“Galaxy’s Greatest”
Creative Staff:
Story: Ethan Sacks
Art: Ramon Bachs
Colors: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
What They Say:
In the wake of the shocking events of WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS, the underworld has become more dangerous than ever. T’ONGA has assembled the greatest team of bounty hunters in the galaxy — including BOSSK, ZUCKUS and TASU LEECH for a special mission! Can she keep them from killing each other long enough to become a real team while she grieves the loss of an old friend?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
My hesitance at the start of this series at the time of its original release is now leaning into the first crossover storyline with all the other books and it was a crossover that didn’t work that well for me in the end. Most Star Wars crossover events just never seem to click for me anyway. That said, 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 and 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. With this issue, we get a chance in artwork as Ramon Bachs steps in to handle things with Bryan Valenza on the color design. As expected, it largely adheres to Star Wars “house” style but we get some good stuff from Bachs that showcases their talents well with some interesting details both in characters and in the backgrounds.
The previous issue ended in an interesting way with Vader having “acquired” Valance and that brings us to a pretty good place here. He’s managed to be on his own for a while but Vader has all sorts of things in motion and has had Valance rebuilt a bit more in order to serve his needs. The fix includes removing his heart since he died on the table but that’s the hardest thing for Valance to have happen because it removes more of what little humanity was left of him. Even worse, the Imperial medics have found a way to essentially read his memories thanks to his implants and that gives them all the knowledge they need about him in order to know which buttons to push to make him do what they want. And Vader has a pretty good plan in mind in that he wants Valance, and presumably others, to start hunting down Crimson Dawn operates that have been mixed into the Empire. It’s a legitimate threat that Vader sees to the stability and order of the Empire and Valance is a tool to use.
Valance has no love of the empire anymore as we saw before with how he was tossed aside years ago, causing him to turn to bounty hunting. We see a flashback to his childhood when his world was freed by the Empire and it’s an easy telegraph that the hero of that war, Sokoli, is now going to be a target for Valance. That makes it personal but I almost wish they hadn’t gone that route and let it impersonal instead because it becomes a forced connection. While all of this plays out, we get some time with T’onga and her crew as they’re lamenting the loss of Valance, believing him dead, and the lack of clues on how to find Cadeliah. They get the opportunity for some action at a bar where a group is robbing it and it’s a lot of fun in a basic kind of way as it serves to bind the group together as a team of sorts, which is the entire purpose of it. And it brings Losah in toward the end which complicates things for T’onga as she doesn’t want her to have this life but oh boy does Losha love this life over farming.
In Summary:
I’m definitely glad to get past the War of the Bounty Hunters storyline as it was a struggle when I was reading it in other series as it happened. Valance had a decent role that basically skirted around the edges of it so it worked well and ended with him back in Vader’s service, which is both easy and a welcome shift. His now being tied to Ochi for missions for Vader to take down Crimson Dawn is at least an interesting approach and the loss of more of his humanity, and having to hunt down a childhood hero, makes for a couple of fun twists. Bachs and Valenza do a solid job here with only a couple of odd areas here and there, mostly with Stormtrooper helmets, but largely it’s a solid piece that fits in well with what has come before. I’m looking forward to more of this storyline.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 9+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: December 1st, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
