Boba Fett: Enemy of the Empire #3 (of 4) Story: John Wagner Penciling: Ian Gibson Inking: Jim Amash Coloring: Brian Gregory Lettering: Ellie Deville Cover: Ken Kelly Released: 03/24/1999 Reviewed by: JF Boivin (12/27/2006) SUMMARY: Boba Fett and his pursuers are on Maryx Minor. They finally meet up while on the way to the hermitage of the Ancient Order of Pessimists, the likeliest place Abal Korda is hiding in. The fight is short, and Fett arrives at the gates of the hermitage. With a threat of death from Korda if they don't protect him, the hermits try to stop Fett but they're no match for him. Fett dispatches Korda easily and gets to the casket containing Queen Selestrine's head. From her he hears how the story of how she became into Korda's possession and why he tried to escape from the Empire. And Darth Vader is on his way to the hermitage, where he will have to confront Fett to get the casket.

THE STORY

I like how quickly Fett dispatches the three goons finally, Nevo, the phallus-head alien and the dog-like Fraal. They've been pretty much useless in the series, their only purpose to keep Vader informed on Fett's findings. He also very easily dispatches Korda, after following his trail for two whole issues. The quick confrontation would be disappointing, if not for the fact that the real big fight is coming next issue with Vader vs. Fett. It's funny to see the non-violent pessimistic hermits making a stand against Fett...with rocks. What was Korda thinking hiding in there? And finally we learn why Korda was on the run in the first place. In the first issue, all we knew was that he killed his superior officer and was now declared an enemy of the Empire. But now we see that General Nim wanted to promote Korda, but due to an unfortunate accident he impaled himself on Korda's saber. He could have stayed and plead his case as innocent, but instead he chose to run, pobably because he was starting to go mad from hearing Selestrine telling him his future.

THE ART

Gibson gets help from an inker this time around, and we can't really see a difference. It's probably only a matter of not having enough time to do it. There is a different colorist as well but again it's not really noticeable. The landpseeder rental clerk looks almost exactly like Onoh, the watchman of Jabba the Hutt's secret hangar in The Jabba Tape. I wonder if it's supposed to be him, or someone from the same species, or if it is just a coincidence. Ken Kelly's cover art again is amazing. Just one problem though: Fett is fighting off Nevo, Fraal and Gann, but he killed off Gann last issue on Starstation 12. I wonder how this mistake crept in.

CONCLUSIONS

The stage is set! Everything is revealed in this issue, and now get ready for the final confrontation next issue.

Rating: 7 / 10 Recommended