Star Wars: Boba Fett - Death, Lies, & Treachery

Star Wars: Boba Fett #1-3

by Dark Horse Comics, John Wagner (Illustrator)

Throughout the vast reaches of the galaxy—wherever fugitives meet or lawbreakers conspire—one name is always uttered in hushed tones... Some say he is a Mandalore warrior; others, that he merely wears the Mandalore battlesuit because of its unrivalled killing power. The truth is impossible to confirm, for none have seen the face that gazes with merciless eyes from within that battered helmet – none, at least, who have lived to tell the tale.

Collects Boba Fett: Bounty on Bar-Kooda, Boba Fett: When the Fat Lady Swings, and Boba Fett: Murder Most Foul.

Genres: Star Wars, Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 21, 1998

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

A no-nonsense, gun-toting hardass wearing a helmet he never takes off, stalking across a futuristic wasteland and demolishing anything in his path – Judge Dredd is… Boba Fett!

John Wagner is the perfect choice for a Boba Fett series given that he’s Judge Dredd’s co-creator and the iconic Mandalorian bounty hunter is essentially Dredd both in persona and appearance. So Wagner can basically write a Dredd story and just change a few names to set it in the Star Wars universe – which is exactly what he’s done with this trio of stories!

Boba Fett is hired by the Hutts to do the usual bounty hunter things – search and rescue/assassination – while the slugs have their own mini game of thrones with one Hutt marrying another in a gangster family powerplay. Along the way he makes enemies with a pair of pirate porpoises and racks up the kill count!

This book is a lot more comedic than the modern Marvel Star Wars comics – for the better! And it’s that mix of action and comedy that reminds me so much of Wagner’s Dredd which always featured a wacky supporting cast while Dredd did his thang (grimly kill people, basically).

The stories are fairly generic and predictable, while the third and final one is really a tired repeat of the second, so they’re not that gripping to read. It’s entertaining though to see Boba Fett taking down enemies and Wagner’s British panto-esque humour was a welcome addition.

I didn’t dislike Cam Kennedy’s art – the line work is skilful – but the faded visuals really date this as a ‘90s comic, particularly with the almost lazy way the colours are applied. For example, all the characters in a scene are one colour rather than Kennedy colouring them in individually, or the background is frequently a blank wall of one colour to save him drawing any background.

Still, if you’re in the mood for a decent Dredd-flavoured Star Wars comic you’ll definitely get something out of Boba Fett: Death, Lies, & Treachery.

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Boba Fett working for/against Hutts trilogy of stories was a funny as hell read but, more than reading a Star Wars EU comic book, it was like reading a british humour filled 2000 AD magazine one.



Oh well, having read lots of John Wagner's Judge Dredd comics, that was far from unexpected for me and I totally enjoyed the ride.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun Star Wars comic adventures from another era. Dark Horse in the 90s expanded the universe quite well in my humble opinion, without needing endless references. It was a freer time, when Boba Fett was mysterious and didn't need a convoluted origin.

In this graphic novel, there are Hutts in love who hire Boba and that's basically the only world-building you need to know. He fights pirates and blows things up a lot, it's pretty funny and not supposed to be particularly deep. I also enjoy the art by Cam Kennedy who did Dark Empire and it works great for this aesthetic. Very different from a superhero comic, well-executed storytelling, stylistic with just enough detail for weird space opera.

Probably not canon anymore--could be I suppose as it doesn't necessarily contradict anything else, but really doesn't matter either way ~

[Mario · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cam Kennedy's signature art adorns this fantastic compilation of three interrelated tales about Boba Fett and his dealings with Hutts, in this case, Gorga the Hutt's love affairs, which require convoluted plans regarding dangerous foes that only Boba Fett can tackle.

Humor is present here in the underlings and puppets of the Hutts, and Boba Fett never loses his cool, while always walking the thin line between hero and antihero.

Greatly recommended!

[Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely the best story in the Boba Fett Omnibus. Cam Kennedy’s artwork is outstanding and some of the best Star Wars comics art I’ve seen. Really great story too

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found myself enjoying this compilation more than I thought I would. It was quirky; it was interesting; it was a 'fun' look into what life might be like for Boba Fett. The artwork was okay; not the worst, but definitely not the best (I would say, I much prefer the artwork in the original Tales of the Jedi mini-series that Dark Horse did over the artwork in these stories). It had a bit more humor in it that I thought possible (not that I expected it to have any humor in it at all). The character development - not sure what to say about that. It's Boba Fett, the character who barely had any screen time yet became so beloved by nearly everybody - how much more does his character need to develop? The secondary characters get more character development that Boba Fett does, which only makes sense (although Fett does seem more 'chatty' in this storyline than I would have anticipated him to be).

I think Cam Kennedy's artwork might be growing on me a little bit, and I am not sure how I feel about that. I hated his artwork in the Dark Empire stories, especially when I saw the artwork in the various Tales of the Jedi series. After reading the Dark Empire storylines a few more times, though, I did not hate it nearly so much. He really seems to focus on using them minimal amounts of colors in his work, and sometimes it looks like it is just one basic color with a lot of shapes drawn on top of it. However, considering the backwardness of the planets in these stories, I would say it does kinda work in his favor, that he uses such a bland palate instead of the full spectrum of colors possible. Granted, it is quite strange seeing the three Hutts in the story portrayed in that nasty green (with a slightly yellowish tint) color. Sometimes, I liked the way Fett was drawn in the issues, but most of the time I could really take-it-or-leave-it in terms of how he was drawn.

As much as the overall story was supposed to be about Boba Fett, it also felt like it was a story about the Hutt characters, as well, to be honest. They get quite a bit of 'screen-time' in the story, too, which was kinda surprising to me. I assume that the two Hutts who marry end up being Jabba the Hutt's parents, as the male Hutt lives on Tatooine and his wife gives birth to his child on the planet. So the three Hutts (well, probably the male Hutt and his father-in-law than the female Hutt) could be said to get the most character development (and their species as a whole). We get a glimpse into what it could be like to attend the reception party after a Hutt wedding; how even when a marriage between two families occurs to seal prior rifts, it does not stop the distrust or plans to back-stab and betray the other party; how beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. Thankfully, no images on how Hutts copulate! Hahahah! One thing the story does not do is explain why any Hutts would be on Tatooine, let alone living there, considering how dry and arid the environment is on a desert planet.

I did not expect any humor to be in the story, to be honest. I thought it would be much darker than it was. The first story starts out with Fett searching for a magician who has former ties with a space pirate. The Magician's reaction to discovering that Boba Fett was on the planet and looking for him struck me as 'predictable' and 'funny' at the same time - he dies in the midst of his magic act. Yet, Boba Fett doubts his actually dying and returns to the grave sight to restore the magician to life. The magician's reaction upon being restored to life was hilarious (in my opinion). The magician ends up helping Boba Fett acquire an even larger bounty in exchange for his own freedom (and life); he learns 'the hard way' he should have ensured the terms of their agreement were more clear than they were (not that he was in any position to enforce prior terms upon which the two had previously agreed, save for any 'code of honor' that Fett may-or-may-not-have had).

Fett makes comments to various individuals throughout the story that also struck me as funny. Perhaps it was an unintentional subconscious attempt to 'humanize' Fett? He turns out to be more chatty than I thought he would have been over the course of the story, which seemed humorous to me. I have always thought of him as a 'cool customer,' probably more 'cold' than 'cool,' yet he does not come across that way in the plot. He comes across as a strange mix of badassery and . . . I don't know what else, but it is badassery and something, but that something has an 'unfortunate' twinge of humor to it in these stories, so it seems to devalue him as a character, somehow. I did not know how I felt about it, other than to say it bothered me a bit even though it fit in the groove of the stories told.

People's reactions to Fett were pretty hilarious as well, to be honest. I am sure people would probably be tempted to play jokes on friends and tell them that "Boba Fett is in the city and looking for you!" just to record it and share it on the Star Wars version of "social media." It was funny when a bartender told him to get his carcass out of the bar and Fett just blew him off; I know my paltry comment does not do the moment justice, but it was still funny how Fett verbally put the barkeep in his place (so to speak) while being interesting that the barkeep was willing to talk to Fett in such a way.

The two male Hutts were funny as well, as they kept secretly scheming how to kill each other while openly proclaiming their 'undying love and friendship' to each other and those around them. It was pretty amusing how they kept maneuvering to try to kill each other without offending the lone female Hutt (Anarcho, the wife of Gorgo the Hutt and daughter of Orko the H'unn). I could never quite tell if Anarcho really knew how her husband and father felt about each other or not, but it was still funny to see how each of them played off of each other like they did.

There was a moment that was 'cold and amusing' at the same time. Fett gets a bounty and the being says he will surrender as he does not want to be killed after Fett tells him the bounty is for his head. The bounty does not 'get' what Fett is saying as he surrenders to Fett, saying he does not wish to fight. Fett tells him he misunderstands; the bounty is on the guy's head alone and not on whether or not the guy comes back "dead or alive" let alone in one piece. A couple of panels later, the reader see's the top of the dude's head in a bag! Honestly, it made me laugh when I saw that (a bit of disbelief as I could not believe it had happened).

The first story was probably the best one, especially as I did not see the ending to it coming. It was pretty crazy; actually, the whole story was filled with 'craziness.' The magician building his own 'matter transporter' that allowed his family and his props to 'disappear' (when they were merely being transported somewhere else, to wherever the 'other half' of his matter transporter was located) was a pretty clever idea; I could see some shades of Star Trek there, to be honest, as I do not ever remember such technology being mentioned in any of the movies or books. Fett's looking for the magician was merely to acquire information on a particular pirate (one Bar-Kooda, a carnivorous sort who tended to eat his prisoners) that Gorga wanted Fett to capture in order to get on his future father-in-law's good side. This first story probably did 'the best job' of portraying Fett as I would have pictured him as being portrayed, to be honest (sans reading about him in any other books or comics); his portrayal goes a bit downhill in the next two stories (although I did 'like' how he schemed to get double the amount that Gorga was originally going to pay him inre Orko by bluffing both of them in the process at different times).

The second and third story kinda ran together for me, to be honest. Fett runs into a character (Ry-Kooda) who is the bigger brother of the pirate he captured in the first story and the 'worse' brother of the two. This guy is well-nigh indestructible, but Fett manages to stop him while rescuing Gorga's "lady-love." Ry-Kooda shows up in the second story, which makes the third act feel like some kind of rehashing of the first two acts; Ry-Kooda also has what appears to be a "comic sidekick" who also comes across as somehow controlling Ry-Kooda (his comments constantly egging Ry-Kooda on). There is some irony, too, in that Bar-Kooda is cooked for and eaten by Orko, who is in turn eaten by Ry-Kooda, before Fett is able to 'finally' kill Ry-Kooda. Ry-Kooda and his brother were crazy characters, but it was interesting how Ry-Kooda was so much stronger and more resilient than his brother; I could not help but wonder why that was the case. Ah, well!

In any case, the ending was a bit of a letdown, considering how 'strong' I felt the first story in this compilation ended. I do not know how to describe it; perhaps it was because the story also focused heavily on the three Hutts and the machinations of the son and father-in-law. Fett was the go-to of choice for Gorga, so it felt like this limited Fett as a result. I mean, I do 'get it' in that people do have favorite 'first choices' they will turn to every time, depending on the situation. For some reason, though, it felt like Gorga's constant turning to Boba Fett to fix things for him reduced Boba Fett's character and stature, lessening him and thereby demeaning him (Fett) in the process (regardless of how many times side-characters throughout the story reminded us of how dangerous and bad@$$ Fett was, how you did not want this particular bounty hunter to be chasing you down in order to get the bounty on your head).

Ah, well. I have said more than I intended to say. I would sayyyyy . . . 2.5 - 2.7 stars, rounded up to 3 stars (and it made me wonder how old Boba Fett was, as well, in his cameos in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (but before the "prequels" came out). It was a fun read (although I do not know how much 'credit' it really gives Boba Fett or adds to his 'legend'), and I am glad that I took the time to enjoy it.

[David Cordero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three stories featuring the galaxy most notorious bounty hunter. Wagner and Kennedy are dangerously good.

[Matt Garville · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boba Fett and cannibals. What more can you want?

[Kurt Rocourt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reminds you of why Boba Fett is such a popular character. A Judge Dredd in space this is not. It's a one man bounty hunting machine looking to do what he does best, while avoiding an Empire, gangster and other bounty hunters.

[Andrew Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The birth of a Hutt

This comic details the machinations behind the courtship and marriage of Jabba's parents and the key part that Boba Fett played in it. A fun read

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having read a bunch of comics published shortly before and after Dark Empire, I had hoped the weird sickly neon-pastel color scheme in that series was an isolated incident. Apparently not; it shows up here too. The pencils aren't quite as weird, though, and overall it's not quite as ugly. Still not my favorite, though.

These three stories are far more elaborate than anything in the other Boba Fett comics, but that's all in Fett's employers and their schemes. He's a largely passive figure, doing what he's hired to do with little creativity or will outside of bargaining for higher pay and making some small double-crosses. There's plenty of charisma going on in the side characters, though none of it is exactly to my taste. The hutts are kind of blah, playing the idea of Hutt love for a joke, then turning into a simple double-cross, just a bit underwhelming compared to the Jabba the Hutt series. The whole thing reminds me of the Witcher and The Mandalorian, shows where side characters and humor and the main character's gruff exterior hides an emotionally rich mind that makes their role in the external plot feel less arbitrary. Not truly terrible but certainly nothing special.

[Hugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A neat little connected trilogy of action-packed adventures, concisely written and quite gorgeously illustrated, with Wagner's deft and efficient scripts rarely pausing for breath, and Kennedy's solid pencilling, lavishly inked and beautifully coloured. Possibly as much for readers of the creators' 2000AD work as for Star Wars fans.

(I wish someone from LucasFilm had had a word with Kennedy about how he consistently draws Fett's helmet wrongly, though.)

[Seth Tomko · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's some dark humor in this one, but there's also a nihilist streak that seems pronounced, even for stories that feature a bounty hunter like Boba Fett. It's a fine comic, but I don't know that it feels like the sense of space adventure that's so often the core of Star Wars.

[Doctor Doom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never understood the wide-spread affection for this character from the movies. He seemed a throw-away character [especially with his seeming demise in the desert] however... this graphic novel made him a very enjoyable character. I enjoyed the read.

[Javier Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bounty hunting at its best

Nice comic from two all stars of the medium and Star Wars! This is a nice comic trilogy, showing us the good, bad and the ugly from the Star Wars universe. It is a quick read and the art is really nice and has the right mood for it.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mid-90's series that features an ongoing Hutt/Fett storyline. Fun, with a few inventive sparks here and there, but not terribly memorable overall. Of course, I don't have much in the way of 'Star Wars' comics experience to compare it to; for all I know this might be considered an apex.

[david walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually It’s True to form

Boba Fett is only concerned about his contract and sure enough he gets the job done. This was a good story and really gets into detail about Boba Fett. Really good series and true to Mandalore lure.

[Alec Watkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bad artwork, boring storyline. Not the best the EU has to offer.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty boring plot-drags on and on and on

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty fun, great classic comic. Fett is the unflappable anti-hero surrounded by madcap bad guys. Enjoyable Old-school Star Wars.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice little collection showing off one of the coolest characters in Starwars

[Kai Charles(Fiction State Of Mind) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of three stories interlinked by Boba's relationship with Gorga the Hutt. Great art and lots of action for Boba Fett fans.

[Timo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cam Kennedy's art is top notch as always and Wagner's writing has eerie Judge Dredd feeling in it. So.... good fun.

[Tim Rooney · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read with some incredible art. It does feel a bit repetitive and less fresh by the third issue but the first is one of the best Star Wars tales I’ve read.

[Darren-lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 - Liked the colours in the artwork...

[Kathrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was quite fun to read about more about Boba Fett and also to see a bit more of the Hutts.

[Cody · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art was drawn well but the coloring seemed odd. The plot was decent as well.

[Jose Martinez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad

It's not a bad comic. The dialogue feels klunky at times, and the art style is definitely different. Overall, it's still an enjoyable comic book

[angelofmine1974 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read, nice graphics.

For the rest of my review, visit my Vlog at:

https://youtube.com/shorts/nf9Dh6KRnc...

Enjoy!

[Matt Mair Lowery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goofy story, amazing art.