Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #22
CHAOS IN CORONET CITY
The bounty hunters have traveled to Corellia to capture Vukorah, the leader of the Unbroken Clan. With her help, T’onga believes they can track down and save Cadeliah, the young heir to the Unbroken Clan and Mourner’s Wail crime syndicate.
But Vukorah has recently aligned herself with Crimson Dawn, and her organization has become more powerful and deadly than T’onga imagined.
Writer: Ethan Sacks
Artist: Paolo Villanelli
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Colorist: Bryan Valenza
Cover artist: Giuseppe Camuncoli
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: April 6 2022
After successfully subduing the vicious Lady Vukorah T’Onga and the crew of The Edgehawk find themselves stranded on the streets Coronet City surrounded by hordes of Unbroken Clan goons. What follows is some of the most fun I’ve had with a Star Wars comic in quite some time.
Besieged on all sides and vastly outnumbered the gang have to fight their way out with each of their makeshift escape plans failing one after the other. The quipery between the bounty hunters is off the charts, making this feel like Star Wars‘ version of The Expendables in all the best ways. Each panel fizzles with life as the stakes get increasingly raised to ridiculous levels. There’s one escape attempt that, I believe to be a reference to Aliens, that immediately and literally blows up in their faces in a hilarious double panel one-two punch. Only Doctor Aphra is having this much of a good time in the Star Wars comics and I’d argue that this series is presently the more enjoyable of the two ongoing comics.
We get a much needed update on Cadeliah in a entertaining little scene where she is refusing to eat her upmarket dinner to the amused behest of QI’ra. The scene suggests that Qi’ra is maybe grooming Cadeliah and this is backed up by Dengars explosive side plot of demanding an audience with the leader of Mourner’s Wail. I believe that Qi’ra intends to use Cadeliah to unite the clans under the Crimson Dawn banner. What this means for Vukorah is slightly ominous as her unpredictable and trigger happy ways doesnt really run parallel with Qi’ra’s noble streak. I assume this will become more clear next issue as it seems to centre more on Dengar.
if you read my review for issue 21 you will know how much I value this rebirth for the series and this issue only confirms my thoughts. What was once a slightly confused and po-faced run by Sacks has been reinvented into an absolute blast of action story telling, fiercely validating it’s existence amongst the other, more established ongoing series’. It’s also in the running for the best arc of the Crimson Reign crossover too and I’m really looking forward to reading the issues in one sitting when the Trade Paperback releases in July.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #23 (Sprouse Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary Variant) @ ForbiddenPlanet.com
