Publishing company Dark Horse Comics Genre Science fiction Country United States | Subject Star Wars Release date(s) 29 January 2003 Language English | |
Jango Fett: Open Seasons is a comic written by Hayden Blackman and published by Dark Horse Comics on 29 January 2003. The story is set in the Star Wars galaxy shortly after the events of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, and 32 years before the Battle of Yavin in the first movie of the original trilogy A New Hope.
Contents
Jango's Past
A series of flashbacks reveal the events of Jango's life. 58 years before the Battle of Yavin the Mandalorians split into two factions: the barbaric Death Watch, led by Tor Vizsla, and the True Mandalorians, honorable mercenaries led by Jaster Mereel. The conflict spills over onto Jango's homeworld of Concord Dawn, where the Death Watch scatters the True Mandalorians. Vizsla and his men arrive at a young Jango's home and kill Jango's family for giving aid to Jaster before burning their fields. Jango helps Jaster and his men escape the blaze and they set a trap for the Death Watch in a nearby town. The Death Watch are ambushed and defeated, though Vizsla escapes, and Jaster welcomes Jango into the Mandalorians.
Years later, Jango has become a full-fledged Mandalorian and squad commander under Jaster's tutelage. On a mission to the planet Korda Six, the Mandalorians are ambushed by the Death Watch. Jaster is killed by Vizsla after being abandoned by his second-in-command, Montross. Montross attempts to become Mandalorians' new leader, but Jango reveals his betrayal. Jango becomes the leader of the Mandalorians and Montross is banished. Jango later makes a deal with the governor of the planet Galidraan to wipe out a local rebellion in exchange for information on the Death Watch's whereabouts, only to discover that he had been set up. Under Vizsla's instructions, the governor had begged for help from the Jedi, claiming that the Mandalorians had been slaughtering "political activists." A Jedi strike force (led by Dooku) arrives and wipes out all the Mandalorians save Jango, who manages to kill several Jedi with his bare hands before surrendering. Jango is turned over to the governor of Galidraan, who sells him into slavery. However, Jango manages to escape and track down the Death Watch. Launching an assault on their starship, Jango fights and kills Vizsla, ending the Death Watch and leaving to begin his career as a bounty hunter.
Present
In the present day (32 years before the Battle of Yavin) Count Dooku, under instructions from his master, Darth Sidious, pits the most notorious mercenaries of the galaxy against each other in order to select a genetic template for an army of clones. Jango Fett emerges victorious and the two eventually meet at Dooku's estate and, after a tense stand-off, Jango agrees to be the template for the clone army, in exchange for great monetary remuneration and a single, unmodified clone to be his son and apprentice.