"Bounty Hunters #16: War of the Bounty Hunters: Shadow Soldiers" by Ethan Sacks

"Bounty Hunters #16: War of the Bounty Hunters: Shadow Soldiers" written by Ethan Sacks, illustrated by Paolo Villanelli and Arif Prianto

As a reminder, this is quickly becoming my favorite current Star Wars long-run comic series. So I went into this issue with very high hopes, thinking we'd get to see where the story left off in Boba Fett and Valance having teamed up to go after Han. I mean, that freaking panel and moment was brilliant!!! See my review of "War of the Bounty Hunters #4" to see the images. Essentially Fett realizes that his ship is not the only ship surrounding the disabled Imperial shuttle carrying carbonite-encased Han. And we're left seriously wondering what in the heck is going to happen from here...

Only to be given the story before that story. Ugh! Why?? I felt like we already knew Valance and Dengar were headed to Jekara to get Han and pounce Boba Fett. Did we really need the moments on the Punishing One (Dengar's ship) as they traveled through hyperspace? No, I don't think we did. But, I get why they did it this way. They wanted to pick up the Cadeliah thread (the hidden dual heir of the Mourner's Wail Syndicate and the Unbroken Clan). Valance sends a holo message to Kondra, the Rebel married to Valance's old flame Yura, both of which who are looking after Cadeliah in a secret Rebel hideout. So they wanted to remind us of where Cadeliah is at the moment and, really, that she's still a very important character to this particular series's story. There's also another reason which I detail under "SPOILERS" below but I still would've just moved the story along.

Then we get eyes on T'onga and her "Mission to Return Cadeliah to Her Family" crew (remember that Zuckuss is part of this group due to his losing his best friend in 4-LOM because of reprogramming). See their ship the Edgehawk below. They're currently after Valance because of his knowledge on Cadeliah's whereabouts which takes them to Jekara where it's all going down. 

Once Valance and Dengar land on the ice planet, we're where we were in the story in "War of the Bounty Hunters #4" and there's even a good deal of repeat between the two issues.

We also see Vukorah, self-proclaimed current leader of the Unbroken Clan (ignoring the reality of Cadeliah's mourning grandfather) as she sits casually in a window (see below), drinking spice wine and talking to Margo (Qi'ra's second-in-command of Crimson Dawn). Margo claims there will be more entertainment to come despite the vast majority of the guests zooming away after the Imperials who have Han. Hmmm...I find this quite interesting and am very excited to see if there will indeed be more "entertainment" on the Vermillion (the site of the auction for Han and Crimson Dawn's flagship) as the party seemingly continues.

And then Dengar, having been left for dead by the newly-teamed-up Boba and Valance, nearly gets eaten by a Zugorak (see below), but gets saved by Deathstick (see below)! Remember the sneaky way that Dengar edged around why Deathstick suddenly disappeared and had stopped attacking him and Valance on Canto Bight (see my review of "Bounty Hunters #15")? Well, Deathstick is cashing in. What does Dengar give the assassin???

SPOILERS

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Dengar tells Deathstick, "Valance sent a transmission through the frequency on this drive. It's an old smuggler's code. You can use it to trace the location of the Rebel Base where they are hiding the girl." Deathstick replies with, "Then Crimson Dawn's victory is close at hand."

Well, the transmission he's speaking of was the one made at the beginning of this issue. So that's why they went back in time. They were setting up "the after." I feel like though that Dengar could have still said the above and we would've just assumed that Valance had made a call to check in on Cadeliah. We didn't need to see the actual call to understand Dengar's intentions. Oh well, for once, I will admit that Star Wars is oversharing. Lol...never thought I'd say that!

Still a great issue with so incredibly much to take in!!! I look forward, wait, that's totally the wrong sentiment for what it seems like is going to be coming now...so how about, I'm anxious to find out where this all goes...

One last random comment--what in the heck is meant by the title, "Shadow Soldiers"??? I am SO flummoxed on this one.