Bounty Hunters #16 Review

by Krownest on September 22, 2021

Author: Ethan Sacks
Artist: Paolo Villanelli
Colorist: Arif Prianto
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Publisher: Marvel Entertainment

The best Star Wars comic is back!! For those who haven't been keeping up with the primary War of the Bounty Hunters series (which, why would you), I recommend checking out the most recent issue there before this one, as it overlaps with this one a lot and includes a lot more context for Valance and Dengar's story. But anyway, both of these two overlapping issues seem to take on more of a somber tone compared to the last few. And not to prematurely theorize, but I'm starting to see where this is going...

But like I said, that's premature, I'll get there. First, this issue. Here, we see Dengar and Valance finally join the story of the crossover; the last few issues had them going on their own adventure, but now they're on Jekara like everyone else. I appreciated how Bossk was brought into the story here, since it picked up directly where Bossk was incapacitated in War of the Bounty Hunters #2. This issue adds in an extra scene prior to where we see Valance in WOTBH, where Valance sends a message to Kondra that sounds not-so-surprisingly like a goodbye message.

The connections mentioned above overall work really well, it actually feels like it's continuing its own story instead of just beat-for-beat copying WOTBH. That's probably helped by the fact my favorite lesbian bounty hunter wives T'onga and Losha have been going on their own adventure largely removed from the crossover, despite Crimson Dawn at least being present. I'll focus more on that, since Valance's story is no different than we've seen already. Once Valance is off with Boba to save Han, T'onga and Losha rescue Bossk and recruit him to their team in their mission to protect Cadeliah. 

The issue ends on a cliffhanger, as everyone's least-favorite character Dengar gives Cadeliah's location away to Deathstick, Qi'ra agent, setting up two groups racing to get to this little girl that poses a threat to Crimson Dawn before the other. And that's the issue! It's really good, although there aren't any massive reveals or anything; it's more just set-up for the events to come... I have a feeling that next issue is gonna be where it's all at, considering Valance's character arc seems to be ready to conclude. But of course, I can't end this review without bringing up my favorite character across all four ongoing Star Wars series. VUKORAH. She's back, she's gay af, and got a single page dedicated to her just flirting with Margo. It didn't need to be there but I loved it because I can't not love my trans-disaster-pirate-queen <3. 

Our Score:

8/10

A Look Inside