Star Wars Bounty Hunters #21: Take the Long Way Home

This issue is action, but not just any action, it’s Star Wars action. The kind that you watch for 15-20 minutes at a time only to realize that you haven’t breathed during any of it. Artist Paolo Villanelli really catches our eyes and imaginations up in this issue, it’s splattered with action and aliens and creatures that are both familiar and new. Villanelli is fantastic at designing characters, even the tiny, out-of-focus ones in the background look like they belong in the Star Wars universe. There are a core group of main characters for this issue, and he does a great job with all of them, along with a superb job on the “villains” for the issue. Colorist Bryan Valenza delivers the final knockout punch to his art, it’s hard to describe but in this issue, the colors are vibrant and subtle if that makes any sense. Villanelli has come a long way in the past 21 issues, but what he always delivers is hard work. You can definitely tell this book was drawn with extra effort, skill, and even love. One of my favorite issues so far, artistically. 

Not one to be outdone by the art team, author Ethan Saks loads this book full of story and adventure. In a lot of science fiction, it’s very easy to get into the trap of using too much dialogue, especially in a book about a universe that’s overloaded with history and content. But he pulls out the “show don’t tell” rule and holds to it because there’s not one word in this issue that doesn’t need to be there. This is turning out to be one of my favorite arcs in this book. SO much mystery and excitement!! You will really enjoy this issue.