Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #16
WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS:
“SHADOW SOLDIERS”
Jabba the Hutt has placed a bounty on Boba Fett’s head! Valance and Dengar are determined to find Fett first. Valance is desperate to save his old friend Han Solo, who is in the hands of Crimson Dawn, and Dengar has an agenda of his own.
Meanwhile, T’onga and Losha have found the Mourner’s Wail Syndicate decimated
by Crimson Dawn. T’onga won’t rest until the heir to the Mourner’s Wail and Unbroken Clan is safe.On Nar Shaddaa, Valance was wounded by the Crimson Dawn assassin Deathstick, Dengar and Valance managed to narrowly escape, but time is running out to find Han and Fett….
Writer: Ethan Sacks
Artist: Paolo Villanelli
Letterer: Travis Lanham, Joe Sabino
Colorist: Arif Prianto
Cover artist: Giuseppe Camuncoli, Nolan Woodard
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: September 22, 2021
Pages: 24
UPC: 75960609602201611
There’s a sad reality to the motivations of Beilert Valance. Fuelled by wanting to free his friend Han Solo, it’s a relationship that from the POV of the reader is decidedly one-sided. While Solo languishes in his cunning disguise as a coffee table between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the underworld has exploded with Solo at the heart of the action. Valance, a former colleague of Solo’s at the Imperial Academy over a decade before, feels duty-bound to help the Corellian, but think again about his words “I’m going to face off against the most powerful crime syndicate on the galaxy to free my friend Han Solo -or die trying.” Do we really think Solo considers Valance a friend? Unlikely, unless there’s a missing tale as yet untold, but that doesn’t really matter. Valance is doing this for Solo, and as dedicated readers we’re all in on it. As he races through hyperspace in The Punishing One, his physical human heart failing as he leaves a message for Kondra and Cadeliah, his sorrow is evident and short-lived. His message reaches the rebel base where Cadeliah, Kondra and Yula are hiding out and as Dengar informs him that they’ve reached the rendezvous on Jekara and are not alone it’s game on.
We switch to the Edgehawk travelling through the Outer Rim and Tasu Leech and T’onga as they watch Zuckuss track Dengar and Valance, informing them that they are at Jekara. They are trying to find the girl Cadeliah, the one chance to unite the underworld factions of Mourner’s Wail and the Unbroken Clan, hopefully before Crimson Dawn get there first. Back to an icy Jekara and we find Bossk, tied to a rock and left for dead by Boba Fett. He sees the Punshing One land and Dengar and Valance exit as they begin the long, covert walk to Crimson Dawns fortress-flagship ship the Vermillion. There are guards in their way which Valance dispatches with a well-place rock fall and pin-point blaster fire, and they move closer, seeing Imperial vessels. Biding their time they rest in the snow until they see Imperial troops take the carbonite frozen Solo away and spot Boba Fett watching on the ridge. Dengar gets the drop on him, and both he and Valance lace laser fire at Fett, who dodges and launches his rocket at them, knocking Dengar down onto an ice flow that begins to drift away.
Meanwhile, T’Onga, Zuckuss and party find a near-frozen reptilian Bossk who appears to have succumbed to the cold, but it’s a ruse as Bossk lifts the blade of Zuckuss and grabs Tasu Leech, holding the blade at his throat swearing revenge on Fett and Valance….who T’Onga and co are also hunting. We quickly switch to Slave 1 as Fett and Valance lift off, a furious Dengar left on the ice below. He is attacked by a huge Zugorak ice creature, all tentacles and teeth and with only a single blade to defend himself with he fears he is done until Deathstick arrives on a skiff, taking down the creature and reminding Dengar of his promise on Canto Bight as she takes the location of Cadeliah off him.
There are twists, there are turns and there are betrayals and as always it concocts a fast-paced, fractious, back-stabbing entry in the daily life of an underworld denizen in the Star Wars galaxy. With The Book of Boba Fett incoming and promising even more from the underworld, Bounty Hunters continues to be one of the most enjoyable monthly books. Paulo Villanelli never fails to impress, similarly Arif Prianto and Ethan Sacks again hammers down a pitch-perfect story against the backdrop of The War of the Bounty Hunters. Sure, Fett may well be teaming with Valance to help the cyborg save his friend – we know who ultimately delivers Solo to Jabba the Hutt – but the weaving road to get there has been far more enjoyable than it had any right to be, and with the continuing story of Mourner’s Wail and the Unbroken Clan behind it, Bounty Hunters continues to be a fascinating ride.
Product Search
