Star Wars Bounty Hunters #9: From Worse to Bad

Author Ethan Sacks sure knows how to show his audience a good time. Not that any of the Star Wars comics lack action and adventure, but his seem to pack extra into their pages, while still maintaining a well written, cohesive story that is solidly planted in the Star Wars universe. I have to admit, I really didn’t see anyone doing anything with the character of Beilert Valance, a character created when Marvel published Star Wars comics the first time around, but he’s quickly becoming a very important part of the Star Wars comic universe. He’s not quite a sympathetic bad-guy nor is he hate-able by any means, Sacks crafts a really entertaining story for this issue, one that’s got plenty of double-crossing, fighting, intrigue, and intent, It wouldn’t be a Bounty Hunters book without at least one of the “recognizable” scum in the story and this issue its Dengar, who’s grown a surprising fandom ever since he was introduced over forty years ago. Sacks is one of the best Star Wars authors, in my opinion, and you should grab anything he writes whenever you can. 

And artist Paolo Villenelli provides the alley-oop for this slam dunk of an issue. His pencil work is incredible and he seems to have a special knack for rendering the Star Wars universe. He’s got a great grasp of graphic storytelling, and the ability to draw likenesses without making them look like they were drawn by looking at a movie still. He’s one of the few artists that can draw a dogfight in space and have it be easy to follow. You can also add action to his list of accomplishments. In this issue there’s a battle between two groups and Villenelli gets everything down from the fist-fights to the blaster fire. A really nice book to look at.