“Target Solo”
Creative Staff:
Story: Ethan Sacks
Art: Paolo Villanelli
Colors: Arif Prianto
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
What They Say:
PRELUDE TO WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS: “THE THREAT IN THE SHADOWS” As VALANCE and his reluctant partner DENGAR race to intercept BOBA FETT and his precious cargo, who are the deadly pursuers that are after them? A dark secret from Valance’s past connection to HAN SOLO may get him killed all these years later. But who is the mysterious leader of an assassination squad that is driving Valance into a life-and-death confrontation with his old friend?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
My trepidation at starting this book at the time of its original release had a lot of factors to it, from then not being keen on Valance as a character and then just all the pandemic-related issues that made me not want to add too much to my plate. I’m enjoying taking it at my own pace a fair bit later and knowing that there’s a lot ahead of me as well. The book comes from writer Ethan Sacks, who worked on the Journey To Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker miniseries, it has a pretty solid feeling overall as we get to see the slow growth and exploration of this fairly complex character and his history. Paolo Villanelli and Arif Prianto are very familiar names within this franchise for the comics and it looks and feels quite good with the variety of characters and some of the seedier aspects of the concept.
With this issue, we basically get the prelude to the Bounty Hunters war crossover event which didn’t do all that much for me at the time and hasn’t had much long-term impact either. Most of what we get here is pretty small in focus so it works well enough but isn’t all that interesting. The flashback side focuses on a job that Valance was on years ago for the Hutts that ended up taking him to where Han and Chewbacca were at without him knowing that that was what was going on. It’s a decent bit of action but the flashbacks tend to not have enough meat on them to be meaningful so that you connect with it. And, admittedly, I’ve struggled with stories involving Han because they never seem to feel natural or work well. And that’s here too, such as when he realizes that Valance has betrayed him after he saved him before, and it lads to an extended yell on Han’s part that is just awful. At least he has a good line with Chewie earlier that felt weirdly natural.
The present-day storyline has 4-Lom and Zuckuss continuing their pursuit of Valance and Dengar as Valance is closing in on finding Han and Boba Fett. It’s a straight-line storyline here and a pretty basic chase sequence with some fun character moments as Dengar just tries to stay alive as he’s pretty much negotiating with both sides. The ship action, flying through some asteroids, and the intensity of what Valance is doing and feeling works well to create the right kind of tension and to show just how much Valance is off his normal approach to things. There are a few wheels in motion here but it’s all designed to tie into the larger event with what Fett is doing and the crossover war so it does it well enough. There’s some decent character motivation here with what Valance is doing and his complicated past with Han so that makes it worthwhile.
In Summary:
Coming into this storyline after it’s been over and having read it elsewhere from other points of view is going to make this segment of the crossover amusing to read in the next couple of issues. This one does what it needs to in order to get things into place for it but there’s not a lot of meat on the bones here. The flashback side has its moments but it’s just kind of empty for part of it as it’s mostly action and only gives us a small taste of what Valance was like at this point. The book generally seems to suffer from this need to be constantly in motion and moving which is keeping it from being able to spend time with its characters and let them breathe and exist. The action is good and the artwork is great but it needs something more.
Grade: C
Age Rating: 9+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: May 19th, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
