‘Jango Fett’ #3 Review – A Wildly Entertaining Issue
The Jango Fett comic miniseries has been perfectly enjoyable right up until now, but the third issue gives the story a massive shot in the arm with plenty of action and surprises in store as the series’ central mystery continues to unravel and the conspiracy is slowly revealed. There’s even an interesting cameo tied into the Bounty Hunters comic series and an Andor reference packed in there.
The conspiracy is unravelling at quite a nice pace, but the main attraction here is getting to see more of Jango Fett. We get to see more of his confident swagger as he interacts with the locals on Roxuli, and his banter with Aurra Sing is entertaining and revealing in equal measure. The dialogue uttered between them here puts an interesting spin on Aurra Sing’s relationship with Jango’s son Boba. It shows that we need more stories where Jango Fett gets to interact with notable bounty hunters of his time — his relationship with Cad Bane is something that’s begging to be explored — this is the first time in canon that we’ve seen him interact with another bounty hunter not named Zam Wesell.
The action is a blast, as we see Jango at his peak pulling out some killer moves and using plenty of gadgets in order to get the better of his enemies, and the story well-paced. The issue ends on a decent revelation that sets up the story to end on a high note in the fourth and final instalment that ramps up the stakes for both Fett and Sing.
This is the best issue of the series so far and I can’t wait to see how it ends.
Spoilers ahead…
COVER BY LEINIL FRANCIS YU
One of the issue’s biggest surprises has to be that a young Nakano Lash is the Nautolan featured on the front cover. It’s revealed that she is the one who stole the Hope of Glee Anselm, thinking that it would bring glory to her people and get revenge on the Anselmi. For those who haven’t read the Bounty Hunters comic, Lash grows up to become a respected bounty hunter in her own right, but is killed after an encounter with Boba Fett when her ship was destroyed.
Knowing that Boba ends up playing a role in her eventual death certainly frames these scenes with Jango in an interesting light. I hope this isn’t the only interaction we get between the two of them.
The second biggest surprise is that the Hope of Glee Anselm is fake. At least, the one she stole is. This throws up another question — why did Huijari hire her to steal a fake? It seems that the real Hope of Glee Anselm is being held somewhere secret, likely by whoever has engineered this conspiracy.
There appears to be multiple people involved. We still don’t know for sure who Judicial Huijari was working for, but the Nautolan leader still appears to be shady, while even the Republic official trying to keep the peace seems devilishly happy that relations are falling apart. But now that Jango Fett and Aurra Sing know that they were set up, it’s only a matter of time before the truth is revealed in the final issue.
Here’s a crackpot theory — what if Palpatine is responsible? We know he engineered the conflict between the Trade Federation and Naboo to try and tear apart Chancellor Valorum’s leadership; could he have engineered this conflict on Glee Anselm too? It’s been said multiple times that Valorum needs a peaceful resolution here. What if in exposing the conspiracy and finding the real Hope of Glee Anselm, Jango Fett inadvertently delays Palpatine’s plans to trigger a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum, forcing him to instead engineer the events of The Phantom Menace?
I’ve probably done this series no favors by bringing Palpatine’s name into it, but it would give the stakes a huge bump knowing that.
Back to the issue at hand, I really enjoyed Jango’s swagger when confronted by the local criminal element. Seeing him talk about killing them as a matter of fact rather than boasting was entertaining on its own (especially when he enters the cantina), but seeing him cause chaos by kicking up dust clouds with his jetpack and shooting someone while doing a one-handed handstand was something else.
It was interesting to see him spare the child. It seems Jango Fett does have a bit of honor in him, or at the very least he doesn’t like killing kids. Perhaps it’s a nod towards his desire to raise a son of his own. It’s not a huge insight into his character really, but I’ll take what I can get.
Aurra Sing gets involved at the perfect time, looking like she’s jumping on his score, only for them to silently team up after spotting Huijari getting ready to blow them both up with a thermal detonator. I loved that they had a pre-rehearsed move that they’d used on a previous job, a bit like “Get Help” in Thor: Ragnarok. It’s an excellent visual shorthand to explain just how well these two know each other, beyond Jango’s reference to betraying her last time they saw each other on Niamos (which is the planet Cassian Andor gets arrested on in Andor, by the way). All this backstory serves to explain why Aurra Sing takes young Boba Fett under her wing in The Clone Wars too. This comic is informing so many other stories in canon and it’s great to see.
Interestingly, I wonder if Aurra Sing really did have Jango in a headlock at the end of their fight, or if it was always rehearsed for Huijari? If it was the real deal, it does suggest that while Fett is excellent at mopping up rank and file criminals, he might not actually be the most skilled bounty hunter in the galaxy, which is what Vigor Struk was getting at in the last issue.
The issue ends with a huge bounty being put on both Jango Fett and Aurra Sing, as they figure out they’ve been set up. Whoever’s behind this conspiracy will spare no expense to keep the truth hidden, it seems. Vigor Struk seems particularly eager to fight Fett again, but it seems every bounty hunter in the galaxy will be hunting them now.
It sets up what promises to be a thrilling and action-packed finale, and I can’t wait for it.
Rating: 8/10
Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
