When Princess Leia was revealed as the person inside Ubese bounty hunter Boushh’s armour in Return of the Jedi, it was a genuine surprise. She played the part of a ruthless bounty hunter brilliantly, but part of the heavy lifting was done by the disguise itself – with Boushh’s name and reputation preceding him. Yet despite Boushh being known to the scum and villains in the Star Wars universe, fans have had little insight into who he actually was – until now.

Boushh and several of his friends have been exiled from their home planet – for reasons that aren’t entirely clear – so they take on dangerous bounty jobs to earn their keep. When Crimson Dawn come knocking for Boushh and his colleagues, it puts them on a collision course with the House of Tagge and their most powerful member – Domina Tagge.

There’s a few hints at Boushh’s tragic past within the story, which gives us a sense of who he is. Readers still don’t see the Ubese bounty hunters under their armour though; the appearance of both Boushh and his colleagues remaining wrapped in mystery. There’s a number of well-written, well-drawn fight scenes too, which also do a great job of giving an insight into just how capable and close the Ubese team are.

Likewise for the Tagge characters, with lots of them introduced and a brief glimpse of who each one is, as well as a sense of their position within the power structure of the family/corporation. As with the Ubese team, there’s a few too many to get to know properly but Alyssa Wong does well to sketch out the basics in such a brief number of pages. With the few details we have at this stage though, Boushh at least comes across as a much more sympathetic character than you may expect.

It’s an interesting story too, with a nice line in corporate espionage; the twists that occur as a result of the situation are genuinely surprising but logical within the tale.

Anyone looking for a hint or insight into just how Leia came to pose as Boushh will be disappointed, however – but hopefully that’s something we get to see by the end of War of the Bounty Hunters.