Review: ‘Jango Fett’ #1 – ‘Trail of Lost Hope’ Shows Jango at His Most Badass
Jango Fett is placed in the middle of a planetary dispute in his debut canon Star Wars comic series. Tasked with recovering an object of vital cultural importance to settle a planetary dispute, the issue makes it clear at every available opportunity that Jango Fett is a badass who takes no prisoners (unless their bounty puck demands it, of course).
We don’t have many Jango Fett stories in the new Star Wars canon, so this represents a good opportunity to learn more about Jango before he decided to become a father. What we learn may not surprise you — he’s a simple man of few words and fewer morals, and he’s damn good at his job — but it’s incredibly entertaining to read.
The story premise delivers plenty of intrigue, both political and otherwise. It’s set shortly before the events of The Phantom Menace — Valorum is still Chancellor and negotiations have just broken down between The Trade Federation and Naboo — which gives us a good idea of the state of the wider galaxy. This is a time of peace where planetary disputes are the closest the galaxy gets to conflict, so it’s notable that Fett has such a significant role in this one.
There’s plenty of moving parts and Jango Fett is right in the middle of all the action, just where he should be. It’s a great read.
Spoilers ahead…
Before we get into the story’s premise, we pick up with Jango Fett mid-bounty. It’s a similar introduction to the one we got with Din Djarin in The Mandalorian, watching him arrive at his target’s location and bringing him in by force. Jango shoots his way into a secret gambling den on Oosalon, where his target has surrounded himself with fellow assassins.
Though outnumbered and lacking the element of surprise, Jango proves a quicker draw. He shoots them all down, grabs the target and flies out through the roof, dropping a thermal detonator to make sure no one follows. He remarks to his bounty, “I don’t gamble”. It’s a remarkably cool and efficient way to show us what kind of man he is. No messing around, gets the job done, and anyone who threatens to get in his way ends up dead. It’s a lot of fun to watch him shoot down the galaxy’s scum and villainy like this.
The issue then takes us to the Jalorian sector, where the Republic has gathered the leaders of the Anselmi and the Nautolans to sign a treaty that will bring peace to Glee Anselm. As a gesture of goodwill, the Republic has decided to return “The Hope of Glee Anselm”, a piece of art sculpted from the jewels of both royal families before their conflict.
Everything is going smoothly — though both parties still seem to harbor a barely concealed resentment for each other — until some masked agents show up and steal the art right under their noses. Later on in the issue, it’s suggested that this faction is deeply invested in ensuring that the conflict continues, rather than simply trying to sell or ransom the art for credits.
The Anselmi refuse to let the Jedi get involved, as they believe that Kit Fisto’s role as a Jedi Master prevents them from being impartial. That means that the Republic has to issue a bounty for the return of the art, which is when Jango gets involved. He agrees to take the job, assured that it should be a simple bounty, only for his ship to be immediately attacked by the rebel faction.
He takes them all out easily, even using one of those reflective pucks we saw Crosshair use in The Bad Batch season 2 to ricochet his blaster bolt off the ship’s hull and into the enemy’s head. Again, this comic does a very good job of showing us just how competent a killer Jango Fett is. He’ll have to be, because we see that he’s not the only bounty hunter out to collect on this particular bounty.
Meanwhile, we see a Republic judicial has arranged for the release of a dangerous prisoner in the Expansion Region. Presumably this official is linked with the group who stole the artwork and wants to stop Jango Fett from getting it. The identity of the prisoner is given a lengthy build up, before finally revealing the identity of Aurra Sing! It appears she is getting hired to kill Jango Fett — we know that both of these characters stay alive for at least another decade, so it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
It’s great to see both Jango Fett and Aurra Sing getting new stories in the current canon. They both have plenty of Legends material for their name, but have been largely forgotten about in the last few years, with the former getting the odd comic appearance and the latter getting very little outside of the odd episode of The Clone Wars and an off-screen mention of her past death in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
This was an extremely entertaining issue and I can’t wait to read more.
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.
