooine.
“The main story that we’re dealing with is a Boba Fett-focused crime epic, that involves Boba Fett going up against some of the heaviest hitters in the galaxy. It’s Jabba the Hutt. It’s Black Sun. It’s Darth Vader. And a bunch of others — factions and so on — that I think will be really interesting for the fans,” says Soule. “It’s basically Boba Fett, by himself, against all of these people.”
And what could make Boba Fett take on the galaxy’s worst? There could be only one thing.
“Boba Fett is in possession of Han Solo at the end of Empire Strikes Back, and at the beginning of War of the Bounty Hunters, he is not,” says Soule. “And he is going to do everything he can to get him back, no matter what. No matter who is standing in his way.”
While the inspiration for the story comes from Soule, he’s quick to point out that the overall event is a true collaboration between himself and several of Marvel’s Star Wars creators, including writers Greg Pak (Darth Vader), Alyssa Wong (Doctor Aphra), and Ethan Sacks (Bounty Hunters). “My co-writers on this story, and all of the great artists that we’re working with, it’s a fantastic team. This might’ve come from my brain to a degree, but we’re all adding things to it, and we’re all adding really interesting things to it,” he says. “Everybody’s getting to tell their own story within this over-arching plot of Boba Fett trying to get what’s his.”
War of the Bounty Hunters will be the biggest Star Wars story Marvel has told thus far. And while he can’t say much, Soule promises it will have an impact.
“War of the Bounty Hunters is a story about Boba Fett doing his thing, but it builds into something much bigger, and that’s what the best comic crossovers and big stories do. They tell a great story in and of themselves, but they’re also the start of something, and they open a lot of new doors. And this story will absolutely do that.”
Dan Brooks is Lucasfilm’s senior content strategist of online, the editor of StarWars.com, and a writer. He loves Star Wars, ELO, and the New York Rangers, Jets, and Yankees. Follow him on Twitter @dan_brooks where he rants about all these things.
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