Bounty Hunters #1 Review
Author: Ethan Sacks
Artist: Paolo Villanelli
Publisher: Marvel Entertainment
Ethan Sacks and Paolo Villanelli are back! These two creators worked on some of my favorite Star Wars comics last year like Galaxy's Edge and Jedi Fallen Order: Dark Temple, and now for the first time (unless you count the prequel to Bounty Hunters from Empire Ascendant), they're working together! Bounty Hunters is a new series that takes place after The Empire Strikes Back, and features bounty hunters from every corner of the Star Wars canon; this first arc is focusing on Beilert Valance, one of Marvel's biggest original SW characters.
The premiere issue starts off with a flashback, one of many we've seen focusing on Valance's backstory. It focuses on one of Valance's earlier bounty hunting jobs on Corellia, one he did with Boba Fett, Bossk, and his mentor, Nakano Lash! It's really fun watching Boba and Valance butt heads, Boba being a man of few words and Valance having his anger issues. But the mission goes wrong when Nakano kills their client for some unknown reason. Boba swears to kill her in return, and Valance is confused that his mentor betrayed him. And..... the flashback ends.
The issue cuts to the present-day section of the issue, where we find Valance in a similar situation the flashback left off in, at Black Spire Outpost! Makes sense, since Ethan Sacks wrote the comic featuring the location. Anyway, Valance is hunting Devaronian mercenaries; he kills all of them except the last one, but the bounty payout is barely enough to cover fuel and docking costs. His droid sifts through bounties worth something more, and finds one that Valance would be interested in... but before continuing, I want to point out that this series was written after The Mandalorian started airing, and that means it can tie into it in really interesting ways. The good bounties are much more scarce now, similar to the show, and Valance's droid 9-4L was sifting through bounty pucks, a concept also introduced in the show. It's really cool that the series is doing this; it makes the Mandalorian feel more like part of the Star Wars galaxy.
The rest of the issue builds up the mystery of what this huge bounty is. It cuts to the moon of Logal Ri, where we see T'onga, a former bounty hunter, leaving her girlfriend (or wife, it wasn't specified) Losha to hunt whoever this bounty is; they apparently killed T'onga's brother T'ongor. They share a heartfelt and bitter goodbye, since Losha wants her out of the life. The issue then cuts to one of the final segments, where we find Bossk in a bar at Burnin Kon (hardcore fans will recognize it as the bar from the video game Star Wars Uprising!). He's just vibing, being sad about not being the one to catch Han Solo and Chewbacca, when Doctor Aphra and Black Krrsantann walk in! This starts a brief bar fight, since Bossk hates Wookiees, but Aphra cuts it short, because she's there to bring him in on the secret bounty too.
But unlike the other hunters, she hints at what the bounty is: Nakano Lash has finally resurfaced after the job she botched years ago, and everyone with a grudge against her is after her. The final segment is of Boba Fett finding out about the bounty; He turns the Slave I around, having been on the way to deliver Han Solo in carbonite! That's right, we see Han himself, in all his carbonite glory! And that's where the issue ends... I really loved this issue. It was a bit confusing at first, but once i realized what was going on, I got so into it. I've never been a huge fan of Valance as a character, but this series has the potential to make me love him, depending on where it goes. I'm super-invested in what's going on with Nakano Lash and whatever happened on the botched job on Corellia. Sacks' writing was super-engaging, and I love Paolo Villanelli's really energetic art style. I can't wait for the next issue!
Artist: Paolo Villanelli
Publisher: Marvel Entertainment
Ethan Sacks and Paolo Villanelli are back! These two creators worked on some of my favorite Star Wars comics last year like Galaxy's Edge and Jedi Fallen Order: Dark Temple, and now for the first time (unless you count the prequel to Bounty Hunters from Empire Ascendant), they're working together! Bounty Hunters is a new series that takes place after The Empire Strikes Back, and features bounty hunters from every corner of the Star Wars canon; this first arc is focusing on Beilert Valance, one of Marvel's biggest original SW characters.
The premiere issue starts off with a flashback, one of many we've seen focusing on Valance's backstory. It focuses on one of Valance's earlier bounty hunting jobs on Corellia, one he did with Boba Fett, Bossk, and his mentor, Nakano Lash! It's really fun watching Boba and Valance butt heads, Boba being a man of few words and Valance having his anger issues. But the mission goes wrong when Nakano kills their client for some unknown reason. Boba swears to kill her in return, and Valance is confused that his mentor betrayed him. And..... the flashback ends.
The issue cuts to the present-day section of the issue, where we find Valance in a similar situation the flashback left off in, at Black Spire Outpost! Makes sense, since Ethan Sacks wrote the comic featuring the location. Anyway, Valance is hunting Devaronian mercenaries; he kills all of them except the last one, but the bounty payout is barely enough to cover fuel and docking costs. His droid sifts through bounties worth something more, and finds one that Valance would be interested in... but before continuing, I want to point out that this series was written after The Mandalorian started airing, and that means it can tie into it in really interesting ways. The good bounties are much more scarce now, similar to the show, and Valance's droid 9-4L was sifting through bounty pucks, a concept also introduced in the show. It's really cool that the series is doing this; it makes the Mandalorian feel more like part of the Star Wars galaxy.
The rest of the issue builds up the mystery of what this huge bounty is. It cuts to the moon of Logal Ri, where we see T'onga, a former bounty hunter, leaving her girlfriend (or wife, it wasn't specified) Losha to hunt whoever this bounty is; they apparently killed T'onga's brother T'ongor. They share a heartfelt and bitter goodbye, since Losha wants her out of the life. The issue then cuts to one of the final segments, where we find Bossk in a bar at Burnin Kon (hardcore fans will recognize it as the bar from the video game Star Wars Uprising!). He's just vibing, being sad about not being the one to catch Han Solo and Chewbacca, when Doctor Aphra and Black Krrsantann walk in! This starts a brief bar fight, since Bossk hates Wookiees, but Aphra cuts it short, because she's there to bring him in on the secret bounty too.
But unlike the other hunters, she hints at what the bounty is: Nakano Lash has finally resurfaced after the job she botched years ago, and everyone with a grudge against her is after her. The final segment is of Boba Fett finding out about the bounty; He turns the Slave I around, having been on the way to deliver Han Solo in carbonite! That's right, we see Han himself, in all his carbonite glory! And that's where the issue ends... I really loved this issue. It was a bit confusing at first, but once i realized what was going on, I got so into it. I've never been a huge fan of Valance as a character, but this series has the potential to make me love him, depending on where it goes. I'm super-invested in what's going on with Nakano Lash and whatever happened on the botched job on Corellia. Sacks' writing was super-engaging, and I love Paolo Villanelli's really energetic art style. I can't wait for the next issue!
A Look Inside
