‘Star Wars: Boba Fett – Black White & Red’ #3 Review: Boba Settles an Old Score in the Series’ Best Issue Yet
_Star Wars: Boba Fett – Black, White & Red_ issue #3 was released last week, and kept this series on a strong path, exploring Boba’s adventures during the Imperial era. Issue #3 features art by Juan Jose Ryp and cover art by E.M. Gist, as well as a new story by _Bounty Hunters_ series writer Ethan Sacks, who returns to writing Boba Fett with a similar penchant for vengeance.
Issue #3 shows off some incredible artwork, while also boasting the series’s most character-centered story yet. Sacks hands in a great short tale focused on the effect of Jango’s legacy on Boba, and how far he’ll go to punish someone who shames him.
**Spoilers ahead…**
_Star Wars: Boba Fett – Black, White & Red_ Issue #3 Cover by E.M. Gist
Ethan Sacks is no stranger to writing Boba Fett, or his father, Jango, for that matter. Sacks understands that Boba Fett isn’t just building his own legend and filling his bank account; he’s directly continuing Jango’s career, and was cloned for that express purpose. In almost every way, Boba _is_ Jango. Jango is a shadow Boba can’t grow out of, only live up to. And while Boba is indeed the best in the business, he wasn’t always, and that’s what this story revolves around.
Issue #3 starts with Sacks immediately putting this central theme on full display. Boba fights his way into a meeting with an information broker named Sheraxx Quorsha, who’s guarded by a Sakiyan named Djas Puhr. While Boba dispatches the guards, Djas tells Boba he’s been trained from birth to be a superior fighter, something Boba knows well.
Boba Fett fights Djas Puhr.
From the first frame, Juan Jose Ryp’s art shines. The heavily detailed characters and environments have only a wash of reds and blacks that don’t overemphasize the palette. It’s textured, realistic, and really engaged me, mainly because it avoided overusing red as a contrast and instead let the detail be the focus.
We learn Boba is looking for an old bounty of his, named Corm Vargon. The middle of the issue then splits time between Boba in the present day and Boba as a younger hunter, dressed in his Clone Wars-era armor and wielding Jango’s blaster pistols.
Young Boba on his John Wick arc.
In the past, Boba took a bounty from a fishmonger’s family who scraped together the money to avenge their son, who Vargon killed over a game of chance cubes. As bounties go, it’s a pretty moral one, and a young Boba was eager to deliver.
In the flashback, we learn Vargon has an acolyte named Shriff, who tells young Boba that Vargon doesn’t obey mortal laws because he will “ascend” and live forever. In the present, we see Boba hunting Vargon, going to a monastery that appears to be a front for what looks like weapons smuggling. Vargon’s old acolyte, Shriff, is there and recognizes Boba.
Young Boba meets Vargon and Shriff
The story then pairs a younger Boba’s fight with Vargon and his guards, who are caught unprepared for the skilled young hunter, alongside Boba in the present. Now, his reputation precedes him, and many of the guards flee when they hear his name.
In the past, Vargon got the drop on Boba, knocking off his helmet and exposing his face for the first time in this series, while Boba tells Vargon, “A Fett doesn’t beg.” Vargon recognized Jango’s name and told him he’s a stain on Jango’s legacy, letting Boba live with the shame as he “ascends” beyond Boba’s reach.
Young Boba confronts Vargon
In the present, Boba introduces himself as Boba Fett, heir to the legacy of his father, Jango Fett. Shriff says he’ll never tell where Vargon is — now that he’s ascended — but Boba notices a symbol on Shriff’s hand and brings it to a returning face, Doctor Aphra’s father, Korin.
Korin tells Boba the symbol belongs to a breakaway sect of the B’omarr Monk order, the disembodied heads in jars that walk on spider legs around Jabba’s palace. They shed their physical bodies and attachments to the physical world to focus purely on enlightenment. This particular sect believes that, by doing so, they remove their earthly sins and escape judgment from the galaxy, free to live forever as new beings. Boba won’t let that stand. He tracks the sect to their home on Javeek, at the edge of the galaxy.
Boba meets with Korin Aphra
I love it when _Star Wars_ stories explore the various religious sects and orders that populate the galaxy. The B’omarr Monks are one of the freakiest, and a great tie-in for Boba Fett, who knows how they work, and will soon take up ownership of Jabba’s Palace and deal with the B’omarr Monks that continue to live on Tatooine. The idea that their philosophy could be used to legally and ethically absolve hardened criminals of their sins is a really fun take that I enjoyed.
And as soon as Boba lands on Javeek, the art gets to take even more of a center stage. The planet looks stark, and is made even better because it’s wordless for multiple pages, accentuating the creepiness.
Boba lands on Javeek
Boba is confronted by a modified B’omarr Monk. He then starts blasting surrounding brains until the droid reveals he is Javeek, who falls back on his “old identity,” gloating that he could take on one more sin to atone for during his eternal life as a droid.
Boba fights the monks in a terrifying close-quarters series of panels and uses _Slave I_ to wipe out the monastery. Boba jetpacks out, carrying Vargon with him, and blasts his brain in a final showdown. In Vargon’s final moments, Boba tells him the bounty was long expired; he tracked him down out of pride. The issue ends with Boba flying off, this black mark expunged from his family’s infamous record.
Boba reunites with Vargon and the monks.
This issue was great, and may feature my favorite art and story of this whole series. I loved that we not only saw young Boba, but got to see his face. Boba’s helmet coming off here feels like a violation, emphasizing the humiliation of the moment in a way that worked better because of how faceless and badass Boba gets to be in the rest of the issue and the previous two issues.
While this series was not created with the intention of creating groundbreaking stories, more about creating visually striking artwork, I’m glad the authors have found small windows to make Boba Fett’s hunts feel distinct. In issue #1, he’s fighting multiple parties that want to use him to their advantage and getting out from under their thumbs. In issue #2, Boba treats a bounty hunt as an act of mercy, and here we get to see Boba’s core motivations on full display.
Boba jets off, Vargon defeated.
With just one issue to go, my main remaining gripe for this series is the window in which these stories are set. They are all set during the Imperial era, only breaking out of it during this issue’s flashbacks. I understand the artists want to capitalize on Boba’s iconic armor and imagery, but the stories then have to be fairly limited. His early years studying under Jango or working with _Krayt’s Claw_ would have been interesting, as would any story set after _Return of the Jedi_ that features Boba living with the Tusken Raiders.
While he lives in his father’s shadow, Boba is his own person and eventually forges his own path. I hope to see at least the seeds of that character growth in our final issue, which will be released at the very end of the year.
_**RATING: 9/10**_
##### Colin Scharff
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Colin is a lifelong Star Wars fan and researcher who enjoys diving deep into every corner of this weird and wonderful galaxy far, far away.
* Colin Scharff
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‘Star Wars: Boba Fett – Black White & Red’ #3 Review: Boba Settles an Old Score in the Series’ Best Issue Yet Star Wars: Boba Fett – Black, White & Red issue #3 was released last ...
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