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Review: "Star Wars: Jango Fett #4"
It’s already time for the finale of the Jango Fett mini-series by Ethan Sacks, after only 4 issues. However, when it comes to Jango Fett, I prefer quality over quantity. I think this final installment did well in maintaining that.
On a broadcast news station on Ord Mantell, the breaking story is the negotiations falling apart between the Anselmi and Nautolans (see previous issue reviews for the breakdown). Funny enough, there is an Easter Egg dedicated to Taylor Swift, of all people, confirmed by the writer on Twitter. We briefly see a Twi’Lek singer, and a mention of “that Twi’Lek pop icon dating the Shockball Star.” I imagine, in Travis Kelce’s infamous chant about Las Vegas, instead his Star Wars counterpart would have said “Mos Espa!”
Jango Fett, Aurra Sing, and the young Nautolan revolutionary Nakano Lash barge in to the station. There is a little bit of visual irony here, because Jango’s image is being aired on one of the screens while he’s aggressively closing in on the station personnel.
Jango forces the station staff to show him the recordings of the heist that started this entire conflict (and comic series). Nakano Lash notices that the Nautolan Ambassador Fiarok hardly reacted to the heist… which means he was in on it from the very beginning.
Aurra Sing thinks this isn’t enough evidence to clear their names — as set up in the prior issue — but Jango has a plan. He requests a camera droid from the station, and leaves Nakano to her own fate. But before he leaves, he encourages her to keep fighting for her ideals, but to simply “fight smarter.” Jango also says that he’s just a simple bounty hunter, and the idea of the profession lingers on Nakano’s mind as he leaves (“Bounty hunter… cool”). Its a foreshadowing that I think is both beautiful and tragic. On one hand, we now see what causes Nakano to one day be a great bounty hunter in her own right. But on the other hand, if you read the first five issues of Star Wars: Bounty Hunters — spoiler alert — you know that her life will be tragically cut short, and that Boba Fett will be the one responsible for this. It comes full circle: Jango Fett inspires her career, but Boba Fett ends it. Very few characters in Star Wars have such a circular relationship with the Fetts, although Cad Bane comes to mind as well.
Aboard Slave I, we get even more foreshadowing. Aurra is impressed with how Jango handled young Nakano, and asks him if he’s ever considered having kids of his own to pass his legacy down to. Jango dismisses the notion, saying that “This is the only way I know.” I assume he is referring to bounty hunting, because Jango Fett isn’t exactly the most dedicated Mandalorian. However, in the panel he is putting on his Mandalorian beskar helmet just as he says this, so perhaps that is the comic’s way of implying that he means both. Mandalorians do value succession, and from “Attack of the Clones,” we know Jango Fett ultimately does as well.
Slave I lands on Jaloria, where Jango has lured the other bounty hunters pursuing them from last issue. There are about 15 of them, give or take, but I only recognize a few. Highsinger was a bounty hunter droid who we first saw in “The Clone Wars,” working with Boba Fett himself, no less. Cradossk is the father of Bossk; they look very similar except Cradossk has a red jumpsuit instead of a yellow one. We also saw him last issue, when the bounty on Jango was first announced. The last noteworthy hunter is the “Spear Guy” from the previous issues, Vigor Struk.
What ensures is a short but epic battle, with Jango and Aurra engaging the larger team in battle. I’ll try not to narrate every panel blow for blow, but some epic, epic stuff happens here, and its hard not to mention it in detail.
Vigor, of course, goes for Jango first. Their fight is quickly interrupted by a large droid with a buzzsaw on its arm. It throws Jango around easily. Meanwhile, Aurra is proving what a fantastic femme fatale she is and is putting up a great fight against the other hunters. Cradossk engages her, and gives her a nasty slash across the face.
Jango and Aurra (who apparently work quite well together — their pairing is starting to rival Jango and Zam) pull an awesome “switcheroo” where Aurra uses an EMP grenade to disable the droid, while Jango uses his jetpack to ram into and tackle Cradossk. It’s an epic move that catches both enemy combatants by surprise; Jango and Aurra happen to have what counters these respective foes. Aurra brutally dispatches another hunter with her blade as Jango and Cradossk fly off.
Apparently, Jango Fett and Cradossk have some sort of history, much like Boba Fett and Bossk have theirs. I suppose their rivalry is one that spans generations, between father and son on both sides. “You always thought you were better than me, Fett,” garbles Cradossk.
“No,” replies Jango. “I always knew I was better, Cradossk.” With that, Jango uses the momentum of his flight to ram Cradossk headfirst into a heavy container, knocking him out cold and taking him out of the fight.
The remaining hunters get a taste of Mandalore as Jango uses one of my favorite weapons, the jetpack missile, to take them out. We know Highsinger will live to fight another day, but for now he is done. However, one more enemy is not…
Vigor Struk comes out of nowhere and attacks Jango with his spear. In my review of the second issue of this series, I roasted Vigor Struk because I said no ordinary human could put up a good fight against the legend that is Jango Fett. But now we see clearly why Vigor was able to do so. Spear Guy… is no ordinary human. In fact, he isn’t human at all. He is a cyborg, a metal endoskeleton covered in living tissue. This is obviously something akin to “The Terminator.”
For some reason, Vigor has this need to prove himself as “the best.” Aurra is annoyed by him, and throws a smoke grenade. Jango uses this as a diversion to throw his jetpack at Vigor. He then ties it to him with his gauntlet whipcord, and launches both the jetpack and Spear Guy with it. This move is very similar to something we saw Din Djarin do in the second episode of Season 2 of “The Mandalorian.”
Vigor flies off, several hundred meters into the air… and we don’t see him again the rest of the issue. Therefore, I can’t confirm that we have seen the last of Spear Guy. People in Star Wars have a habit of returning nowadays. However, I can confirm that if he DID fall back down to the ground, he must have exploded like crazy — LOL!
This explosive battle will go down as one of Jango Fett’s coolest canon feats. But now that it’s over, it’s time to collect the bounty. Jango visits Governor Tok (who was one of the parties that was conducting the peace ceremony between the Anselmi and the Nautolans in the first issue) and the camera droid that witnessed Jango’s exploits shows her everything. This footage includes Nakano Lash explaining the betrayal of Ambassador Fiarok. He is promptly arrested, and this kicks off the conclusion montage of the comic.
The Hope of Glee Anselm (the real one) is recovered… but missing it’s jewels. We see that Aurra has been able to steal them. Meanwhile, the fragile peace on Glee Anselm has of course been broken, with the Anselmi and the Nautolans entering conflict. This does not look good for Chancellor Valorum’s administration, who will soon have to deal with a Trade Federation blockade on a planet called Naboo…
Governor Tok congratulates Jango on a job well done. But before Jango leaves with his credits, he implies he knows what really happened. This is explained to us in the next panel: Governor Tok was secretly an agent of Count Dooku. The reason she believed the footage Jango brought in so readily is because the entire ordeal was part of her’s and Dooku’s plans. Dooku is already planning destabilization against the Republic, and this has a lot of implications. The main one is that this takes place before “The Phantom Menace.” So wouldn’t this imply that Sidious currently has two apprentices? Darth Maul is still alive and well at this time, and also in one piece. I can’t help but wonder if this was an oversight by the author… or an intentional clue, given to us by the author. Only time will tell.
Lastly, Dooku is impressed by how competent and discreet “the bounty hunter” was. We get a final page where Dooku wants to hear more “about this Jango Fett.” The Slave I roars triumphantly through space simultaneously with that text box, implying the partnership to come between Dooku and Jango… and what happened after that…
And thus, that foreshadowing is an awesome end to the comic. I think this final issue hit all the marks it was supposed to. The story was unraveled, we got foreshadowing of the bigger things to come, and Jango Fett had plenty of action in the meantime! I won’t oversell the series- it’s not groundbreaking or anything- but it is a respectable entry that stands head and shoulders above the typical mediocrity I see in modern pop culture. When handling the Fetts in canon, I think less is more. I’d rather have a shorter project that is faithful to who Jango and Boba are as characters, rather than longer ones that don’t understand who they are or how they operate. Thankfully, author Ethan Sacks seems to have a solid grasp on this. I also give full credit to the illustrators for great visuals in the panels. Hence, I give this final entry full marks.
The Pros
- Epic bounty hunter battle where Jango and Aurra shine
- Interesting cameos (Highsinger, Cradossk)
- Fun plot with bigger implications
The Cons
- Series a bit short
- Possible contradiction in the timing of Dooku’s appearance
- We didn’t get a duet between Jango Fett and Twi’lek Swift
5 out of 5 Mon Calamari flan
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