Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #6 - Marvel Comics

STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS No. 6, December 2020

Providing its 29,500 readers with plenty of insights as to the background behind Beilert Valance, and his brutal ‘rise’ from being a lowly worker on the Mining Planet of Chorin to a well-renowned bounty hunter, this twenty-page periodical must surely have agreeably entertained even those within its audience who were wholly unacquainted with this “canon” comic book series’ central protagonist. In fact, the flashbacks involving the human’s unconquerable love for Yuralla Vega makes it crystal clear just how as an Imperial grunt, the soldier was later able to somehow survive his “quite substantial” injuries on Mimban when he “was scorched in a ground assault” and given substandard cybernetic parts by a less than sympathetic superior officer.

Similarly as well scripted is Ethan Sacks’ narrative concerning Valance’s confrontation with some of the mercenaries sent to murder his recently acquired young ward, Cadeliah. Beilert’s battle with a beskar body-armour wearing killer inside the Spur Orbiting Market is an absolute pleasure to peruse, due to the man having to spontaneously work together with his dependant so as to defeat their seemingly impregnable opponent; “Get off him! Valance, now! Fry him with your palm blaster!”

However, it is this comic’s confrontation between the recently-restored cyborg and Zuckuss inside Slade’s Repairs shop which is undoubtedly this publication’s highlight, as the infamous insectoid Gand findsman manages to inflict a serious wound upon his “old friend” with a sonic immobilizer. Bloodied, but most definitely not bowed, the battered hero’s subsequent brutal bout of fisticuffs is superbly paced, and definitely sets up the pair for a future re-match after 4-LOM’s partner-in-crime is temporarily side-lined with a sliced breathing regulator.

Adding enormously to the emotionally-charged energy of this book are Paolo Villanelli’s layouts, which really go a long way to ensuring the ever-shifting tempo of Sacks’ story-telling. Somewhat sedentary when used to depict the cybernetic bounty-hunter’s touching love affair with Yura, the Italian artist’s pencilling of this comic’s action sequences then come thick and fast in a splendid flurry of sense-shattering sketches. Indeed, much of the desperate urgency behind Beilert’s actions during his skirmishes comes from the rapidity of Paolo’s panels and some of the insane movement lines which accompany the participants’ blows.

The regular cover art of "STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS" #6 by Lee Bermejo