Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Star Wars Blood Ties #4 of 4
Dark Horse Comics
Taylor & Scalf
The first arc of the Blood Ties series wraps up with a very strong effort. While the series focuses on Star Wars characters that are related to one another this one took things in a different direction. This series changed from a Jengo Fett-Boba Fett story into a Boba Fett-son of Jengo story and I found it all to click together very well. Based on the strength of this story I can't wait for the next arc.
Generally, I am not easily satisfied with Star Wars comics that deal with characters from the original trilogy. Tie in the fact that I felt Jengo Fett was one of the worst characters to come out of the prequels and this comic book had disaster written all over it.
However, the story went in an odd direction as a rogue clone was gunned down by Jengo Fett with Jengo discovering that the clone had produced a child, Connor Freeman. Essentially making the child Jengo's biological son because Jengo's clone produced him. Fast forward to Boba hunting down the grown child. Now, Boba is really a clone of Jengo too and, as such, Boba feels a level of responsibility for him. However, Boba took the bounty to hunt Freeman and he always collects.
This particular issue sees the Freeman change hands between Boba and the League of Bounty Hunters with a big showdown with the man who placed the bounty on Freeman in the first place. Plenty of henchmen and a Rancor help provide an action-packed ending to a tricky story ending.
The best part of this issue is the fact that Boba is seen acting slightly out of character but a believable way. He basically is stretched out here and it manages to broaden the character to actually put a man beneath the mask. Another very good aspect of the issue was the light heartedness of the dialogue. At times, this comic book had a couple of laugh out loud moments making the story stay away from the typical deadly serious Boba Fett story. But fear not, there are plenty of Boba being a badass moments if that's what you are looking for in this comic.
The artwork brings this comic book to life. Scalf's style helps keep the Star Wars Universe a dirty and used up looking place. It's so fitting that Boba Fett and a Rancor appear in this story together because of the slimy looking nature of the characters from the movie. Add in that Scalf has quite an imagination for creating new alien characters as henchmen or what have you and the artwork works hard to steal the story away.
I'd call this issue a success because it tells a story that entertained me and got me interested in characters I previously had little interest in before. It doesn't hurt to have some witty dialogue and some terrific artwork. I guess you could also say I am a sucker for endings with a twist. It's tough to come across a good original trilogy comic book story but this one is even better than good. I definitely recommend this comic and series.
4.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles
