Review: Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters — IG-88 #1

IG-88 is a character full of bombast and ballistics so this issue focusing on his journey back from destruction at the hands of Darth Vader is a massive disappointment just in the degree of insecurity it gives him.

This tale comes at the end of the War of Bounty Hunters as Boba Fett has reclaimed Han’s Carbonite corpse and IG-88 is in pieces left for dead after a battle with Vader. But of course droids are not dead just because they are in disrepair.

Crimson Dawn sends the cyborg RB-919 to bring IG-88 back to function along with a chip driving him to follow their orders. The art is solid throughout with a gritty, battle-weary feel well suited to these characters. Unfortunately we spend too much time on the process of repair here and way too little on IG-88’s eventual battles.

Once IG-88 returns he follows the implanted chip’s first command and kills RB-919. It makes no sense why someone with the rare skill set of RB-919 would not be more valued by Qi’ra and her crew. Killing him feels cliche and not at all necessary to the task. But maneuvering in a world ruled by the Empire may require unusual sacrifices of other organizations.

More disturbing is IG-88 obsession with his loss to Vader and his own mortality. A bounty hunter as experienced as IG-88 is expected to exude a badass confidence but here just feels so regressive. The other issue is the battle with Boba Fett. While it is rendered beautifully and is the exact kind of fight we want to see in this crossover, it is over too quickly as IG-88 is defeated within two pages. Given that this book is twelve pages longer than a normal comic length there was no lack of space for this battle.

So much time is dedicated to repair and introspection and so little spent on actual action making this one of the most disappointing parts of what has otherwise been an excellent crossover.

Writing: 1 of 5 stars
Art: 4 of 5 stars
Colors: 3 of 5 stars

Overall: 2.7 of 5 stars

Writer: Rodney Barnes
Artist: Guiu Vilanova
Colors: Antonio Fabela
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Author Profile

M.R. Jafri

M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.