Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #8 - Marvel Comics

STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS No. 8, February 2021

Opening with a scintillating starfighter shoot-up over the skyline of Howlan City on the planet Qhulosk, and featuring a delightful guest appearance by a young Han Solo during his brief tenure as an Imperial pilot, Ethan Sacks’ script for Issue Eight of “Star Wars: Bounty Hunters” barely gave its readers pause for breath when it first hit the spinner racks in December 2020. Indeed, even when this comic’s action does momentarily quieten down to allow Beilert Valance to wander through the packed H’unn Cabaret Pit or ‘light-speed’ his way to “the intersection of the Corellian Trade Spine and the Hydian Way”, there’s still an almost palpable sense of nerve-tingling tension to be found within this book’s narrative as the reader never knows just what might be lurking around the corner for the cyborg.

This well-penned feeling of jeopardy for the ongoing series’ lead protagonist is particularly noticeable during the bounty hunter’s trip to Nar Kaaga and his business meeting with the truly treacherous Syphacc. Partially disguised by a large hooded cloak, the packed club seems a somewhat strange place for the former Chorin Slave to select for a meeting, but his dubious plan to unsuccessfully seek safety in so visible a venue at least means that there’s no shortage of options as to where the next attack upon the wanted human will come from; “Well, as much as the Unbroken Clan wants to get their hands on me to get to the girl -- Zuckusss and Four-Elloem would have to be sloppy to make a move in such a public place.”

Spookily however, despite knowing that someone will inevitably attempt to claim the price upon Valance’s head in the Pit doesn’t debatably diminish the sense of surprise when the thoroughly dislikeable Hondra decides to make his move. The young so-called killer is as arrogant as he is impotent, and many bibliophiles must have taken a lot of satisfaction in seeing artist Paolo Villanelli prodigiously pencil the annoyingly boastful brat getting taken down a peg or two by an extremely patient Beilert; albeit “the deadliest pit fighter out of Nar Kanji does make a very valid point that if he hadn’t unwisely wanted his target “to see who is pulling the trigger” he could easily have just shot the famous Bounty Hunter in the head without the man even knowing he was in danger.

The regular cover art of STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS #8 by Paolo Villanelli & Arif Prianto