Bounty Hunters #14 Review
Author: Ethan Sacks
Artist: Paolo Villanelli
Colorist: Arif Prianto
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Publisher: Marvel Entertainment
If I could use one brief sentence to describe this issue, it would be "Finally, everyone realizes just how great this series is." This series has been growing on me steadily from issue to issue, as Sacks' vision for these characters becomes clearer and clearer, and this issue is no exception to that, the only difference is that everyone else is finally realizing that. This issue, like every other Star Wars comic right now (besides The High Republic), is part of the ongoing War of the Bounty Hunters crossover. Last issue ended with the reveal of surprise guest star Deathstick, a character from the video game Uprising, and this issue picks up directly on the heels of that reveal.
What I quickly noticed while reading this issue is that Sacks just gets the lore. There's been mentions of it before, but this issue sees Dengar's past as a swoop racer play an integral part in the plot of the issue, and other aspects of his character make a return as well (but I won't get into the biggest thing, as that's a fun reveal I don't want to spoil). Besides just Dengar, Deathstick is accurately as creepy as she is in her one previous appearance, and we get a massive amount of exposition regarding Crimson Dawn's history from The Clone Wars and Solo in an extremely well-drawn splash page.
Surprisingly, this issue doesn't move the story of Valance and Dengar forward too far, for reasons that become clear by the end of the issue, but it does move forward the story of my favorite characters in the series, T'onga and Losha. If you forgot, they're two bounty hunting wives with a pet Nexu. Yeah. They're amazing. (Although I should clarify that Vukorah is my favorite character in the series, bless her trans heart, but she's been in the Aphra series for a while now). Here, we see the plot regarding the Unbroken Clan and Mourner's Wail from the first arc of the series make a return, as T'onga informs Khamdek of the Mourner's Wail about Cadeliah, his granddaughter. All the while, Crimson Dawn is out to kill them all, since both of the crime syndicates pose a threat to Crimson Dawn's resurgence.
I won't spoil too much more of what happens, since this is one of the best issues of the series and shouldn't be spoiled, but this series is finally starting to prove why it exists, alongside the likes of Star Wars, Vader, and Aphra. I always liked it, but now that things are more established, it gets to play around more and have just as much of a role in the War of the Bounty Hunters as the other series. Besides that, the art by Villanelli and Prianto continues to be AMAZING, and I can't stress that part enough. They put every single other artist working on Star Wars comics right now to shame. Bring on Issue #15!
Artist: Paolo Villanelli
Colorist: Arif Prianto
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Publisher: Marvel Entertainment
If I could use one brief sentence to describe this issue, it would be "Finally, everyone realizes just how great this series is." This series has been growing on me steadily from issue to issue, as Sacks' vision for these characters becomes clearer and clearer, and this issue is no exception to that, the only difference is that everyone else is finally realizing that. This issue, like every other Star Wars comic right now (besides The High Republic), is part of the ongoing War of the Bounty Hunters crossover. Last issue ended with the reveal of surprise guest star Deathstick, a character from the video game Uprising, and this issue picks up directly on the heels of that reveal.
What I quickly noticed while reading this issue is that Sacks just gets the lore. There's been mentions of it before, but this issue sees Dengar's past as a swoop racer play an integral part in the plot of the issue, and other aspects of his character make a return as well (but I won't get into the biggest thing, as that's a fun reveal I don't want to spoil). Besides just Dengar, Deathstick is accurately as creepy as she is in her one previous appearance, and we get a massive amount of exposition regarding Crimson Dawn's history from The Clone Wars and Solo in an extremely well-drawn splash page.
Surprisingly, this issue doesn't move the story of Valance and Dengar forward too far, for reasons that become clear by the end of the issue, but it does move forward the story of my favorite characters in the series, T'onga and Losha. If you forgot, they're two bounty hunting wives with a pet Nexu. Yeah. They're amazing. (Although I should clarify that Vukorah is my favorite character in the series, bless her trans heart, but she's been in the Aphra series for a while now). Here, we see the plot regarding the Unbroken Clan and Mourner's Wail from the first arc of the series make a return, as T'onga informs Khamdek of the Mourner's Wail about Cadeliah, his granddaughter. All the while, Crimson Dawn is out to kill them all, since both of the crime syndicates pose a threat to Crimson Dawn's resurgence.
I won't spoil too much more of what happens, since this is one of the best issues of the series and shouldn't be spoiled, but this series is finally starting to prove why it exists, alongside the likes of Star Wars, Vader, and Aphra. I always liked it, but now that things are more established, it gets to play around more and have just as much of a role in the War of the Bounty Hunters as the other series. Besides that, the art by Villanelli and Prianto continues to be AMAZING, and I can't stress that part enough. They put every single other artist working on Star Wars comics right now to shame. Bring on Issue #15!
A Look Inside
