– Spoiler Review –
With Inferno Squad hot on their trail and their best hope of escaping them caught in a psychic break due to events elsewhere in the galaxy, will the rough and tumble team of Bounty Hunters make it out of this one alive? Find out in our review of issue #32!
The time of quiet introspection is behind us for now, as the threat of Inferno Squad, the fearsome team led by Iden Versio (popularized in the Battlefront II {2017} game), isn’t looming…it’s right on the heels of T’onga, Losha, Bossk, Zuckuss, 4-LOM, Tashu Leech, and the newly rescued Beilert Valance. As much as Inferno Squad wants Valance per their marching orders by Darth Vader, Iden won’t let them kill all of the group to get to him because then she can’t verify the job is done: erasing Valance’s memories since he saw plans for the second Death Star. On board T’onga’s ship, Bossk is the only one eager to be rid of Valance to throw their pursuers off their backs, but the rest of the team is willing to risk their lives to save him. They dive into an asteroid field to throw off the Inferno Squad, but Zuckuss’ trance-like state helping navigate the field runs into a big complication…and a bit of a spoiler for the larger story of the era!
Since the opening crawl for Bounty Hunters #32 reveals the Fermata Cage has been destroyed, it seems BH #32 takes place after/concurrently with the events of Hidden Empire #5, which isn’t out until April 5. If you’re not up on the Hidden Empire miniseries, which focuses on Qi’ra’s final plans to take out the Sith ruling the galaxy, this might not mean a lot to you and that’s okay, as writer Ethan Sacks includes the events but makes them tertiary enough it’s easy to accept it and move along. But if you have been keeping up, Hidden Empire #4 was out a week prior to this issue’s publication, you’d know the Fermata Cage, an ancient device which can trap someone outside of time and space, is still a formidable part of Qi’ra’s plans. Who destroys it? How? Was there any Sith Lord in there (the answer seems to be no, but you never know)? Did the plans to help Doctor Aphra with her current situation get resolved beforehand? While we might now know the Cage is gone, there’s plenty of details this still understandably omits, so all we need to know for BH is the Cage’s destruction led to a strange Force wave expanding across the galaxy. This wave affects Zuckuss, causing his mind to scatter into the unknown, the crew seemingly helpless to get him back when they need him the most to navigate the asteroid field they put themselves in.
So where did Zuckuss’ mind go? We get a glimpse of the Findsman’s past, the story of his Mother believing in him and his fight against an ancient, deadly creature to be his tribes’ next Findsman. It’s an interesting glimpse of a unique society, where his Mother’s cute little gesture to give him courage is what helps 4-LOM bring his friend back, and it reveals something surprising: Zuckuss didn’t become his tribes’ Findsman back then despite besting the beast. This choice by the Master Findsman of his tribe leads Zuckuss to find his own way, leading to his life as we know it, so it was a short, yet neat look into his past I didn’t think we’d ever get a chance to experience. Might be a nice thing to have too considering there’s a roster change coming for this series later this year…there are a few within this team whose fates we just don’t know yet!
Alessandro Miracolo takes over for Paolo Villanelli, while colorist Arif Prianto and letterer Travis Lanham return and I almost didn’t notice it wasn’t Villanelli this issue, as Miracolo’s art has a similar enough style though there are clear differences overall. While I had some problems telling apart Zuckuss from all the other Gands roughly his age, I loved the vibe of the flashbacks, the yellow-gold by Prianto and dusty atmosphere of their planet looks odd and potentially hazardous, yet beautiful in its own way, and sort of makes sense why they might need a breather on as they explore the galaxy, and even when there is greenery it’s bizarre and off putting, eye-like shapes in vines, the green thick and heavy looking. The team’s work on the Charon,* the monster Zuckuss faces in his initiation rite is frightening to say the least, its spider-like lower body and immense, tougher upper half, a shell-like consistency with multiple arms with pincers at the end, coloring that both hides it in the world’s tone but sets it apart with a teal complexity, while Lanham’s lettering of its monstrous roar would be ear-splitting if this was on-screen. The little flower he’s supposed to bring back looks more alien to their planet than anything else, pink and vibrant, yet peaceful, whereas everything else seems to have an edge to it. I liked how one panel, when we first see the asteroid field, it’s a haunting red-hued, the amount of rocks, big and small, concerning to say the least, and then the next page the same view is almost blue-white bright, this mysterious Force wave cutting through the area’s creepy vibes as it careens across the galaxy. Lanham’s SFX go appropriately overboard in the final page of the flashback/memory/whatever Zuckuss is experiencing, as 4-LOM’s attempts to use the unique call Zuckuss’ mother taught him so he could feel brave overcome Zuckuss’ mind and help pull him and us readers back to the present.
Here are a few other things:
- Nakano Lash might’ve passed, but she’s still able to be featured on Peach Momoko’s brilliant Women’s History Month variant cover!
- *I don’t recall them from Legends, but the Charon have quite the EU story, including other realms and the like.
Bounty Hunters #32 takes us on an intriguing glimpse of Zuckuss’ past while pushing ever forward as the team attempts to escape the long arm of the Inferno Squad law.
+ Zuckuss’ past
+ Great pace
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 | #27 | #28 — Bedlam on Bestine: #29 | #30 | #31