Jango Fett Graphic Novels #2: “Star Wars: Zam Wesell”
Continuing on from last week’s post on Jango Fett in graphic novels, this post concerns graphic novel “Star Wars: Zam Wesell“, which was first printed in March 2002, two months following “Star Wars: Jango Fett“, and two months prior to the release of “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones”. Just as with Star Wars: Jango Fett, Ron Marz did the story, and it was published by Dark Horse Comics.
While this graphic novel picks up where the previous one left off, this book doesn’t focus on Jango Fett as much, nor does it even focus so much on the title character, Zam Wesell. Whereas Star Wars: Jango Fett introduced us to both Jango Fett and to Zam Wesell and how they kept bumping into each other on jobs, Star Wars: Zam Wesell is about a much broader issue in the universe, involving Jedi and more.
Star Wars: Zam Wesell focusses on a plot to destroy Coruscant. The story continues from where the previous book (“Star Wars: Jango Fett”) left off – with the little idol that Jango Fett had secured and for which he had gotten paid. This idol is a vessel for The Force and, at the end of the previous book, it had come into the hands of General Ashaar Khorda. In this book, General Khorda plans to use it to destroy the core (and the rest) of Coruscant.
Both the Jedi Council and Zam Wesell catch wind of this plot. Master Saesee Tiin tells the council that “he led a military coup on Annoo, and would’ve succeeded in overthrowing the government if the Republic hadn’t interceded.” So, we get a sense of his anger against the Republic, and we are also informed, by Master Yarael Poof that this idol is “a device of such destructive capability must surely create ripples in the Force. Ripples that could be sensed.”
Zam Wesell hears about it and tells Jango that they need to get involved and stop General Khorda. Jango is not interested in helping stop him in his quest, since, as he puts it, he doesn’t “do charity work. We’re bounty hunters, Zam. Not heroes.”
Eventually, Zam Wesell is able to convince him to go along and help stop General Khorda (Jango says he’s not interested and wants to be with his son, whereupon Zam says that there are a lot of sons and a lot of fathers on Coruscant and that he can help them remain together).
We get a better sense of the motivation on the part of General Khorda, who is very unhappy with the Republic. He says, to his “chosen few” that, “we will finally strike a deathblow against the corrupt, bloated creature that is the so-called Republic. I witnessed it upon my homeworld. I witnessed this tyrannical government impose its unjust will upon a sovereign planet.” Assembled on Coruscant, they are planning to attack the head of the Republic, that “we have come together to pursue a final solution. In order to save the body of the Republic…we must destroy its infected brain.”
Just when General Khorda is about to use the idol to destroy the power relays at the planet’s core, not only does Jedi Master Yarael Poof arrive to stop him, so does Jango Fett & Zam Wesell, who all attack General Khorda and his crew. During the fighting, General Khorda and his crew are all killed and the idol is secured. However, not before Master Poof lay dying. He is able to defuse the idol by using up his life. (“Yarael Poof gets the axe,” as Mike Cooper wrote, “explaining away his absence in Attack of the Clones (which, incidentally, is said to be due to his similarity to Kaminoans).”)
Jango Fett and Zam Wesell then take the idol back to the planet and depart, seemingly having completed their first job (albeit non-paying) together, perhaps the first of many times working together. We also see some potential flirtation going on on the part of Wesell towards Fett, who resists, although not before a cheek kiss from Wesell to Fett.
Master Poof’s corpse is burned in a Jedi funeral pyre at the end, although the Jedi are baffled as to who else was involved in that skirmish and had taken the idol to a safe place.
In sum, we see about Jango Fett a few things from this comic book:
- Jango is not interested in doing “charity work” – he only does work for which he is paid; he does not try to be a hero
- He can be convinced to do what he does not want to, although it seems largely due to Zam Wesell’s affect on him
- Jango is a good fighter (but that goes along with being a bounty hunter)
- We see that they carry through on taking the idol back to the planet whence they got it and left it there
- We see some flirtation going on between the two of them
- Despite his protesting in the previous comic book that he works alone, he actually does work together with Zam Wesell in this story
