– Spoiler Review –
Target Vader sends a Legends resurrection, and few extra bounty hunters for good measure, to track down and kill Darth Vader, but for those not attached to the blast from the past, is there enjoyment to be had in Beilert Valance’s canon tale of revenge?
From the very first issue of Target Vader, I had questions whether canon could live up to Beilert Valance’s Legends story, which got a rather fitting and suitable ending back in May in a special one-off Legends continuation to celebrate Marvel’s 80th birthday. For myself, I don’t think his canon story, told mainly in Target Vader after his introduction in Han Solo – Imperial Cadet, lived up to the level of his Legends’ tales (at least the one I read). For those who read the full original run of Marvel’s Star Wars comics, they might feel differently, but looking at the character through his canon moments (with an eye on the one-off ending of his story), there never felt like there was enough to warrant his resurrection over giving newer and more popular comic characters their own billing instead. After giving most of his flesh to the Empire, Valance is finally let go, but he returns home to find his planet abandoned by the Empire and ruined by raiders. His hatred of the Empire, and therefore its enforcer Darth Vader, stems from this slight, hence why he’s eager to take the Hidden Hand’s job of killing the Dark Lord. From what I gleaned in the Legends continuation, Valance had a hatred of droids despite being one himself, but Luke Skywalker helps teach him compassion, and he sacrifices himself (the first time) to help Luke and the Rebellion escape from Vader. Valance doesn’t have as much nuance here in canon, rather he’s been spurned by the hand that fed and rebuilt him, and he wants revenge, though his fight for the remaining villagers’ safety is a nice touch, but these 6 issues aren’t enough to help make their safety feel like it was ever important to him until the very end, nor do they help make the heroic gesture land with me. Valance doesn’t go through much strife in this miniseries either, no heroic sacrifice, but rather just some smart plans with a smart ending, a feeling I felt Target Vader was trying too hard to achieve with Valance, that he’s a badass and very smart, but it never feels like it earns it here in canon, but maybe it felt fitting for those who enjoyed his Legends exploits. By keeping Valance a closed off badass, it’s hard to connect with the character, and by just piercing the tip of his backstory and keeping us from knowing his plans, he remains aloof for connection and therefore I found myself unconcerned with what would come in the miniseries’ end. Valance, surprise surprise, is still alive, both saving those he cares about and ending the Hidden Hand because I guess he knew about them all along anyways, while his “fate” is still to come in an epilogue in Empire Ascendant (and, revealed today while I was writing this review, an on-going series in 2020*). Maybe it’ll be similar to the Legends continuation we got earlier this year, and give him a story worth a little more to those less versed in his older stories (which this Bounty Hunter series could potential provide).
There are plenty of new characters through the series, like the deadly and angry Gamorrean woman, Honnah, another Ardennian as seen in Solo, and some female rebel operatives. The bounty hunters who join Valance in the series don’t make it out alive, and while their deaths could’ve been interesting or surprising, gaining the vital knowledge of when their hatred of the Empire was born only moments before their deaths didn’t change how disposable they felt from the start. It’s unclear how the two rebels, Gita and Aeliar, are connected to the larger Rebellion, if at all, though Grita at least got to play an undercover Tusken for a few issues, leaving their parts important but unclear to the larger picture.
The Hidden Hand mystery originally kept me intrigued to see where Target Vader went, but as it seemed less and less important about who ran the organization and more about how it would fall by series end, the reveal the humble messenger from issue #1 bring the leader landed flat. As quickly as Gwi is revealed, proud he is of the bounty hunter army and crime syndicate he created, he’s dispatched and the mysterious organization disappears into annals of the galaxy’s history.
Vader’s time in the series is also a mixed bag. Issue #1 opened with an excellent, spooky appearance, but when he swings between either torturing Valance or letting him go so he can lead the Empire to the Hidden Hand, the narrative whiplash hinders Vader’s time in the series as he’s been built up as the giant enemy but he barely makes a scratch on Valance. There’s never a real big battle between Vader and Valance, and when they do go head to head, it’s realistically over pretty quickly for the Force-less cyborg.
Writer Robbie Thompson obviously had a lot of fun highlighting the bounty hunting side of the galaxy, as lot of humor and the stronger interplay seemed to come between the expendable side characters; he gives Valance as much personality as he can, but I felt like his work on Valance in the Imperial Cadet mini was stronger because he had more than just revenge and bitterness propelling him. On art, there were several teams throughout its run: Issue #1: Marc Laming and Cris Bolson (artists), Andres Mossa, Jordan Boyd, Neeraj Menon, Erick Arciniega, and Federico Blee (colorists); Issue #2/3: Stefano Landini (artist), Neeraj Menon (colorist); Issue #4: Stefano Landini (artist), Neeraj Menon, Federico Blee, and Giada Marchisio (colorists); Issue #5: Cris Bolson, Roberto Di Salvo, Marco Failla (artists), Rachelle Rosenberg (colorist); Issue #6: Stefano Landini, Roberto Di Salvo, Georges Duarte (artists), Neeraj Menon and Rachelle Rosenberg (colorists); Lettering from: Clayton Cowles (issue #1) and Joe Caramagna (#2-6). Laming wowed me back in Age of Rebellion – Boba Fett #1 so his opening salvo with the series was a solid start, while Stefano Landini was an excellent continuation and it was a shame Landini had to take some breaks, as while the other teams were quality, Landini and Laming were great at delivering the grit and dirt of the darker side of the galaxy. With so many colorists and artists, having seen Rachelle Rosenberg’s work with other artists in Doctor Aphra, her work here highlighted how important a colorists’ work is to the art, as her distinct style is hard to miss, and her colors, as bright and clean as they were, had to be my favorite of the bunch. Overall, solid art teams, but consistency would’ve been nice.
Here are a few other things:
- *If more Valance really is your thing, he stars in the upcoming on-going series Bounty Hunters, due in March, which sees him running into the likes of Boba Fett and Bossk. Here’s hoping this does a little bit more for Valance as a character than Target Vader did, seeing as he’s chasing down his mentor turned traitor.
- I will say, one part I really enjoyed was the drone ship attack and how they came together to be a bigger weapon, able to take down a Star Destroyer.
The Target Vader miniseries had its moments, but unless you’re more invested in lead character Valance due to knowing his Legends past, the moments won’t be enough to make you care for anyone within.
+ More of the seedier side of the galaxy
+ Some neat new characters…
– …who get shorted quite a bit
– Unraveling of story/Hidden Hand mystery fall flat
– Valance’s overall tale doesn’t prove its worth
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.