Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #24
“RAID ON THE VERMILLION, PART ONE”
It is a time of bloody warfare in the underworld, sparked by the machinations of Crimson Dawn. Cadeliah, the young heir to warring crime syndicates Unbroken Clan and Mourner’s Wail, is being held captive by the shadow organization.
T’onga and her crew of bounty hunters have captured Vukorah, the leader of the Unbroken Clan, in an effort to find Cadeliah’s whereabouts and rescue her.
Meanwhile, dastardly Dengar has assassinated the leader of the Mourner’s Wail on behalf of Crimson Dawn. His new assignment? Infiltrate, Tonga’s crew.
Elsewhere in the galaxy, Valance has been pressed into the service of Darth Vader against his will. But being part of the Empire has proven more seductive than he could have ever imagined….
Writer:Â Ethan Sacks
Artist: Paolo Villanelli
Letterer:Â Travis Lanham
Colorist: Arif Prianto
Cover artist:Giuseppe Camuncoli
Editor:Â Mark Paniccia
Publication date: June 15 2022
After the transitional issue “Clear and Present Dengar” we are back with the crew of Edgehawk in the first part of new arc “Raid on the Vermillion“. Unsuccessful in their interrogation attempts on the murderous Lady Vukorah, T’Onga and her crew turn to the apparent Crimson Dawn survivor Dengar to aid them in their quest to rescue crime syndicate heir Cadeliah. He reveals she is located on Crimson Dawn flagship, The Vermillion, and concocts and leads a plan to infiltrate the ship to rescue the heiress. Unbeknownst to our band of misfits Dengar is working with the Dawn and has his own ideas of how this is going to play out. Meanwhile, still in service to the Empire, Valance has been tipped off about a potential assassination attempt of an Imperial Governor on Garel.
In what feels like the beginning of the final arc in this phase of the series a recurring and prescient phrase kept bouncing around my head…
“I have a bad feeling about this”.
I fear things aren’t going to go well for T’Onga. With the reintroduction of former crew leader Valance, Dengar’s machinations, Vukorah’s loaded threats and an emotional and subtext-dripping goodbye with wife Losha I wouldn’t place any bets on the longevity of T’Onga’s mortality right now. The only missing foreboding horseman of T’Onga’s apocalypse is flashbacks of her simpler times and past loves. If issue 25 starts with a panel of T-Onga timestamped as “THEN” then I’d start getting out your best funeral attire. It does worry me a little as the series has improved astronomically since it rotated it’s roster of scum and I sincerely hope it doesn’t lose the insane momentum of thrills it has built up since the start of Crimson Reign.
Dengar continues to be a more interesting character than he ever has been and the parallels drawn by Sacks between Dengar and T’Onga’s motivations being the love of their wives gives me hope that this will be T’Onga’s lifeline in a Martha-esque moment of understanding between the two bounty hunters. After being sidelined for a while this issue sees plenty of action and banter from Bossk, 4-LOM, Zuckuss and Tasu Leech. This drove past issues and really separated it from the other ongoing Star Wars comics so it’s good to know our crew are just as violent and cantankerous as ever.
Back on pencils, after a break last issue, is Paolo Villanelli and while it was nice to see the wonderful work of Natacha Bustos it only feels right that Villanelli sees us into this next chapter. I can’t get enough of his art and I’d say he’s rivalling Ario Anindito and Phil Noto as the best person drawing Star Wars right now.
I have shared my worries but is too early to tell exactly how is going to go. My bet is this is one perspective in the finale of the Crimson Reign crossover and the quality of this issue gives me high hopes for what’s to come. Hats off to you Mr Sacks, you’ve created quite the surprising and unique series here and long may it continue.
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