– Spoiler Review –
After the 26-issue long struggle to unite the Corellian underground behind the daughter of the warring factions hits a Crimson Dawn-backed roadblock, T’onga and her crew are left driftless on what to do next: team up with ones who messed with their mission or continue striking it out on their own. In Ethan Sack’s Bounty Hunters #27, we see how well the latter option is treating them, while a check-in with Valance shows his thoughts on his new Imperial life.
T’onga and Losha are the main focus of the series, it feels like now, and they are both struggling with the recent setbacks and confrontations, and with one another. T’onga, still having sleepless nights, doesn’t have Losha to turn to, as the latter is too hell-bent to correct what she deems her failures. There are two options, keep struggling job by job, without a purpose, or join up with Qi’ra and Crimson Dawn, despite them sending a killer after them and they align with a sworn enemy of theirs in Vukorah, to have a purpose again and make a difference. T’onga is seemingly vehement against the Crimson offer, outbursts abound whenever someone brings it up, but how closely she holds the communication device Qi’ra gave her speaks to the war inside, how tempted she is by the offer knowing it could help keep the crew together and give them all another greater purpose than living job to job. Losha’s distant now, after the death of her pet Nexu, dealing with the grief by pushing her wife away and thinking she needs to be more deadly and stronger to prevent it from happening to anyone else she cares about. I’m sure T’onga is on the top of her mind, worried if someone of Vukorah’s skills and cunning come for them again, she might not be able to stop them, so pushing her away and strengthening up are the route she takes instead. Thankfully, while on a new and very risky job, the two unite again, even in the middle of battle, as T’onga assures Losha’s she’s enough and since they’ll be together, they can stop anything with one another at their side. Hopefully this is enough for Losha, and she feels the same way, otherwise the further she gets from her wife, the further they both get from safety.
The not so pleasant job they’re working? Protection detail for a Pyke syndicate gangster who wants to celebrate victory over a rival in the most public way possible, on a big party station called the Accretion Disco that hangs out just outside the edge of a black hole’s event horizon (so no trippy time dilation stuff like in Interstellar…for now). While the crew feels like a well-oiled, 80’s action-movie machine, joking around with one another as they battle the inevitable incursion from the Pyke gangster’s rivals, Tasu Leech is having a tougher time than most. He’s showing off his battle pit prowess no problem, but the Pyke’s consider him trash, be it his accent or being a battle pit fighter, and they love reminding him throughout the mission, despite him being there to protect him. He doesn’t quite hold his tongue, but he does the job regardless, getting their target to safety…only to run into the group trying to kill the Pyke. Turns out, the victory this gangster is celebrating involves killing Nar Kanji (including children), Tasu’s people, and they’re here to make him pay, all while digging into Tasu’s insecurities sparked by the Pyke’s attitude. They leave him and the Pyke, but these NarKanji and the Pyke have already said enough, as he kills the person they were meant to protect, unable to let his crimes against Tasu’s people go. I wasn’t totally sympathetic to Tasu’s plight as the issue started, as the jokes against who he is have been in the series for awhile now, and he was just talking about how delightful arterial spray on his face felt while disemboweling someone so it’s hard to be a fan, but seeing how his people are treated overall with such an attack totally makes his decision here relatable, while I’m overall more interested to see how it effects the mission and the group’s dynamic going forward.
Checking back in with Valance, part of the Imperial machine as Darth Vader’s blackmail hangs over his head, though unbeknownst to him the blackmail’s void now, he too is wondering what his next moves are. Is this new life really that bad, from the way he’s saved innocents and done what he originally wanted to when joining up with the Empire when he was younger, or should he go back to his old life, an aimless one without much of a purpose? What would bring him to stay with the Empire besides the blackmail keeping him there? Turns out, the out-of-left-field romance with Lt. Haydenn, his handler who knows the blackmail isn’t valid anymore. I’m still not connecting with this storyline choice as there’s not enough from either Haydenn or Valance which explains their sudden attraction and interest in one another. I had plenty of questions after she kissed him last issue, but now he’s full into it as well, there are more questions and less answers. With Yura’s protection supposedly secure if he continues with the Empire, is he just looking for some type of human connection despite his less-than-human body? Is Haydenn doing this to hopefully distract him or give him a reason to stay if he finds out the truth? Does she legitimately like him? Does he legitimately like her? I’m going to need these characters to chat about their feelings or reasonings for this choice soon to help this storyline feel less strange or be convincing.
Artist Paolo Villanelli is a master of action in comics, but he can bring some beautiful, less violent moments to life too, and holy wampas the image of the black hole, the Accretion Disco ship hanging over it, T’onga’s ship in front of it all is a jaw-dropping one, especially thanks to Arif Prianto’s colors, creating a beautiful swirling cloud of gases and whatnot being eaten by the black hole, while Travis Lanham’s lettering stays out of the page’s way, placing the sole bit of dialogue and the location tag as far out of the way as possible, allowing readers to bask in the page’s glory. The looks T’onga and Losha have throughout the issue, from Losha breaking after T’onga walks away from as she stoically lifts weights or T’onga’s longing and sadness as it’s clear Losha’s keeping her at arm’s length even in the middle of the mission, culminating panel of them holding one another, holding hands, Prianto’s colors keeping them in shadows as the connection between them and their bodies only hammers home T’onga’s words they can do anything together. Villanelli’s penchant for action is satisfied, as he makes it always feel so overwhelming for our hunters, Prianto’s colors make it feel overwhelming for us to read through, and Lanham’s SFX laying down the thick and heavy firefights in a convincing manner, giving off an intense feeling all together.
Bounty Hunters #27 doubles down on a storyline I’m not gelling with yet, but its main story of T’onga and Losha making it work after their failures is compelling enough by itself.
+ T’onga and Losha dealing with some drama
+ Still thinking about the gorgeous black hole page
– Not feeling the love
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.
BOUNTY HUNTERS REVIEWS
War of the Bounty Hunters: #12 | #13 | #14 | #15 | #16 | #17 — Crimson Reign: #18 | #19 | #20 | #21 | #22 — The Raid on the Vermillion: #23 | #24 | #25 | #26