Star Wars: Bounty Hunters, Vol. 2: Target Valance

Star Wars: Bounty Hunters

by Ethan Sacks, Paolo Villanelli (Illustrator)

With precious cargo and a price on his head, Valance must turn to the one person he can trust. But the Unbroken Clan has sent a unique and deadly pair of bounty hunters after him! No one in the galaxy can escape the combined cunning of 4-LOM and Zuckuss! Wounded and on the run, Valance reunites with a long-lost love in a secret rebel base — but the deadliest bounty hunting duo in the galaxy are closing in! The pair are ready to capture their quarry, dead or alive — and they brought an army of Clone War-era Battle Droids with them! As Valance makes a desperate gambit to survive, he’ll risk the wrath of pirates in the Outer Rim…and set himself on a collision course with his old rival, Dengar!

COLLECTING: Star Wars: Bounty Hunters (2020) 6-11

Genres: Star Wars, Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Marvel, Fiction, Comic Book

136 pages, Paperback

First published June 9, 2021

About the author

Ethan Sacks is a writer and journalist from New York, who is currently writing the ongoing series Star Wars- Bounty Hunters for Marvel as well as other various Star Wars titles. He is also know for his Marvel works that take place in the iconic Old Man Logan wasteland, Old Man Hawkeye and Old Man Quill.

Reviews

[Jim C · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection continues the story from the previous collection. In the previous collection we saw various bounty hunters in a free for all. This one concentrates on Valance until the final issue. We get more of his back story and more of him being on the run from the other bounty hunters.

In my review for the previous collection I stated how I am not the biggest fan of Valance. This collection concentrating on him does not do it for me. Basically it was alright with nothing being special. We get the requisite connection with other characters. We get the requisite back story where we are suppose to feel for our "hero". And in the present we get how he is in a dire situation but still tries the heroic deed. In a word we have seen this before and this brings nothing new to the table. Until the final issue. This focuses on a different well known bounty hunter and I really enjoyed that issue. I liked how it showed his deadly side instead of him being a buffoon. I have always felt like he has received the short shrift in this universe and it was nice to see him portrayed differently.

After completing this collection I checked to see how many issues of this series exist. There are a lot and I am wondering why. I just don't see it as it is commonplace. Honestly within a month I will forget the proceedings in this collection. The highlight is the artwork which is terrific. The colors and the action are top notch. I just wish the story was there too.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still not the biggest fan of this series but at the same time it doesn't possess many glaring faults. It's just supremely OK, and that itself is OK.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second volume of Bounty Hunters is a little disappointing given how optimistic I was at the end of the last volume.

The first two issues are a direct follow-up, as Valance tries to find a safe haven for his latest charge and takes her back to meet his childhood sweetheart. I thought this would have lasted longer, but it seems like Valance couldn't wait to get shot of his new friend, so it feels like a step backwards.

The next three issues feature Valance getting his butt kicked after someone calls in a favour. There's definitely a sense that this arc is more about moving characters around for the War Of The Bounty Hunters crossover that's coming next, but comes across as redundant. Valance takes yet another beating - the guy can't catch a break.

Then the final issue of the volume is a one-shot featuring the return of Bossk, who I'd forgotten about, as he also makes his way towards War Of The Bounty Hunters. It's fine, I guess?

The art's still pretty great though. Paolo Villanelli continues an unbroken streak of 11 issues, and the quality remains consistent throughout. He doesn't skimp on details or backgrounds, and the colouring feels really rich as well, especially given that the Star Wars universe can get a bit bland in that regard.

This is just okay - there's definitely a sense of spinning the wheels and just shifting people across the chessboard for what's coming next, but there's a more entertaining way of doing it than this. At least it looks pretty.

[Anna Quilter · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's some character/ background development..but mostly it's bounty hunters being bounty hunters..

[Mateusz Surowiec · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10

Heh, niesamowite że marvel robi lepsze star warsy niż swoje własne filmy. Przynajmniej strażnicy galaktyki vol.3 byli fest zabawni.

[Marius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gesucht: Cyborg

Inhalt: Nach den Ereignissen des ersten Teils findet sich Valance in der ungewollten Rolle als Ziehvater des künftigen Syndikaterben wieder. Zu allem Übel wird das Duo von den Unbroken skrupellos gejagt, die kein Geld scheuen, um käufliche Unterstützung anzuwerben. Unter der Kopfgeldjägerschar finden sich auch Zuckuss und 4-LOM, ein höchst gefährliches Zweiergespann von Gesetzlosen, die den Protagonisten stets einen Schritt voraus zu sein scheinen. Valance bleibt nichts anderes als die Hilfe alter Bekannter anzunehmen: manche redlicher, wie die Rebellen, anderer weniger an die Grenzen der Moral gebunden...

Bewertung: Auch beim zweiten Teil der Kopfgeldjägerreihe bleibt kein Auge trocken und kein Blaster im Holster. Bekannte Charaktere kehren zurück und zeigen endlich, was sie wirklich können. Die Action wird wieder groß geschrieben, doch auch die Charakterdetails baut der Autor weiter aus. Der Leser kann sich hervorragend mit Valance identifizieren und seine Motive und Absichten nachempfinden. Auch dieses Mal ist der harte Zeichenstil stimmig zur Atmosphäre.

Fazit: Eine hervorragende Fortsetzung, die den Leser weiter in die gesetzlose Unterwelt der Galaxis abtauchen lässt. Gesamt: 5/5

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a bounty hunter story, but the backstabbing and 'intrigue' is so predictable as to be a bit boring.

[Sophie_The_Jedi_Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5

I'm genuinely very sad. Just... a plot point I thought would go one way went very differently, and now I think it's been dropped for good. So that's pretty disappointing.

I really like reading about Valance and all of the cameos he observes - I also liked his childhood girlfriend and newly adopted kid. Which is why I'm so upset that A) seems like the girlfriend is... completely off the table as a girlfriend anymore and B) the kid is just fully gone. I wanted to explore more of those dynamics. I liked seeing Dengar and Bossk, and the throwaway mention of Fennec Shand and references to Hondo were really great. Also the ship called "Spirit of Jedha."

I liked the reveal that Valance knew Han in his Empire days and that they were sort of friends. Most of the time I don't like stuff with Han in the Solo movie era, because I feel like that movie really just messed with his character, but I was surprised by how much I liked how all of that worked in the book here.

While I was disappointed by what I mentioned above, I'm very excited to see Valance going after Han. That's going to be good. Hopefully.

3.5/5 stars. The art was fantastic.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m really enjoying this Bounty Hunters story a lot! Beilert Valance as the focus in this series was a really good move being an established character to the deep history of Star Wars legend comics, but a new enough character to create a compelling story through the new canon comics. I keep saying that I’m looking forward to the things that are being set up in future reading with these Star Wars titles, but that’s just because I think they’ve all been done so well so far! This one is no exception!

[ksiazkowy_pirat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drugi tom poświęcony przygodom Łowców Nagród kontynuuje wątki rozpoczęte w Najgroźniejszych w galaktyce. Valance kontynuuje swoją misję, którą powierzyła mu jego mentorka, Nakano Lash.

W pierwszym tomie brakowało mi trochę bezwzględności Łowców Nagród dzięki której zyskali sympatię fandomu. W Cel:Valance mimo rozwoju wątku z pierwszego tomu, pojawia się także wiele starć pokazujące prawdziwą twarz łowców. Podobnie jak w poprzednim tomie, podoba mi się zakorzenienie całości w uniwersum - w historii pojawia się Bossk, wspominany jest Jabba Hutt, Boba Fett, a nawet Han Solo. Dzięki temu fabuła moim zdaniem jest bardziej przekonująca.

Historia nie jest długa, ale dostarcza naprawdę dobrą rozrywkę. Po spotkaniu postaci w pierwszym tomie, gdzie udało się ich trochę poznać, śledzenie ich kolejnych przygód wypadło zdecydowanie lepiej. Dowiadujemy się nieco więcej o samym Valance’u i jego przeszłości z którą poniekąd musi się zmierzyć. Jednocześnie para droidów, która wyrusza jego tropem sprawdza się w tej historii całkiem nieźle. Oczywiście nie są to postaci, które zapamiętam na dłużej, ale zostały dobrze wprowadzone, a ich motywacje są jasne i przekonujące.

O ile po poprzedniej części historii miałem trochę mieszane uczucia, tak teraz jestem naprawdę usatysfakcjonowany. Fabuła rozwija się w dobrym tempie, a w połączeniu z dynamiczną kreską dostarcza dobrej, nieskomplikowanej rozrywki bez zagłębiania się w poważniejsze kwestie. Jestem bardzo ciekawy rozwoju tej historii w Wojnie Łowców Nagród.

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is okay. Went a little more down the path of what I was afraid the first one would be. Just Bounty Hunters bounty hunting. But it was fun and well written so I enjoyed it for the most part. Just took me a bit to get through it.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Target Valance is a big improvement on the previous volume, Galaxy's Deadliest. For one thing, Valance gets a personality. Or at least, a little bit of a personality and a lot more backstory. Finally, he's a guy I can root for!

The front half of Target Valance is a fun game of keep-away starring Zuckuss and 4-LOM (or "Four-ELOEM" as Ethan Sacks insists on writing it out - I think we can all figure out how 4-LOM is pronounced, dude). Zuckuss's Legends canon skills as a Gand findsman are restored and on full display. Valance also interacts with a band of Rebels in an interesting way. I appreciated how events from the main Star Wars series were referenced, but not in a gross, "LOOK AT THIS TIE-IN" way. Star Wars could use more subtlety.

Target Valance concludes with Valance attempting to save a Rebel cruiser besieged by pirates. Naturally, Dengar returns to the story because this series is titled "Bounty Hunters" and we can't go an issue without seeing one of the bounty hunters from Empire Strikes Back. Bossk also appears, for basically the same reason, though he is surprisingly dope in his limited appearance. Bossk as a formidable foe? That's a new one.

I'm pretty stoked for this series now, in case the long review didn't make it obvious. The War of Bounty Hunters is looking promising.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Star Wars: Bounty Hunters Vol. 2 Target Valance collects issues 6-11 of the series written by Ethan Sacks and art by Paolo Villanelli.

Bounty hunters back stab each otger, fight, and blow stuff up. I really don't know if there is a plot beyond that.

I have not liked this series at all from conception (Target Vader) to this current volume. This book feels like something that would have released in the mid 90s height of action comics. There is little plot, just fight and explosions. If that's your thing, you will enjoy this. We did get a little more backstory for Valance to try to get us to care more about him. I would drop it, but I'm still hoping for a creative change because it has potential.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit better than the first volume, as it focuses on Valance and fills in some of his backstory. But then it ends in another chaotic mishmash of fighting and characters who don't really make much of an impact. In the alternate covers section in the back, I'm pretty sure the artist mixed up Zuckuss and 4-LOM, which should tell you something about the nothings/nobodies that most of these characters are shaping up to be.

[Luke Shea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is still pretty bad and Valance is easily the worst star war but this one has a lot more zuckuss in it, so I guess I'm giving it extra points for that.

[Joshua Mifsud · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually my favourite of the new marvel comics yet. The art was so high quality I couldn't believe it. Each issue had a great story and great characters. Loved that they incorporated Zuckuss, 4-LOM, Dengar, Bossk etc. so well. The writers clearly were passionate about the characters, since they kept all the qualities from the existing lore i.e. from the legends material. The last issue in particular was my favourite; having Bossk being hunted by the Banking Clan, hired by Bib Fortuna.. super cool. Great artwork on some of the species like the Gran, Dugs and Muun.

[Octavi · Rating 3 out of 5]

L’última part d’aquest segon volum m’ha agradat. La resta dolent igual que el primer volum.

[Garrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This feels like a hidden gem among the Star Wars comics. It was fun to learn more about Valance and his personal history. And there's some great action, especially in the 9th and 10th issue

[Kurt Lorenz · Rating 3 out of 5]

6-7, Target Valance, ☆☆☆
8-10, The Terminus Gauntlet, ☆☆☆☆
11, The Great Hunt of Malastare, ☆☆☆

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Wars does Die Hard with a touch of backstory and some top-shelf Bossk content for garnish. This is Star Wars at its flashiest. Rule of cool par excellence.

[Tyson]

"we need more complex characters" you cant even handle beliert valance

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 ABY

This graphic novel is the second collection in the 2020 Bounty Hunters series containing issues 6-11 "Target Valance" Parts 1-6. Morroring Target Vader, the title is indicative of Valance being the one with the bounty on his head this time. Bounty hunter duo 4-LOM and Zuckuss seek Valance's bounty. Valance once again encounters Dengar, his olf rival, and finds that sometimes a temporary truce must be made. The reader gets a glimpse into Valance's past and meet characters with connections to Valance that may become very important later.

Getting the snippet of Valance's past and seeing a girl he cares for is rather interesting. The art is good and it's fun how classic bounty hunters only briefly seen in the movies make more of an appearance and have a chance to shine and show their character. While not quite as intriguing as the main story, still a decent tale to follow.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad I gave this second volume a chance - the story here is a lot more straightforward and comprehensible, but still manages to utilize the majority of the expected Bounty Hunters in various points (although the Bossk issue feels a little tacked on in this collection). Valance is on the run with the scion from the first volume, and honestly isn't doing a great job of it. So he ends up running to his past and bringing trouble there as well, leading to a lot of flashbacks to his life (and a somewhat hard-to-stomach relationship to a main trilogy character). There's a lot of action, most of it well portrayed, and a good use of some of the other Bounty Hunters. There are some B plots that move forward a bit but don't really add to the plot, but overall I enjoyed this (and the art is pretty straightforward but effective). Definitely an improvement on the first volume.

[Omni Theus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sacks Slowly Stepping Up
OVERALL RATING: 3.25 stars
Art: 3.5 stars
Prose: 3.5 stars
Plot: 3.25 stars
Pacing: 4 stars
Character Development: 3 stars
World Building: 3 stars
Somewhat large improvement on the previous story arc. The last issue begins a new story line which looks to tie into at least Pak's Vader on Solo which had a neat twist. I'm a pretty big Bossk fan and that issue didn't disappoint. Best issue of the lot. The other stuff wasn't bad either. Hopefully Sacks throws in more intelligent twists and turns rather than the mundane of the first arc going forward.

[Benji Glaab · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a sub-par volume. Paper thin plot with a tonnes of action sequences doesn't really work for me often, but I have enjoyed Ethan Sacks' work before. I might read a volume 3 but there are so many good books these days.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Some decent parts. But overall, Valence is not a great choice to headline his own book. And yet, Sacks manages to whip up some decent tales from this.

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reprints Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #6-11 (December 2020-June 2021). Beilert Valance is on the run. With orders to protect a child named Cadeliah, the bounty hunter has become the hunted. Valance realizes that he can’t protect Cadeliah alone and finds himself headed to the person he knew before his days as a bounty hunter and the Rebel Alliance. With Zuckuss, 4-LOM, and other bounty hunters hot on his trail, Valance’s luck might finally run out!

Written by Ethan Sacks, Star Wars: Bounty Hunters Volume 2: Target Valance is a Marvel Comics Star Wars spin-off title. Following Star Wars: Bounty Hunters Volume 1: Galaxy’s Deadliest, the series features art by Paolo Villanelli.

The bounty hunters were always the coolest. Though they just had a little cameo, they were my favorite of my Star Wars toys. They were mysterious, and as a kid, I didn’t know what a bounty hunter was when they were introduced in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back…but I knew that they were dangerous. While Valance wasn’t one of the bounty hunters who cameoed in The Empire Strikes Back, this second volume has plenty of bounty hunters to go around.

The volume is split into three stories. The first story is “Target Valance” and features Valance trying to dodge 4-LOM and Zuckuss (who as kids, I always got their names confused). The irony of the story is that many see Valance as a kind of precursor to the Terminator or Cable, and here he’s acting much like the Terminator in T2…he’s out to protect the kid with any means possible and sometimes it has a price (like the location of the Rebel base).

The second story is “The Terminus Gauntlet” which has Valance trying to pay back the by outing their Rebel base. Like the previous story, Valance is pretty much a hero, but there is a fun tie back to Valance days in the Imperial forces which was chronicled in Star Wars: Han Solo—Imperial Cadet. Valance’s actions in the series are pushed by Han’s decision to save him on Qhulosk which creates a ripple effect for future issues.

The final story is a stand-alone story with Bossk. Bossk was my favorite toy of the bounty hunters…I think he even outranked Boba Fett just because he was creepy and “lizard-y”. Bossk and his people have appeared in a number of other Star Wars stories and related media, but this outing isn’t my favorite (though we do get a visit from Bib Fortuna as well). I do however feel Star Wars: Bounty Hunters might need a few more of these excursions to justify the Bounty Hunters title since the series could just be called Star Wars: Valance right now.

Star Wars: Bounty Hunters is the Star Wars series that I’m maybe most excited for right now just because of the wide-open nature of the series. Like Doctor Aphra, there are a lot of stories that could be told without being locked into the Star Wars films, but as seen in this volume, they can still incorporate a lot of characters that never had the chance to be “stars” in Star Wars. I look forward to seeing where Star Wars: Bounty Hunters goes.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 2, 3 ABY.
Tasked with protecting the heir to two crime syndicates, Valance finds himself the subject of a bounty which puts various hunters on his tail, including Zuckuss and 4-LOM.

Much like the first book of the series, this is an all-guns-blazing story with little time for subtlety or nuance. It's not entirely absent, however, and I was pleased to see some of Valance's history and the effects of being a cyborg on his self-image start to get explored.

The biggest problem with this book, however, is that it doesn't have a consistent overarching plot, with the story of his protection of Cadeliah getting dropped pretty early on in favour of a confrontation with pirates, which then turns into a set-up for the 'War of the Bounty Hunters' crossover. It's just not satisfying to have such a fractured narrative, really.

That said, where this book is better than the previous one is in how it handles the established bounty hunters. Fan-favourites Dengar and Bossk are presented fairly well here but, for me, the real treat was seeing Zuckuss and 4-LOM at the top of their game which re-awoke fond memories of their tale in the brilliant Expanded Universe anthology 'Tales of the Bounty Hunters'.
The way Sacks presents these iconic bounty hunters actually gives you a good sense of why they're some of the elite gathered by Vader in 'The Empire Strikes Back'.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com *

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kwestia łowców nagród ze świata Gwiezdnych Wojen średnio mnie interesowała, aż do czasu wyjścia kultowego już Mandalorianina, który sprawił, że dobrze rozpisana postać czyni istne cuda dla rozwoju uniwersum. Przygody Valance są jednak średniakiem. Dobrze skrojonym, pełnym akcji, ale jednak czuć tutaj tę drugą ligę postaci, mimo iż kilka tuz się tu pojawi.

Najemnik jest poszukiwany przez całą Galaktykę, bo pierwsze: eskortuje pewną smarkulę, po drugie: wie, gdzie ukrywa się pewna osóbka, więc na brak akcji, miejscówek i wymian ognia narzekać tu nie będziemy. A to pojawi się Bossk, a to bohatera zaczepi Dengar. Na dodatek w ślad za postacią ruszą dwa droidy, z którymi lepiej nie zaczynać żadnej zabawy. Z drugiej zaś strony mamy pogłębienie historii Valance, jego tragedii, bo po wypadku podczas służby imperialnej, stał się praktycznie maszyną. Ale jest plus. Ma większą wytrzymałość.

Co do oprawy wizualnej. Kreska jest naprawdę satysfakcjonująca i miejscami ze stronic wylewa się ten gwiezdno-wojenny vibe. I dlatego wypada delikatnie polecić tą pozycję. Może waszego postrzegania na markę nie zmieni, ale potrafi dać radość z kilku elementów ukazanego świata.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another quick enjoyable read. The follow up to the first volume where the Galaxy's Deadliest Bounty Hunters introduced us to some new scum and villainy. Valance, a former Stormtrooper whose injuries and subsequent surgeries have left him more machine than man, and one of the best bounty hunters out there; Bossk, another famous bounty hunter who has been around long enough to not need an introduction; and Boba Fett, no introduction is needed here either. Now that Nakano Lasah is out of the picture the attention has gotten turned to finding Nakano Lasah's daughter who Valance has hidden. Zukuss, 4-LOM, and Dengar all play a role along the the others, some are here to kill, some to hunt, some are just making a good mess of things. But all are adding to the story line of Valance and his past, or would it be his present... Just like before, this volume is a time and location jumping story that is part new and part old Star Wars. Quick and easy, again nothing earth shattering in this one. I would recommend book 2 in this series, especially if you've read the first, and to anyone who enjoys space dramas and Star Wars. Another 3.5 stars.