– Spoiler Review –
The race to catch up to the War of the Bounty Hunters storyline continues for the Bounty Hunters series, as Valance and Dengar find themselves at the mercy of a familiar foe and T’onga and Losha are big time gangsters, putting together a crew in issue #15.
Valance and Dengar have been reluctant partners in crime for awhile now, especially since the bounty on Boba Fett came in, but Bounty Hunters #15 sees that grow into dependable partners in crime. Dengar opens up to Valance about Manaroo’s captivity by Jabba, why he’s so eager to stick with Valance and bring in Boba Fett, and Valance uses his particular set of cybernetic skills to help Dengar get his ship back from Sixth Kin Wen Delphis (not the only Doctor Aphra transplant this issue!), going so far as to call Dengar partner when rushing back to help in the fight against Deathstick’s reappearance. How much of this is temporary or how much will last beyond the fight to get Boba’s bounty? Are Dengar’s reasons for opening up truly sincere, considering what he knows about Valance’s shorter life expectancy or is trying to get the most out of him before it’s over? I don’t doubt Valance, considering he’s so duty bound to Han Solo still (which is why I bet Qi’ra wants him at the auction), but Dengar has always been a less than upstanding bloke, so I’m not inclined to assume he means well, though it certainly feels like he does here.
While we know Deathstick was hired by Qi’ra to funnel Dengar and Valance to the auction, holy gundarks she’s almost too good at the job, fighting them so aggressively one would begin to wonder if she’s working for someone else. From throwing thermal detonators at them or kicking Valance off the edge of a building, she does not mess around when it comes to ensuring they don’t doubt she’s trying to kill them, though it’s clear she’s still Qi’ra’s when she has Dengar dead-to-rights and suddenly gets a call, causing her to leave him alive. She even extends one of the invitations to the auction to Vukorah, still injured from her run-in with Aphra, with assumption she’s the boss of the Unbroken Clan now. Vukorah rejects the notion, still sounding loyal to the clan’s leader, but we know she doesn’t pass on the invite since Doctor Aphra #12 showed her on Jekara already.
T’onga and Losha, hired by the Mourner’s Wail boss Khamdek to find Cadeliah, the love child of the two rival gang’s children, begin rounding up a crew to get Cadeliah back and bring her safely to Khamdek. They start in a not-so-surprising place, a fighting pit, but they find a surprise but familiar face: a young Tasu Leech!! I guess he’s been in the series before, but it was during the hiatus I took covering it, so his appearance was a neat moment for me, especially since the art team seemed to base his look after actor Yayan Ruhian’s younger years, while his down to business attitude delights. Their next recruit was less of a shock about who it was, but rather the state he was in: Zuckuss, but since he was on a Gand floating sanctuary, he wasn’t wearing his mask or suit for once! In fact, Zuckuss was shirtless, so in a way he looked like a scalier version of a Mon Cala, but with a short, bird-like beak mouth. It was a truly strange but yet fascinating image, almost like Grand Moff Tarkin shirtless, but I guess once Ben Solo did it, everyone wanted to. Either way, they don’t just find Zuckuss without his signature mask/outfit, but he’s languishing in the loss of his partner and friend 4-LOM*, so T’onga appeals to his pride to override his incessant wallowing. I loved more T’onga and Losha time and I’m eager to see what they and their crew manage in the issues ahead, as they’ve arrayed an impressive and deadly team, but will the Rebel Alliance fight them over the girl, give her up so as to avoid any more damage to their fractured forces, or has Yuralla Vega moved on from the Alliance with the girl? Time will tell, but these are the questions I’m most eager to see answered.
The art team of Paolo Vilanelli, colorist Arif Prianto, and letterer Travis Lanham do a commendable job in realizing a Gand shirt and maskless, uncharted territory made for both an unpleasant but welcomed image, be it the triple beak-like face or his insectoid/scaly body. They also go big with the shirtless young Tasu Leech, who has so many 6-packs Kylo Ren would be jealous, that he ultimately looks more impressive than the larger combatant in the ring with him. With more of Vukorah also maskless, it definitely led me to wonder if writer Ethan Sacks’ tease/promise might finally be coming true. As always, this team’s strengths are strikingly rendered when action takes over the page, with the exaggerated faces when punches or explosions hurt a character, or the lively punches and kicks and movements of characters in battle, like Deathstick’s graceful and swift movements, while Valance and Dengar make large, clumsy ones, showing their age and lack of training. I enjoyed Villanelli’s reflection in Valance’s cyborg eye as he’s using it to spot a weakness to exploit to help Dengar, mirroring how he’s looking inside of her, while I also thought the large panel taking in the beauty of Canto Bight from a far was a serene and beautiful one. Prianto’s colors give the bird’s eye view of Canto Bight a calming, idyllic feel while the ammonia clouds have a distinct green with a sickly though natural look. Letterer Travis Lanham isn’t so reserved this issue, as the fight with Deathstick is full of giant, impactful SFX, while I’m curious about the choice for Deathstick’s word bubbles, as they almost come off like a raspy whisper with a heavy accent no-one can place.
Here are a few other things:
- *This issue released the same day as War of the Bounty Hunters – 4-LOM & Zuckuss #1, which depicts the falling out between Zuckuss and 4-LOM, so reading that first would preserve the slightly surprising ending but it won’t change much either way.
- Just Lucky and Ariole are main side characters in the current Doctor Aphra series, and despite Lucky’s less than friendly demeanor towards Dengar, he’s actually turning out to be an interested layered character, now that he and his ex, Ariole, are stuck working together and facing their old mentor. At least this time there wasn’t a mistake about when/if they had all met before, unlike when Aphra herself made an appearance.
- At the beginning of August we just released our latest Hunters’ Guide, covering the events of the crossover during July, so check that out if you need a refresher or didn’t read all the tie-in issues! After August, there’s just September and October left for this event’s story and I’ll be very curious to see if it can live up to the hype of changing the status quo of Star Wars comics! And later this month, when November’s solicitations drop, I wonder how they’ll keep this change secret.
Bounty Hunters #15 offers crew building exercises, one for Valance and Dengar to bond and the other for T’onga and Losha to prepare to protect the innocent, in another action-heavy issue.
+ They’re partners now?!
+ T’onga and Losha putting together a crew
– Still playing catch-up
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS CROSSOVER
August: 4-LOM & Zuckuss #1
July: Bounty Hunters #14 | Doctor Aphra #12 | War of the Bounty Hunters #2 | Darth Vader #14 | Jabba the Hutt #1 | Star Wars #15 / Hunter’s Guide for July
June: War of the Bounty Hunters #1 | Bounty Hunters #13 | Star Wars #14 | Darth Vader #13 | Doctor Aphra #11 / Hunters’ Guide for June
May: Alpha #1 | Star Wars #13 | Bounty Hunters #12 | Darth Vader #12 | Doctor Aphra #10 / Hunters’ Guide for May