Beilert Valance Fights Darth Vader In ‘Star Wars: Bounty Hunters’ #29-31
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Valance gets vengeance. Star Wars: Bounty Hunters has concluded its latest arc. Picking up right after the events of the 28th issue, T’onga and the rest of the Edgehawk crew have begrudgingly taken up a job from Qi’ra of Crimson Dawn. Said job is to stop an Imperial shipment of medical supplies from being delivered to Bestine IV. Meanwhile, Beilert Valance and his team of Revengers have been tasked by Darth Vader with making sure the shipment reaches its destination. Upon reaching the planet, the opposing teams of mercenaries prepare to strike.
With the aid of a local insurgent, the Edgehawk crew ambushes the supply ship and engages the Revengers. While Tasu Leech helps Bossk to defeat fellow Trandoshan bounty hunter Tanka, T’onga and the insurgent break into the ship before the insurgent is blasted by Valance.
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When Valance expresses shock at T’onga trying to stop the shipment, T’onga expresses mutual shock at Valance serving the Empire. Valance explains that he didn’t have a choice due to Vader threatening to kill those he cared about, his wife Yuralla Vega and an orphan girl named Cadeliah, if he refused to obey Vader’s instructions. To this, T’onga reluctantly informs Valance that Cadeliah is in the custody of Qi’ra and that the rebel base Yuralla was stationed at was bombed by the Empire, meaning she was likely killed.
The devastated Valance then realizes that Vader must have found Yuralla’s location when he and Lieutenant Haydenn looked into his memories. Overcome by guilt, Valance falls to his knees as T’onga comforts him. His last tethers to the Empire broken, Valance leaves the ship and slaughters the surrounding stormtroopers, saving the Edgehawk crew in the process. Before the Revengers try to fight Valance, he opens the supply crates from the ship, revealing that the Empire was transporting in weapons rather than medicine to overtake the planet. The Revengers then join the Edgehawk crew in fighting off the Imperial forces. However, they are interrupted by the arrival of Vader and Haydenn.
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Engaging Vader in combat, Valance says that he regrets ever serving the Empire and that they will pay for everything they’ve done. As they fight, Vader has his forces bomb the local insurgents, even killing his own troopers in the process. Fighting until he can’t any longer, Valance is defeated by Vader.
But before he can kill him, Haydenn asks to do the job herself to make up for her previous failures. While she prepares to fire the killing shot, Valance attempts to persuade her to leave the Empire and start a better life with him. However, Haydenn says that her first love is the Empire before she blasts Valance in the face and sends him falling over the edge of the mountain.
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All the while, Vukorah is trying to maintain her control over the Unbroken Clan, but finds more and more of her followers doubting her and her abilities as a leader. We also see in the 29th issue that she is being hunted by IG-88 on the payment of Crimson Dawn. While Vukorah begins to doubt herself, she remembers a traumatic event from her upbringing, in which she was ordered as a child to kill her own pet Loth-cat to prove her loyalty to her clan.
Once the Empire leaves Bestine IV, the Edgehawk crew manages to locate a barely alive Valance and help him aboard their ship. As they depart the planet with Valance onboard, Bossk insists on killing Valance himself over a previous encounter. But T’onga convinces him not to due to the stress of the situation and everything that Valance has been through.
The issue ends with a cut to Haydenn’s Star Destroyer, Righteous Fist, where Haydenn is ordered by Vader with sending an elite team of Imperial soldiers to find and kill Valance permanently. Haydenn begrudgingly agrees and sends one of the best groups the Empire has; Inferno Squad.
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Bounty Hunters #29-31 is an excellent arc with great action and tons of character progression. Valance turning on the Empire is very satisfying as he finally breaks free from Vader’s grip and puts up quite a fight against him. The conclusion to his relationship with Haydenn is also fitting, showing that even the most genuine love Haydenn could muster wasn’t enough to break her loyalty to the Empire.
With Valance on the run alongside the Edgehawk crew and Inferno Squad being on their trail, I’m eager to see how this series ultimately pays off and how well off our main characters will be by the time of the comic’s conclusion. Hopefully, Inferno Squad won’t leave them too burnt.
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Ratings: 8/10 (#29), 9/10 (#30), 9/10 (#31)
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