Canon Comic Review: Bounty Hunters #25

T’onga and crew face off against the Knights of Ren in the heart of Crimson Dawn’s flagship, while her wife deals with the Unbroken Clan leader Vukorah alone in a battle-heavy Bounty Hunters #25.

The time for pleasantries is over, as T’onga, Tasu Leech, Bossk, Zuckuss, and 4-LOM are too deep into Crimson Dawn’s flagship the Vermillion thanks to a trap by Dengar, about to mix it up with the troubling Knights of Ren, while Vukorah is loose in the Edgehawk with Losha alone, setting up for a confrontation between the two women that’s been brewing since the Unbroken Clan leader’s unceremonious capture. Words are exchanged between groups of combatants, but the main heft of the issue is the action and its aftermath, setting up for what promises to be another big issue bringing many of the series’ plots to some type of resolution. It isn’t just about the bounty hunters and their quest for Cadeliah, the heir to two powerful Corellian crime syndicates, as Bounty Hunters #25 also revisits Valance in his new Imperial servitude, something he’s fighting but is finding it harder when he feels like he’s making a difference…though events elsewhere are catching up with the series that should help him wake.

Say what you will about the Knights of Ren in The Rise of Skywalker, the metal boy band group has built a life of their own in the comics, first in Charles Soule’s The Rise of Kylo Ren and now throughout the Crimson Reign storyline (and a LEGO Star Wars special), and I’ve gone from feeling indifferent about them to genuinely enjoying their bumbling, self-important ways. Their showdown with T’onga’s crew, replete with a shirtless throwdown between Ren and Tasu (the latter dealt a humbling blow by the edgelord), is a tense, brutal battle, Paolo Villanelli not skimping on his trademark style as blades clash, 4-LOM makes himself a shield for Zuckuss, Zuckuss’ respirator takes a hit but he uses the problem to his advantage, and blasters light up the enclosed space. Arif Prianto’s colors keep the scene and everything in it at a dirty, low-light level, fitting for a rough and tumble brawl between these two formidable groups of fighters. And Travis Lanham’s lettering is crowding each panel, satisfying crunches and slashes overtaking the battles, giving the chaos true form. While no one on either side dies, everyone takes damage in some way, T’onga stabbed in the shoulder included, and the two groups are separated by a pesky door. Realizing another round with the Knights would end poorly, the group doesn’t feel like continuing forward, so T’onga sends them back to the ship to heal up while she trudges on to confront Qi’ra and get back Cadeliah. Already hurt, T’onga will be at a disadvantage against Qi’ra and her own formidable Teräs Käsi skills, but as much as they are likely to fight (we are reading these events in the action-heavy Bounty Hunters series!), I imagine it’ll come down to words in the end. We’ll have to wait until next issue to find out!

Back on the Edgehawk, Losha is lamenting T’onga’s decision to keep her on the ship, but she’s soon in the middle of her own action. Dengar gave Vukorah the means to escape and she’s taken it, almost sneaking up on Losha and killing her outright, but the two trade blows and Losha flees into the ship. What follows are some really great panels of the art team helping set up the misdirect, with Vukorah framed in a towering stance in most of her panels, in power and in control, Losha always appearing smaller, therefore in trouble and weaker, with Prianto’s colors throwing shade on Vukorah, both to make her look more frightening but also, to me at least, what felt like a way to show she’s actually the one in the dark about what is about to happen. Ethan Sacks’ script has her spouting some deadly, snarling lines, and like I said Villianelli’s art backs up her scary threats, though one of the best ways the team brings the heat is Lanham’s SFX for when Vukorah scratches her blade on the walls of the ship, the metal on metal grind viscerally reaching my ears with the scratchy, wavy sound effect, its colors matching the sparking way Vukorah’s blade grinds on the wall. But remember how I said the colors seem to hint Vukorah’s the one in the dark? Turns out Losha had a nexu up her sleeve…and when I mean sleeve, I mean the innards of the ship, as Losha slyly traps Vukorah in the room with her and the nexu. Talk about an exciting cliffhanger for their little battle’s resolution!

With Valance, his off-panel heroics are a way Lieutenant Haydenn tries to break through Valance’s hatred for the Empire and reawaken the young, idealistic recruit inside of him. She brings him into a room full of rank-and-file troopers who thank him for his near sacrifice, giving face to the positive aspect of his time with the Empire now. Haydenn was the one who jettisoned a normal trooper just to kill Valance back in the War of the Bounty Hunters part of the storyline, so she knows how much he cares about the unknowing everyday trooper of the Empire, as they remind him of his own naivety when he was a Cadet. If he can’t free them from the Empire’s hold, staying with the Empire to help keep the grunts like him alive, knowing his friends and ex are safe if he does so, isn’t that bad a trade, is it? Just as Valance is considering this, Haydenn is made aware of the destruction of the Rebel base where Cadeliah, Yuralla, and Kondra were hiding (see Crimson Reign #2/Star Wars #22 for that!), but she threatens to kill the man who told her and does everything she can to pretend she didn’t just learn Vader’s blackmail on Valance is now invalid. I don’t imagine Valance’s newfound purpose within the Empire manage to last very long…

Bounty Hunters #25 has a fun, chaotic battle with two formidable groups, a clever small skirmish between two talented women, and a bounty hunter finding a change of heart…and cliffhangers abound promise more strife ahead for everyone!