Comic Review: Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #23

Continuing with it’s recent winning streak, Bounty Hunters returns with it’s twenty third issue and shifts perspective to focus on the flowering of the Dengar shaped seeds it has been planting for the last few issues. After Dengar’s explosive greeting to crime syndicate The Mourner’s Wail in the last issue we follow the bandaged pariah as he is granted an audience with their leader Lord Khamdek. Seemingly acting on behalf of Crimson Dawn, Dengar takes great pleasure in dangling the location of the elusive syndicate heir Cadeliah, whilst taking full advantage of the reluctant hospitality afforded to him. As Dengar quickly wears out his welcome things take quite the unexpected and violent turn, and the future of the shady underworld is thrown into uncertainty. Meanwhile T’onga, Losha and the rest of the crew of the Edgehawk, still on the hunt for Cadeliah, try to prise the information out of the terrifying Lady Vukorah and it appears that they may have bitten off more than they can chew.

The issue kicks off with a flashback to Dengar’s days racing swoop bikes on Correlia. Not quite as gnarled in appearance but with the chip on his shoulder firmly in place, we get a rare glimpse into a small moment in his history and insight into the character’s resentment towards a certain scruffy lookin’ nerf herder. The final line of the flash back, “I will not tolerate being disrespected” along with “it’s never a good idea to underestimate me” from later in the issue provide the pervading sentiment of the tale. Dengar has forever been a punchline and a foil within the galaxy, characterised as incompetent and foolish he’s the character that makes other Bounty Hunters look good. Those two lines are said as much to the reader as any character in the story. This is Dengar’s moment and he’s going to take it, blaster in hand. Gone are the days of playing second fiddle to Bossk or Valance, or getting his butt kicked by Chewbacca. He’s had enough and he’s here to take names.

As is consistent with the Crimson Reign crossover, it’s unclear how much of what transpires is on the orders of Crimson Dawn and how much is because of Dengar’s own selfish motivations. Are the Dawn taking a leaf out of the Empire’s book and trying to create order through domination and subjugation or is Dengar throwing in a bit more chaos than they’d like? It remains to be seen but there does seem to be a bit of inconsistency in the level of violence in their moves and it begs the question; is Qi’ra truly pulling the strings and if so, what is her true goal here? There’s a great moment where they use the idea of “the Dawn is everywhere” in a more effective and fun way than has been used thus far. I dont know what this says about me but I honestly didn’t see it coming.

The flashback in this issue is the first time the crossover event has really looked back, however brief, at Qi’ra’s early days on Corellia and her relationship with Han. Being a big fan of Solo and Rae Carson’s Solo prequel Most Wanted I was extremely excited to this included. I’m hoping that this was more than a look into Dengar’s past and was included to remind the reader who Qi’ra truly is for future story revelations.

The art in this issue was by guest artist Natacha Bustos and I found it quite jarring at first, as series regular Paolo Villanelli’s art is a big draw for the series, but ended up loving the difference in style as it underlined the shift in perspective for this issue. I’d like to see what she does with her own series and can’t but think she’d be a great fit for the upcoming Dark Horse runs. Maybe the new High Republic Adventures?

Things are coming to a head and I hope all of my friends on the Edgehawk survive, especially T’Onga and Losha but I have a bad feeling about the latters chances. Next issue features Valance on the front cover so it will be interesting to see how that one plays out.

 

Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #24 @ ForbiddenPlanet.com