Topic: Boba Fett in the New Marvel Comics (SPOILERS)
Hello all!
I wanted to talk about the new "unified" Star Wars canon, and more specifically the Marvel comic book series, and even more specifically Boba Fett's involvement thus far. I must say, I am a HUGE fan of the writers and artists work so far, always eager to read each new issue! With that said, I urge only those who have read the series up to this point to participate with this topic due to spoilers! I think it's safe to say that Fett's presence itself is not spoiler worthy, but some of his actions and roles are.
So...
SPOILER ALERTS
Boba Fett's first appearance was in "Darth Vader: #1," in which it assumedly chronicles the first business interaction between the Sith Lord and bounty hunter when Vader hired Fett to track down the pilot who destroyed the Death Star. For those unaware, that pilot was Luke Skywalker, haha ;P Immediately, we see that Boba is confident in his abilities, and assured Vader that this pilot would be captured. While there is more dialogue here than you might expect from him after watching "The Empire Strikes Back," but it does affirm that he is seemingly not intimidated by Darth Vader as seen in the film. The interaction took place on Tatooine after Vader met with Jabba the Hutt for official and personal business deals, the personal of which involved hiring Jabba's best bounty hunters as we know.
At the conclusion of "Star Wars: #4," we see Fett on the cold trail of Luke, and is seen interrogating a group of Rodian gunslingers. Fett already knows his target is from Tatooine and was an associate of Ben Kenobi, but doesn't know his name... and is portrayed in a very single-minded fashion, almost obsessively hunting for that name in the following issue. It is reminiscent of Vader's Ahab mental state in "Empire," and establishes the ruthlessly effective conduct of Boba Fett while on the hunt; he is a cold, hard bounty hunter on the galactic frontier of the Outer Rim.
Soon, we see Fett at his most brutal in the Cantina from "A New Hope." He knew the information he was looking for was there and would not relent in antagonizing the unruly patrons until he had the final piece of the puzzle. A large, six-armed alien had its fill of the bounty hunter's bullying, and challenged him by mocking Fett as a "child." Fett was pleased to make an example out of the beast and quickly dismembered one of its arms and broke three others, and pinned it down on the ground. That was enough to cause a young man to attempt in fleeing the cantina, only to be captured and tortured by Fett. This time, Fett's interrogation brought him useful information with a name and history of his prey, but he executed the reluctant squealer regardless, perhaps due to him wasting valuable time. It is then we see him ambushing Luke Skywalker at Ben Kenobi's old house with a flashbang in the next issue, who is searching for answers himself.
The flashbang deactivated RD-D2 and blinded Luke. Fett was about to take the young Skywalker into custody, but was soon met by erratic resistance when Luke brandished his lightsaber. A heated engagement took place, with Fett overpowering Luke for the most part. In fact, it was during this fight when Luke was given his trademark facial scars (Mark Hamill was in an accident between "A New Hope" and "Empire"). However, with the help of the Force, Luke telekinetically slammed a strong box to the back of Fett's head in an unexpected moment, knocking him unconscious long enough to escape. Unsuccessful in capturing his quarry, Boba Fett confronted Darth Vader. Though failing with bringing in his target, he brought Vader a name: "Skywalker." Again, Fett seems full of confidence in spite of the circumstances.
Now, I wish to talk about issue 6's battle...
I can't say I expected anything different, really; we all should've known that Luke would have managed to escape somehow, and a "versus" between the two characters has been teased for months now. That said, I wish they would have handled it differently than what we saw... so, here is what I would have loved to have seen more:
I would have kept the beginning largely the same; Fett ambushes and blinds Luke, which not only foretells his interaction with the blinded Han Solo in "Jedi," but again gives the opportunity of Luke to use his developing powers, which have grown since he was training blindfolded with Obi-Wan during the first "Star Wars." Fett cracked Luke with the butt of his rifle in the comic, then Luke tried to sucker punch Fett and hurt his hand in the process... all of that, I'd keep the same. After the panel of Luke wincing in pain though, I'd have a close up of Fett's visor... and in a similar scene in the last issue with the six-armed monster, we would only see the result: Boba Fett carrying Luke over his shoulder out of the house. We don't need to see how, like in the cantina, the result speaks for itself.
Now... we can't have Luke brought into Vader's custody; that would be hard to write around the films, plausibly so anyway. So at this point R2 may find a way to help out Luke by distracting Fett, although a chance to use the Force MUST be made somehow... perhaps in a way that causes Fett's jetpack to malfunction, giving an opportunity to escape. We CAN'T make Boba Fett look weak, though... in the last issue, Luke had to drive away a bunch of Tusken Raiders from Ben's house. Well, perhaps before Fett can give chase after Luke, the Raiders would return in greater numbers, forcing him to fend them off while Luke and R2 get away. Things would then proceed as they did in the comic.
Just my two-cents... I am still quite happy with the comic, and am excited to see more Fett to come!
So what are your thoughts? What would you like to see in the future out of Boba Fett, or what would you have changed? Are you happy with his portrayal? Give your thoughts!