Starting this May, a barrage of "Star Wars" bounty hunters are coming to Marvel Comics in an epic crossover series spanning five titles involving mercenaries from all corners of the cosmos.
Marvel's "War of the Bounty Hunters" was spawned by a wild 2019 pitch delivered by bestselling writer Charles Soule ("The High Republic: Light of the Jedi"), where he posed the question of what happened to Boba Fett while delivering the frozen body of Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt after "The Empire Strikes Back" but before "Return of the Jedi."
To answer that mystery, the ambitious multi-title event launches May 5 with "War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha #1," a prelude issue written by Charles Soule with artwork by Steve McNiven.
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"Boba Fett clearly doesn't take Han Solo directly to Jabba's palace," Soule told 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.'"
From that kick-off point, the event will unfold into Marvel's flagship roster of titles including "Star Wars," "Star Wars: Bounty Hunters," "Star Wars: Darth Vader," and "Star Wars: Doctor Aphra," with each spinoff beginning with special prelude issues throughout May.
"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," Soule said. "And he is going to do everything he can to get him back, no matter what. No matter who is standing in his way."
In June, the crossover gathers steam in a rowdy five-issue "War of the Bounty Hunters" miniseries from Soule and artist Luke Ross where the entire galaxy, from the Rebellion to the Empire, collide in an attempt to claim the grand prize: Han Solo!
"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," Soule added. "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. It's basically Boba Fett, by himself, against all of these people."
Soule claims this might be the biggest "Star Wars" story Marvel has ever embraced, and he admits this event is a true collaboration between himself and many "Star Wars" experts like 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," he notes to StarWars.com. "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. Everybody's getting to tell their own story within this overarching plot of Boba Fett trying to get what's his."
Marvel's "War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha #1" ignites it all starting May 5. Check out the four-page peek in the gallery below.
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