[Critique] Final battle of the Bounty Hunters against The Secret Weapon! • Comics News • Star Wars Universe

Hello everyone,

Like the title Doctor Aphrathe series Bounty Hunters bowed out a few months ago in the United States. Magic of translation, it’s in the softcover Dark Droids – Epiloguepublished last August, that the publisher Panini Comics offered us a translation of the forty-second and final issue of the series! This last issue, which sees Beilert Valance lead his allies into combat for a final mission, is still written by Ethan Sacks in the script, while Jethro Morales illustrates most of the episode before giving way to the fantastical Paolo Villanelli, back for a real epilogue!

But enough of the blabla, time for criticism!

THE SECRET WEAPON

(Bounty Hunters #42)

The explosive end of the saga!
– Valance the bounty hunter has one last mission to accomplish… and it could well be his last!
– Can he and his team fight against Boba Fett… and Jabba’s secret weapon?
– After four years of publication, the grand finale of the series!

L2-D2 review

Scenario: The end of an era

Since the launch of the title, one of the characteristics of Beilert Valance as imagined by screenwriter Ethan Sacks is the debt he feels he owes to Han Solo, who saved him from certain death ( at the time of the mini-series Han Solo – Imperial Cadet). There were many flashbacks in the title showing the bond between the two men, to the point that it was this debt that pushed Valance to integrate into the crossover War of the Bounty Hunters at the time, when he learned that Solo, trapped in carbonite, was going to be auctioned off. Since then, between his supposed allegiance to the Empire and his imminent loss of memory, Solo had left Valance’s thoughts a little but, for this last issue, what could be more logical than to see him make a triumphant return there, for a episode obviously taking place just a few days before Return of the Jedi…

But, as anyone who has seen the film knows, the task of freeing Han Solo actually falls to the captain’s friends. So what can Valance do about it? It’s simple: free the way for Leia, Luke and Lando, by removing one of the most important defenses of Jabba the Hutt, the last megadroid dating from the Clone Wars! The screenwriter, a fan of inserts at the bottom of the box with references to this or that episode, can therefore establish a link here with the maxi-series Yodawhile giving the character a real moment of glory, even if he will not be alone for this, being able to count on his friends for this. If finding a copy of the megadroid is justified and indeed constitutes a major threat, it is clear that this confrontation suffers from a recurring problem with this type of threat. The first time, narratively, it took the alliance of Anakin Skywalker and Yoda, two of the greatest Jedi in galactic history, to destroy it, at the end of a confrontation spanning almost an entire episode. There, Valance can certainly count on his friends, but it is he who does the bulk of the work in a handful of boxes…

All of this actually gives the impression of a sort of side quest that is not really essential and almost implausible for anyone who has seen the film. But most of the episode seems to be a pretext for what really interests the screenwriter: the last 8 pages of the episode, a real epilogue not to this issue but to the title in its entirety, with a choice as surprising as it is divisive : each character is entitled to their happy ending. Everyone is happy, everyone is fulfilled, from Tasu Leech who finally seems accepted to the T’onga-Losha couple via Valance who finds love again (pay your stake on the cyborg’s memories though, barely a number later, he found Haydenn… Even Cadeliah will say hello, like Vukorah, like Yura and her husband! And yes, Valance’s lost love actually survived. When I told you happy ending for everyone…

Drawings: Villanelli is back!

Indeed, the one who gave his letters of nobility, I named Paolo Villanelli, is back for the last 8 pages of this expanded episode, just to tell us the epilogue proposed by the screenwriter Ethan Sacks. We feel the Italian designer is just as happy to find his protagonists as he is, on certain panels, having a little difficulty appropriating certain designs for which he is not responsible. Seeing him return to this title is an excellent surprise, even if obviously, we could have hoped that he would be at the helm of the entire issue!

It is in fact Jethro Morales who signs most of the episode and if it is not dishonorable, I am starting to be tired of all these cartoonists clones of each other who share the license lately. Jethro Morales, Davide Tinto, Adam Gorham, we have the impression of series which have no soul, which lose their personality with each arc with so many interchangeable artists. It will be understood, I clearly prefer Villanelli, but for example, Minkyu Jung on Doctor Aphrafrom the first page, we know that we are in Doctor Aphra. There no. It’s a shame.

Conclusion

A final episode which attempts, through a twist, to justify the involvement of Beilert Valance in the liberation of his comrade Han Solo, but the sauce is difficult to take, especially since the graphic part is completely anecdotal. However, we will console ourselves with the epilogue of the title, which sees the return of Paolo Villanelli in great form, and the promise of finding screenwriter Ethan Sacks on the future mini-series Jango Fett !

Note : 70 %

Note that this number will be in the contents of the seventh and last volume of the bookstore album Bounty Hunters available next Wednesday from publisher Panini Comics.

Don’t hesitate to come and tell us what you thought of this story, either by going to its profile, or directly on the forum topic dedicated to the series!

And see you soon for the next ActuaLitté!