Canon Comic Review: Bounty Hunters #17 – War of the Bounty Hunters

– Spoiler Review –

Bounty Hunters #17, its final entry in the War of the Bounty Hunters crossover, finds Beilert Valance in desperate need of a rescue, but can T’onga and crew get to him in time?! The answer is not what anyone was expecting, least of not me!

It’s no secret I’ve had complex feelings on this series and have felt an indifference with its main character, Beilert Valance, so I was growing rather excited for Bounty Hunters once solicitations for upcoming months stopped mentioning Valance and he was missing from the covers, the focus instead seemingly on T’onga, her wife, and their oddball crew trying to mend the underworld. By the end of issue #17, I left a little disappointed, but actually felt more intrigued about the future of the series, something I never thought I see myself type. We’ll dive into why now!

The issue began a little rough for me, the penchant for aggressive, over-the-top violence to glorify Valance’s prowess, even after being heavily damaged by Boba Fett’s obvious betrayal, left me unimpressed. And then moments later, in a severe juxtaposition from all the Imperial grunts he just killed, he tries to save a young recruit and grows angry at the Empire when it kills one of its own; I get it was self-defense, but ignoring all the death he left in one hallway and suddenly feeling like the Empire’s the bad guy for killing one single one of its own, as innocent as he was compared to the stormtroopers, feels like a giant disconnect. If it was a moment meant to make Valance seem heroic or valiant, it falls way short, doing nothing for my impressions of the character. As T’onga and crew get closer, Valance latches onto the Empire’s rocket troopers it’s sending out to take down any remaining Hutt fleet ships still harassing the Executor, which seemed like an odd choice given they have TIEs, but it does set up for the fun sequence of Valance jetpacking out into low orbit space to reach for T’onga’s ship. The series of panels are well designed to drag out the moment for tension and Valance grabbing hold of Zuckuss’ outstretched hand feels rewarding…and then Valance’s cybernetic arm tears off and the team is forced to leave him behind. I will say, I laughed when this happened and felt like this was a fitting end for the character, even though I had hoped he get a redemptive ending here instead, but it turns out it was Darth Vader’s fault Valance’s arm broke. Vader* pulls Valance in, repairs him, and enters him into his personal service! As much as I was looking forward to Valance’s death, I must admit this development was an intriguing wrinkle for the character and looks to put him on the path to the redemptive end I was interested in seeing. I regrettably feel curious what will happen with this thread, though I hope it’s more of a background thing in the coming issues as T’onga and team take center stage for a bit.

T’onga’s crew is a fun yet volatile bunch, from Bossk’s jokes about eating Zuckuss to regenerate his limbs or Tasu Leech’s hunger for violence overtaking caution, and I love how her wife Losha is totally not here for it but trusts T’onga needs them for the mission they have so will put up with them. Leech gets to star a bit and T’onga has her moments in the mad scramble to rescue Valance, though there’s not much else for the team as the issue’s focused on the action of the moment. Regardless, this crew together for one issue was entertaining enough and gives me tons of hope for the series as they hopefully take precedence to the Valance’s cliffhanger.

Down on Jekara, aboard the Crimson Dawn flagship, Vukorah’s vacation ends with an offer she can’t refuse from Qi’ra: take the throne of the Unbroken Clan and we’ll support you as part of our efforts to unite the underworld. Vukorah’s been reluctant since she’s not part of the bloodline, but Qi’ra offers her something in a box (What’s in the box?!) that changes her mind enough to take it. I’m also looking forward to more of Vukorah and where this team-up with Crimson Dawn takes her, while it might make T’onga and team’s mission a bit more complicated as I’ll be curious to see if Vukorah will care that Cadeliah is from both bloodlines…or maybe that’s what is in the box, the data on Cadeliah’s location so Vukorah can take the kid out? I’m glad the story of Cadeliah looks to come to the forefront in the coming issues as I’m eager for the thing to be resolved finally.

As always, if there’s ever an art team to match the aggressive, action-heavy content of the series, Paolo Villanelli, alongside Arif Prianto, Jesus Aburtov, & Edgar Delgado as colorists, and Travis Lanham as letterer is the one to make these scenes as hectic and full of tension as any writer could want. As I said earlier, the series of panels as Valances jets into space and makes the reach for Zuckuss are full of tension and urgency, the various slashes in the background to highlight the speed of the situation and really makes the moment work. All the violence against the stormtroopers, with the heavy hits producing cracked trooper helmets, unfortunately set the scene as an even more apparent juxtaposition to Valance’s attempt to be heroic with the lone cadet, a catalyst to my feelings about the whole situation. I did like the calmness to Vukorah’s part of the story, the swishing of drinks or Qi’ra’s confidence she has her latest pawn to her galactic plans, and it was a nice change of pace for the issue, while I also enjoyed Valance’s arm ripping off, as the look of the scene, from Lanham’s red outlined “shred” SFX to the snapping of wires, brought my laughter to the forefront for some reason.

Here are a few other things:

It was bizarre to see Vader here on the Executor as it now takes some mental gymnastics to figure out how/why he’s able to be there for this moment. In the recent Darth Vader (Vol. 3) issue, his mission to teach the Hutt’s a lesson ends up with him crashing into the Executor in their ship and crash-landing back on the surface of Jekara. Later he’s back on the Executor, confronting Sly Moore for her designs against him, so considering he’s been all over the place it was weird to consider he too was around to take in Valance at some point.
For at least the next two issues, Villanelli will take a break from the series, though he’ll return for its 20th entry.

Bounty Hunters #17 might not be what I was hoping for, but it’s decisions left me excited for what’s next instead.

+ Surprise final moment

+ T’onga and crew should be fun

– Mixed messaging

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 REVIEWS