In the Empire we trust.
Creative Staff:
Story: Robbie Thompson
Art: Cris Bolson, Roberto di Salvo, Marco Failla
Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
THE GREAT ESCAPE! VALANCE has been betrayed, captured, and now stands alone. But nothing will stop THE HUNTER from finishing his prey… DARTH VADER, who is closing in on his own target, THE HIDDEN HAND, a mysterious syndicate working with scum, villainy… and the REBELLION? Can Valance use his training as a former Imperial to escape… or will he find out he has more in common with the Dark Lord than he could ever have imagined?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Target Vader series has been a fun one with the way it’s played with its bounty hunters as well as Valance himself. This installment from Robbie Thompson keeps it largely to just Valance as we explore more of his history while under Vader’s clutches. It’s a good bit of expansion into his past beyond what we knew already and it’s a lot of fun visually even if we have three different artists on it. This series is one that has felt like it didn’t have a solid team in place since the start and utilize three in one issue after a couple of issues with the prior team did not feel me with positive feelings. I dislike changing teams in general but this one changes things up too much within a single issue.
With Valance in Vader’s hands, we get a good bit of the book focusing on the flashback to his younger days. Starting with his time on Chorin when he went off to the academy, it delves into the things he faced along the way from losing a love to training and then battle on Mimban, placing him in the same battle we saw in the Solo film. Only here, when Valance tries to lead, he gets pushed down hard with a lot of damage. This takes us deeper into what defines him, having lost more flesh than the Empire will allow for service, a long time in therapy to learn how to walk again, and going back home to Chorin only to discover most of what meant anything to him there was gone. It’s easy to see why he ended up on the path he did and why he’s such a sour guy, to put it lightly. He went through hell, barely survived, but lost everything.
The present day storyline is a bit simpler but has some welcome moments to it. We see him in Vader’s grasp where after the droids did their torture work Vader goes in to try and make some real progress. Not that he does, overall, but all the pain brings him back to the flashbacks. But his time in the present is useful as we see how he interacts with Vader and how,after time, Vader opts to use him since he knows he’s not getting what he needs from him. I like that Vader takes him back to Chorin to kind of stew in all that loss and death and then to tell him that he’s being welcomed back to the Empire. It’s not a surprise considering how many smart people they needed to run a host of projects and Valance definitely has skill. The problem is that he also has a lot of ties that he’s still going to exploit, such as being in contact with the Rebellion.
In Summary:
Target Vader has one more round to go but it’s not like we think Vader will get taken out or anything. I like the little twist at the end and am curious to see where it’ll go. Though I’m a bit surprised it’s as focused on Valance as it is here it does work out to explore more of his past thoroughly in order to setup why everything goes as badly as it does in his life. Vader’s amusing in how he twists things to his own advantage on a regular basis. I like Valance more and more as the book goes on and am really curious as to what Vader’s game is in the midst of all of this as well. Definitely a solid book throughout with some neat moments and good if frustrating artwork from a team of three.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 9+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: November 13th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
