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Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #11 is written by Ethan Sacks with art by Paolo Villanelli, colors by Arif Prianto, cover art by Mattia De Iulis, and letters by VC’s Travis Lanham. It is published by Marvel Comics. Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #11 is a bit of a one-off filler story as the entire Marvel Star Wars comics line prepares for a massive crossover next month, “War of the Bounty Hunters.” In this story, Bossk finds himself in Malastare’s Great Hunt.
Honestly, the plot is a bit hard to follow here, even for a well-read Star Wars fan. Bossk is in the Great Hunt of Malastare; he’s hunting other hunters, other hunters are hunting him, and Bib Fortuna is there doing Jaba The Hutt’s bidding. I’m not entirely sure why any of this is happening, even with a cursory understanding of the series’ plotline. But once I got past the fact that I was pretty confused, it was an enjoyable issue. I really enjoyed getting to see Bossk as a ruthless hunter with a few tinges of personality, rather than just the butt of jokes like he so often has been in other Star Wars media. It’s a shame the plot was so confusing because this characterization of Bossk was pretty swell, and I would love to see some more of it.
The art in this issue does at least somewhat make up for the confusing story. It goes for a very gritty, realistic style. Much more so than most Marvel comics and even many Star Wars comics. It suffers very slightly from the affliction in realistic drawing where things look either traced (whether they’re actually traced or not) or just too realistic. Mostly though, it’s just good. There are some really great alien designs in this issue, especially the group of hunters coming after Bossk. And the action of it all is just very well-drawn. I particularly love an early panel that shows Bossk, colored all black with a red background, bearing his teeth as he surprise-strikes an enemy.
On the subject of colors: Malastare is, in typical Star Wars fashion, not the brightest planet out there. The colorist does a good job by diversifying the colors of characters’ clothes and skin, particularly to help distinguish them from both each other and the backgrounds. This way, come colors that would never pop among more colorful or brighter worlds end up really standing out in. There are also a few moments in the presence of wealth, and the coloring helps really exemplify where the money is and where it is not in those scenes. The lettering in this issue is a standard Star Wars comic affair with a few nice SFX throughout.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #11 did not thrill me in the plot department, but I appreciate its take on Bossk and enjoyed how its action was drawn and colored. Having not especially kept up with the series before, it also has me excited for the “War of the Bounty Hunters” crossover event to begin next.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #11 is available wherever comics are sold.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #11
TL;DR
Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #11 did not thrill me in the plot department, but I appreciate its take on Bossk and enjoyed how its action was drawn and colored. Having not especially kept up with the series before, it also has me excited for the “War of the Bounty Hunters” crossover event to begin next.
Jason is the Sr. Editor at But Why Tho? and producer of the But Why Tho? Podcast. He’s usually writing about foreign films, Jewish media, and summer camp.