Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters #1: He’s No Good To Me Dead

Let’s get one thing straight: I’m a fan of artist Luke Ross, have been for quite a while. But even I have to say that he’s outdone himself with this opening chapter (kind of) of War of the Bounty Hunters. It wasn’t until I read this issue that I realized how talented he is at getting emotion across, and not only that but here’s it’s got to be twice as hard because of the characters. Some are in helmets and some are aliens with faces that don’t really move. Ross also goes about and beyond when it comes to original characters for this book, they all look like they belong in a Star Wars movie and he really packs in the detail in the backgrounds, which is half the fun of a Star Wars movie-seeing all the cool creatures and aliens in the background. But, this isn’t War of the Background Cast, it’s War of the Bounty Hunters, and the ones that are spotlighted in this issue are done in a grand style. They get extra attention from Ross and it shows. Again, he’s able to show full ranges of emotions from characters that don’t have a visible face. THAT’S talent, folks. 

The story by author Charles Soule is, to absolutely no one’s surprise, exciting, thrilling, a great action story, and it lacks any “this isn’t really important” quality that some stories get in the Star Wars universe. It’s only the first chapter, but you already know that the stakes are high, and there could be real consequences if things don’t work out as they should. This is a great start to this series and I can’t wait for everybody else to start talking about this Star Wars event.