Review: "Star Wars: Boba Fett – Black, White & Red #4"

A murder mystery leads to a strong finale for this solid Boba Fett miniseries

It is bittersweet, but we have reached the fourth and final issue of Boba Fett – Black, White & Red. This miniseries has seen him take on unique and interesting missions, and Boba Fett – Black, White & Red #4 closes that out and maintains this standard until the very end. I am pleased to report that this makes the entire miniseries solid from start to finish.

This one is called Target: Eriadu. Eriadu is the planet it takes place on. It has mostly appeared in comics and novels, so the name might not be immediately recognizable to most. The plot of this comic is essentially a “murder mystery.” However, to clarify, there isn’t much emphasis placed on actual mystery solving. Instead, it’s mostly a straight-forward and basic hunt, like most bounty hunting missions. In this case, Boba Fett is hired to hunt down whoever murdered Sydna Tarkin. She is the niece of the well-known Grand Moff Tarkin. However, during this era he is still only a Governor. This means that the comic clearly takes place prior to the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. I like this little context clue, but I wish a year had been specified in the comic. One of my few, small complaints about this series is that the year the stories take place in isn’t specified. You can get an idea through context clues, like the above example, but I prefer a bit more precision. However, the positive side of this is that future stories can neatly fit in alongside this comic series, provided that they don’t contradict each other.

I suppose it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Tarkin doesn’t really react sentimentally to the murder of his neice. From his very first appearance in the original movie, it is obvious how cold-blooded he is. However, to extend that coldness to his own family is…impressive, albeit in a negative way. Perhaps he is estranged from his extended family or something.

Either way, it’s Sydna’s mother who is the client, and wishes to seek justice using Boba Fett’s expertise. She has, of course, come to the right place. Boba Fett only takes assignments which meets his harsh sense of justice. However, he dedicates himself to those few with fanatical skill. It is also his discretion that Mrs.Tarkin. Imperial justice is slow and Governor Tarkin has turned his back on the family. Whoever murdered her baby girl must suffer, but discreetly.

The main gyst of this mission is essentially a three-way conflict between Boba Fett, Sydna’s killer, and Raslin Grace. Raslin is a bounty hunter who has actually appeared in other Canon comics before, such as Doctor Aphra. As a matter of fact, Alyssa Wong, who is the author of this issue, also wrote most if not all of the Doctor Aphra series that began in 2020, including Doctor Aphra #12 which featured Boba Fett. She also wrote the issue that Raslin Gace debuted in: “Tall Tales.” This story was released in Revelations #1 (2023). Wong has inserted an original character of theirs into this Boba story that they also crafted, and it has worked pretty damn well. It is the mark of a good writer when they are able to interweave both an original creation of theirs and a legacy character seemlessly. Raslin Grace is mostly a sniper but is deadly with her blades in close combat as well.

As for the killer, everyone refers to her as “The Shadow of Bri-Phrang.” Bri-Phrang is the city this takes place in, and as far as I know this is the first appearance of this character. Not much information is given on her. It’s simply clear that the Shadow is a woman and that she hates the Tarkins. She is essentially a stealth assassin who mainly uses the aforementioned catspaw dagger.

Both Raslin Grace and the Shadow have unique, interesting load outs. Their armor and weapons, while not on par to Boba’s, are enough for them to be a threat and wage this little war. They also look cool; they are masked enigma’s similar to Boba Fett himself. I could easily see both of these characters being brought to life by female cosplayers in the near future, especially if they’re looking to build unique characters that have never been done before. For example, the Shadow has a dagger that looks remarkably similar to the Valyrian steel dagger from Game of Thrones.

The motivations of the characters, as well as the reason for this murder, are also interesting. For starters, many people in the city of Bri-Phrang have a bone to pick with the “old families” of Eriadu, most notably the Tarkins and the Graces. If the other Tarkins are cruel in a way similar to Governor Tarkin, I can see why they wouldn’t be popular. So the majority of the locals who Boba encounters consider the Shadow of Bri-Phrang a hero for taking out Sydna Tarkin. Hence, the Shadow is the physical embodiment of this motivation. She was impervious to Sydna’s attempt to bribe her, so clearly this was a personal vendetta that she has in common with the locals.

Funny enough, Raslin Grace is somewhere in the middle between Boba Fett and the Shadow in their motivations. While the Shadow is motivated by this grudge, Boba is simply motivated by the usual: credits and success as a bounty hunter. Sure, the core of that is his dedication to Jango Fett’s legacy, but that isn’t touched upon this issue. Raslin Grace herself is a hunter too, but doesn’t really need the money given her family connections. She hunts mainly for the thrill of it, and aims to take out both Boba Fett and the Shadow simply because they are worthy opponents. So it’s truly ironic for someone of noble lineage — especially from one of the families hated in Bri-Phrang — to be mixing it up with the likes of Boba and the Shadow. She is a mix of what Boba is, and what the Shadow hates. This makes their three-way, Good Bad and Ugly style confrontation even more juicy.

As I mentioned, this concludes the series with another solid entry. I’m not sure where I would rank it compared to issue #1 and #2: they were all in the ballpark of good, solid Boba Fett stories. I can, however, say with absolute certainty that Issue 3 stole the show in spades. So my current ranking for this series is #3 and then some sort of tie between #1, #2, and this one — #4. Perhaps later I can rank them more definitively. But it’s really hard when all the issues were so good. It’s a nice problem to have, and I commend all four writers for portraying Boba Fett faithfully, well, and giving him additional awesome missions under his bounty hunting belt. If there’s anything that Issue 4 stands out in, it’s probably how cool Raslin Grace looks when she throws down. The Shadow looks cool when she fights too, but we saw more of Raslin and she has more weapons.

So it’s with a heavy heart that I accept the end of this series. I highly recommend all four issues, and you don’t even have to read them in order since they’re all self-contained. All four deserve to be read and remembered.

The Pros

• Epic fight with cool characters
• Interesting lore on the Tarkins

The Cons

• Issue would benefit from fleshing out the lore/backstory

Rating

Star Wars: Boba Fett – Black, White & Red #4
2025 $5.99 Ebook / Kindle Varies

Star Wars: Boba Fett – Black, White & Red #4 (Dave Wachter Variant)
2025 Varies

Star Wars: Boba Fett – Black, White & Red #4 (Luke Ross Variant)
2025 Varies