Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #6
TARGET VALANCE PART 1
ZUCKUSS AND 4-LOM
The cyborg bounty hunter Valance is on the run after narrowly escaping the Unbroken Clan syndicate.
With her dying breath, Valance’s mentor asked him to protect the young Cadeliah, the only hope to end years of conflict between the syndicates.
Now Valance and Cadeliah are currently the galaxy’s most wanted….
Writer: Ethan Sacks
Artist: Paolo Villanelli
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Colorist: Arif Prianto
Cover artist: Lee Bermejo
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: October 21, 2020
Pages: 32
UPC: 759606096022
We kick off the issue with a flashback to the homeworld of a young Valance; Chorin, also known as Shinbone just off the Hydian Way in the Expansion, where we find him saying his goodbyes to his girlfriend Yura. He’s off to join the Empire, to find glory and gain freedom for his people, but of course that’s not his future. We’re on Mimban a few years later as a wrecked Valance is cybernetically enhanced, clasped in his hand the fire ruby Yura gave to him when he left Chorin, a reminder of promises given and that jigs neatly into the present as Valance and Cadeliah are look for a quick meal on the bustling orbital marker The Spur. Valance believes they’re not being watched; he’s wrong.
We leave The Spur and find Zuckuss and 4-LOM (making it clear that it’s Four-Ell-Oh-Em, not ‘LOM’ as many of us have been saying for 40 years) accepting a deal to work for the Unbroken Clan and find the cyborg and his young charge and cut back to The Spur as they are attacked, and after a victorious 30 second long scuffle while Valance waits for his hand blasters to recharge they escape, their cover blown.
4-LOM and Zuckuss are now on the hunt, tracing transmissions from The Spur and honing in as Valance gets medical attention, asking for synthetic skin as he remembers Yura and her reaction to his metallically altered appearance. He’s pulled back from his reverie as Slade the mechanic is blasted by 4-LOM, but as Valance smashes off the droids arm and slices Zuckuss across the regulator we learn their attack was in large part a ruse, to place a tracker on the cyborg. The issue ends as Valance and Cadeliah arrive at Lowik and a secret Rebel outpost where Valance, now mortally wounded, finds his teenage love Yura.
One of the most satisfying elements to this series is how much ground is covered, taking us to locations around the galaxy at speed in both the present and the past, and as we move into the next phase of the comic with Valance and Cadeliah on the run it feels like there’s little doubt we’ll be clocking up plenty of parsecs and burning plenty of coaxium. Once again Ethan Sacks and Paolo Villanelli nail it, introducing the familiar duo of 4-LOM and Zuckuss and showing how well they gel and work together as a team. Unlike IG-88, Bossk, Dengar and Boba Fett who usually prefer to work alone, their persistence looks likely to cause Valance issues, and issue 7 needs to alter time or speed up the harvest and get here fast.
- Sacks, Ethan (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 120 Pages - 11/24/2020 (Publication Date) - Licensed Publishing (Publisher)
