Force Matters — ‘Boba Fett: Black, White & Red’ #3 Is Pulpy Star Wars Fun

It’s all about the bad guys in the Star Wars comics from the last week of November 2025, with both Boba Fett and Darth Vader back in the spotlight like it’s 1980!

Star Wars: Boba Fett – Black, White & Red #3

By Ethan Sacks & Juan José Ryp

Boba Fett goes to extreme lengths to complete a bounty.

• Nar Shadda, the Smuggler’s Moon of Nal Hutta, has a long history in Star Wars comics, going back to its first appearance in Dark Horse’s Dark Empire (it was later canonized in Lando #1).
• This is the first canonical appearance of the planet Ord Radama, though it has a Legends history from the role playing games and The Old Republic video game.
• Quorsha, the information broker, is a Shawda Ubb; one of that species, Rappertunie, can be seen playing the, uh, space harmonica during the musical number at Jabba’s palace in Return of the Jedi.
• Djas Puhr, Quorsha’s enforcer, is a Sakiyan bounty hunter who first appeared in A New Hope during the cantina scene (he was referred to as “Coal Man” and wasn’t named until the customizable card game from Decipher came about in the late 90s). This is his third canonical appearance (after A New Hope and a story in From a Certain Point of View), but he also has a richer Legends catalog.

• He’s also using one of those energy baton weapons wielded by the riot control First Order Stormtroopers in The Force Awakens (the one Finn duels with the lightsaber).
• This issue is notable for being more “gray & red” than “black, white & red”, giving the non-red portions a softer look that falls somewhere between a start black/white divide.
• Red also gets deployed as effect lines, which is a clever way of working the color in beyond the usual armor accents and blood.
• The Aphra whom Boba Fett visits in this issue is Korin Aphra, father of the more well known Doctor (Chelli) Aphra.
• B’omarr Monks are spider droids with the brains of religious fanatics in glass jars attached. They first appeared in the background of Return of the Jedi, which we get a brief cutaway to here.
• The Javeek sect of monks in this story are original to it.

Another surprisingly strong story for the way it casts Boba Fett in a unusual light. It takes the “unrelenting force” aspect of the character but puts a spin on it by having it be motivated by pride moreso than cool efficiency. Ryp also brings a unique palette to the visuals, helping it feel like its own thing while still staying within the mandates of its cover.

Tales From The Bookshelf

One trade paperback collection out this week, the Darth Vader Modern Era Epic Collection: Vader Down. This is the second and final volume collecting the entirety of the first Darth Vader solo series from Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca.

Gillen did a tremendous job in that book showing how Vader could work within the limitations of the Original Trilogy and be the protagonist of his own book while still serving as the Big Bad of the larger narrative; while this concludes the series, Vader would go on to have two more continuous solo series under different creative teams after this. Collects Darth Vader #13-25 as well as the issues which tie into the titular “Vader Down” crossover, Star Wars #13-14 and Vader Down #1.

Cover of the Week

Paulo Siqueira’s variant has some great “pulpy sci-fi” energy to it, playing up the brains-in-jars set against a starscape.