When you think about Star Wars, what are the first three things that come to mind? Likely the Force, droids, possibly the Skywalker name, and more than likely bounty hunters. Of all the elements originally created by George Lucas, Lawrence Kasdan, and Leigh Brackett in the first two films, bounty hunters float to the top. It was an element that made the series feel even more like a lawless western which Disney has further developed with The Mandalorian. It makes the newest Star Wars comic series, Bounty Hunters, even more enticing when you realize the importance of these for-hire killers are to the series. This new series focuses on Boba Fett, Bossk and new addition Valance in a brand new adventure taking place after Empire Strikes Back.
This is a relatively easy book to start your Star Wars bounty hunter adventures with as it introduces the main players and even opens with a flashback to fill us in on the shaky relationship between key bounty hunter characters. The first eight pages get us up to speed while also establishing the incredible professionalism of these characters. It’s not often we see bounty hunters work together and it’s interesting to see how their styles of approaching a job come into play. Ethan Sacks does well to keep you following along as the mayhem kicks things up a notch.
Time to fight.
Credit: Marvel Comics
The second half of the book serves as a reminder of where we’re at now focusing on Valance. If you don’t know, he’s a cyborg who has a Terminator-with-his-face-ripped off look that he pulls off well. Given his cybernetics, he has a few tricks up his sleeve which we get to see thanks to Paolo Villanelli’s pencils and Arif Prianto’s colors. Details hone in on costuming and action, which helps define the book as an action-first sort of tale. The art works to ramp up anticipation and draw your interest thanks to the faster pace although I would have liked a bit more detail with backgrounds to help set up the world.
Sacks and Villanelli pretty much infuse this book with everything you want in a Star Wars story from droids to high stakes and, especially when it comes to the comics, synergy amongst other stories. The latter detail adds a lot of weight to the narrative since it ties into familiar threads. Expectations for these comics to matter are huge and it’s nice to see it does here.
This is a good first issue. There is a great deal of purpose to this book thanks to a few different connections, all the while delivering a bounty hunter action narrative that’s easy to enjoy. I doubt anyone not well versed in Star Wars is going to enjoy this half as much as longtime fans, but really, these comics aren’t for those kinds of fans!
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