Review: Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #30 Is the Single Best Issue of the Series

The best issues of a comic series typically do a few things: contain memorable art that stays with you, pay off several issues of storytelling that make it worth investing in the first place, and conveniently find a way to still have a cliffhanger that puts you on your heels. Beyond that, the best issues pack a punch. The kind of punch that transcends the medium. The kind of punch that, despite the niche nature of comic books, you can show anyone and they'd be affected. Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #30 is stunning in every way, and I can confidently say is the best issue of the series.



Almost three full years of storytelling coalesce in 32 pages of harrowing bliss. The last issue left Beilert Valance and T'onga reuniting under the wildest of circumstances. Valance is protecting a shipment of medical supplies for a village of workers on an Imperial naval base. Meanwhile, T'onga is trying to sabotage it to cause a bit of chaos for Crimson Dawn. What neither is prepared for though are the secrets and lies about to be uncovered... and the horror that befalls everyone as a result.



Spoilers ahead...







The issue opens with some gumption. Prior to the events of the series, we find the whole gang at a nightclub. T'ongor approaches his sister, T'onga, who is eyeing a potential suitor in Losha. Elsewhere Bossk is riling up Valance. Bringing them all together is Nakano Lash, making her first real appearance since the character's death in the fifth issue.



She talks to her team about why they make such a good bounty-hunting force: they are a family. Everyone there has lost something, only to find something new. Before Lash would tear everyone apart, it's a nice reminder that these individuals cared for each other once upon a time. That notion is cemented as Valance and T'onga clink their glasses knowing they'll never be alone.







Flash forward to the now where so much has changed. The bond they forged in their time together stays their hand so they can figure out how it's come to this. The last time they saw each other was at the end of War of the Bounty Hunters, when T'onga was moments from saving Valance from the Executor, only for Darth Vader to force his will. She thought him dead at that moment.



Instead, Valance has been doing the Empire's dirty work. He reveals the leverage that Vader has been holding over him: the location of a secret Rebel base on Panisia that houses Cadeliah and Yura, his long-lost love. A reminder that in reality, all of the leverage is a moot point as Crimson Dawn kidnapped Cadeliah while the Empire methodically destroyed the base for sport (Star Wars #22 and #23).



T'onga knows this truth that the Empire has been keeping from Valance. Her team has been on a mission to rescue Cadeliah, infiltrating the Vermillion itself, and came face-to-face with the girl who could finally bring together two of the galaxy's most dangerous crime syndicates for a shot at peace. Cadeliah, however, chose to stay with Crimson Dawn because it was the first time she could stop hiding from the scum of the galaxy. It was during this confrontation that T'onga found out that the Empire bombed the Panisia base, killing Yura and everyone else.







She has no choice but to reveal to Valance the realities of his situation. The human-cyborg doesn't take it very well. For the past undisclosed amount of time, he has been losing what's left of his humanity in service to the Empire. All based on a lie. Now, the information stuck inside his head (that the Empire purged) led to the death of someone dear to his heart. With one more tie to an old life gone, Valance immediately sinks into despair.



Paolo Villanelli's work in this series has been hit-and-miss for me. Sometimes his art is visceral and properly conjures the morally grey undertones of the series, while other times it is near incomprehensible with its abstract nature. Never has Villanelli's art made me put the comic down in awe of the raw emotion, unsubtle in its design, but still stunning all the same. Complete with a callback to Nakano Lash's earlier words. T'onga comforts Valance, reminding him that he doesn't have to be alone in his grief. What a wonderful touch from Ethan Sacks and a breathtaking two-page stretch from Villanelli, including colors by Arif Prianto.



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Cut to the outside where Valance's forces have T'onga's team on their knees. Tasu Leech presses his luck and tests the Imperials' patience, who have been ordered to wait before doing anything. That doesn't stop one trooper from cracking Tasu in the back of the head and then ordering them all dead. Naturally, this is the moment Valance appears, and there is nothing like a good thunderstorm aesthetic to underscore just what's about to happen.







Yeah, Valance just punched a hole straight through that dude's chest.







Valance takes out the entire legion of troopers as every other named character looks on. S'ira is the first to call out Valance for betraying the Empire. He is handing the medical supplies on a silver platter to Crimson Dawn, probably antagonizing Darth Vader in the process. Only it's anything but medical supplies. Inside the crates are explosives, on a direct course for the village that the Empire believes is housing insurgents.



The time has now come for a personal touch to the payback for the Empire's lies. Valance raises Lieutenant Jyala Haydenn, who set this whole thing up. She wants answers as to what's happening down there, but Valance wants answers of his own. For the last several issues, Haydenn and Valance have been forming a close bond, with a burgeoning romance forming. Haydenn had the chance to come clean about what happened, but she chose her own selfish desires.







Haydenn pleads with Valance for a second chance, but it's too late. Not even listening to her genuine apology, Valance clicks off before she can get out the words. There might be redemption for her in the future, but as long as Vader's silhouette and his aura hang over everything, good luck. Not the best of breakups.







A recurring theme in this issue is family. After redirecting the explosives toward the Imperial naval base, we find Valance reunited with his old running mates. This issue opened with them, and despite so much changing, you can always count on your family to bring you back from the brink. Valance lost everything throughout this issue, but was given a new lease on life at the same time thanks to someone who cared deeply about him. Now with a chance to reclaim who he is, it's time to fight for it and face the real enemy.



A shuttle lands not far from them on the plains of Bestine. Haydenn comes walking out, but she is not alone. Darth Vader is here, lightsaber ablaze.







Bounty Hunters #30 is a full meal that never stops giving. It gives weight to every single story told so far in not just Bounty Hunters, but gives validation to readers of other series like Crimson Reign. Sacks is the beneficiary of those seeds, but he has been planting the groundwork for this type of whirlwind across several issues, and to see it fulfilled was a marvel. This is a heavy issue that breaks a man, but also builds him back up. It's such a simple idea, executed in such a chilling way. Of course, the secret cheat code to challenge rich character work with Darth Vader's crimson blade doesn't hurt. What a hook for the next issue. What an issue. Bounty Hunters is suddenly firing on all cylinders.


<p style='text-align: center;']RATING: 10/10</p>






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