Review by Ian Keogh

The title announcing Boba Fett’s death is attention-grabbing from the start, and it’s repeated as the opening dialogue, followed by a sequence seemingly proving beyond doubt that Boba Fett is indeed dead.

As that’s apparently the case, Tom Taylor and Chris Scalf spend the remainder of the opening chapter concentrating instead on Connor Freeman, whose complicated relationship with Boba Fett was explained in the previous Blood Ties volume, Jango and Boba Fett. He has good reason to be grateful to Boba, but his previously callow and selfish attitude has undergone a major upgrade to declare a one man war on everyone bearing any responsibility for Boba’s death.

Roughly eighteen months separated Scalf finishing work on the previous story and beginning this, and he is an ever-improving artist who experiments with different techniques during the course of the story, although never at the cost of consistency. He’d already mastered the Star Wars space scenes, there was a classical touch to his painted aliens, and he’d proved he could deliver the spectacular, which he does again. More effort, however, is made with the connecting scenes, providing fully realised backgrounds rather than painted sketches, and so filling out the locations more. This time he’s not as tied to movie likenesses, and introduces several new characters, with Scalf giving the charming Ailyn all the visual sass Taylor provides in the script.

That’s eventually one of terrible revenge, actually two terrible revenges, and it’s entertaining from start to finish, with a strong emotional undercurrent. Freeman has a major role throughout, and his likeable rogue personality reflects what Boba might have been under other circumstances, as do later scenes where Freeman is charged with protecting another bounty hunter. Jango and Boba Fett was good, but Boba Fett is Dead is better, which is the quality curve you want on a series. Sadly, however, only two Blood Ties stories were ever produced.