Bounty Hunters (2020) #41
THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS, PART 5
T’onga has been betrayed by her crew!
Left for dead with Zuckuss, the bounty hunter has found herself face-to-face with Valance–but all traces of her longtime crewmate’s mind have been wiped away.
Instead, the cyborg has been remade into a weapon of the droid scourge that could threaten the entire galaxy…starting with his former friends….
Writer: Ethan Sacks
Artist: Davide Tinto
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Colorist: Arif Prianto
Cover artist: Björn Barends
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: December 13, 2023
In a franchise built on endings and beginnings, the conclusion of an era and the start of a new one is nothing new or especially noteworthy, but the end of Bounty Hunters – for this reader at least – is one worth celebrating. One of the most consistently enjoyable titles in 46 years of Star Wars comics Bounty Hunters is almost done, but before we get to that point there’s the not-inconsequential matter of the Dark Droids storyline and the mission to hunt down Valance and – as he requested – end him.
We open on the Kirkeide Station two days before in Syphacc’s Bountiful Bounties as Syphacc scolds a droid for asking whether he’ll inform his muscular bodyguard Losha of the message they received from Losha’s wife T’onga. Syphacc is in no rush to let his best bodyguard go, but as we see Vukorah and Losha meet Jyala Haydenn – the former Lieutenant of the Empire we saw escape in an Imperial Shuttle last issue – it’s clear she won’t be sticking around for long. Haydenn is there to enlist Losha in helping her save the man she loves, Beilert Valance, and gives her a copy of his cerebral processor. Losha points out that Valance won’t remember Haydenn, but she’s still determined to help and we step away from Losha and across to Epikonia where we see a number of prisoners being restrained, including Zuckuss and T’onga who is speaking with Valance.
The mission to convert flesh as it did metal appears to have been solved by the scourge, and as it speaks to T’onga through the empty mind of Valance we watch as she discretely unlocks her binders just as a buzzsaw is about to cut into her skull. She breaks free, knocking down Valance and freeing Zuckuss. The gand fights hard, disrupting Valance’s shot, but just as T’onga has her cyborg friend in her sights, she’s unable to pull off the killshot and both are taken hostage once again. Valance has Zuckuss by the throat when suddenly a trio of Tooka cats enter the chamber, chasing a ball that turns out to be a thermal detonator, which erupts in flame, and as the scourge/Valance angrily asks who dares do such a thing, a harpoon impales him through the shoulder and to the wall as Losha arrives with Vukorah.
After a brief reunion, Losha gives T’onga the data drive with Valance’s memories on it, and Zuckuss and T’onga attempt to get that information back into Valance’s cyborg head. After a struggle they succeed, and suddenly Valance is free of the scourge and himself once more, albeit confused as to where he is and missing a significant portion of his memories (he remembers nothing past the events of the 17th issue of Bounty Hunters). He tells T’onga to get together everyone they can to safety while he goes for some revenge, and after detsroying a significant amount of droids he walks away from the building and into the arms of his friends who spontaneously hug him, much to his surprise.
With the scourge now eradicated, Losha, T’onga and Vukorah agree to an occasional partnership while Zuckuss gives Valance some drawings that Bossk threw away. Somehow, Valance remembers Haydenn, but as the team prepares to go its separate ways Valance stops them, asking for their help on one last mission and we’re out and waiting for that final 42nd issue.
As usual, a brisk, busy, engaging and action-packed issue that moves the story along and hurls us towards the next mission. The Dark Droids storyline is done for Bounty Hunters, and with the image of a carbonite frozen Han Solo and final panel of the issue – and remembering that Valance and Solo once served together in the Empire – next issue can’t come quickly enough (even though this reader doesn’t want it to come at all). After Bounty Hunters Ethan Sacks moves on to a Jango Fett limited series, one that hopefully fizzes with all the energy that this title has, and after that who knows. One thing’s for sure; he’d better be sticking around in the Star Wars galaxy, because few writers in the GFFA handle large groups of characters as well as he does.
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Sacks, Ethan (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages - 01/17/2024 (Publication Date) - Marvel (Publisher)
