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"We've managed to keep Valance alive this long, so hopefully he'll make it through his last adventure."
―Ethan Sacks[4]

Bounty Hunters 42 is the forty-second and final issue of the 2020 canon comic book series Star Wars: Bounty Hunters. The issue was written by Ethan Sacks, illustrated by Jethro Morales, Paolo Villanelli, and Arif Prianto, and published by Marvel Comics on January 17, 2024.

Publisher's summary[]

THE EXPLOSIVE END OF THE SAGA! VALANCE THE BOUNTY HUNTER has one final mission to complete…and it may indeed be his LAST! Can he and the crew fight their way past BOBA FETT…and JABBA's SECRET WEAPON? The GRAND FINALE of the series that's four years in the making!

Plot summary[]

THE SECRET WEAPON
Valance's memory has been restored, and
now the cyborg hero has turned his sights on
to one last mission--an all-out assault on
Jabba's Palace.

Meanwhile, T'onga and the rest of the bounty
hunter crew have disbanded. They are now
each at their own crossroads, from which they
face uncertain futures….

Development[]

Teases and later clarifications[]

While developing the comic, writer Ethan Sacks asked Marvel Comics and Lucasfilm for specific things.[5] The first was for the issue to be longer, meaning it would need two artists—the first being Jethro Morales[6]—and the second being the returning Paolo Villanelli, whose return was also his second request.[7] Villanelli was happy to return to the series to aid in bringing a story he helped start to the finish line.[8] Part of what Villanelli drew was the comic's ending. Sacks also had a third request:[9] he wanted a chance to write a comic about the bounty hunter Jango Fett[10] and said as such when asked what he wanted his next project to be. The request was quickly green-lit, leading to the 2024[11] comic miniseries Star Wars: Jango Fett[12] by Sacks with art by Luke Ross.[11]

At New York Comic Con 2023, it was revealed that issue 42 would be the final of the series,[5] with Sacks claiming it would feature Beilert Valance's "last adventure."[4] Stating it was a "true story," Sacks claimed in a Tweet on October 20, 2023, that he had happy endings prepared for the issue but abandoned them when Villanelli returned, instead adopting what he called "Plan B."[13] However, after the comic's release and the endings for most characters indeed being positive, Sacks revealed the Villanelli part of the Tweet had been a joke: the happy endings half of the Tweet had been the "true story" all along.[14] Indeed, Valance's ending had been planned by Sacks from the start, with the only question being who he would reach out to.[15] At first, all Sacks was certain of was that it would not be his former love Yuralla Vega because she had moved on from their relationship. According to Sacks, the ending sees Valance having finally found worth in his own being[16] and having become the person Nakano Lash saw in him.[17]

Via his Twitter account on June 28, 2023, in what would be the first public reference to issue 42, Sacks teased the comic could address the fates of the characters Dengar and Manaroo, thereby explaining why Dengar was still working as a bounty hunter into the New Republic Era despite his plans to quit and also explaining Manaroo's absence in The Aftermath Trilogy.[3] In the final issue, Manaroo is shown to have grown annoyed with Dengar's attitude and actions.[18] When asked by a fan if the issue was teasing Manaroo soon breaking off her relationship with Dengar, Sacks responded "a lot of seeds [had been] planted for some bitter fruit for the lug!"[19] Issue 42 also sees a mention of Droopy McCool as a gift for Tommy Stella,[20] Sacks's, in Stella's words, "Droopy muse."[21]

Post-release discussion[]

"But most of all, thank you. Whether this is your first BOUNTY HUNTERS comic or you are a card-carrying member of #ValanceNation who endured years of perpetual heartbreak and occasional smiles, this series couldn't have made it without the support of the fans…"
―Ethan Sacks[22]

The day of release, Villanelli shared line art from the issue[8] and expressed hope to one day return to drawing the Bounty Hunters cast.[23] In a Quote Tweet[24] and Twitter thread,[25] Sacks thanked Villanelli for his help in telling the story.[24] He further thanked many others who had helped him in writing the series, including every artist who had worked on the series interiors[26] and covers,[27] colorist Arif Prianto,[28] letterer Travis Lanham,[27] and his editors.[29] Most of all, Sacks wanted to thank fans of Bounty Hunters.[22]

Media[]

Cover gallery[]

Appearances[]

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Organisms

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Organizations and titles

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Weapons and technology

Miscellanea

Collections[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Marvel-TemplateLogo Star Wars: Bounty Hunters (2020) #42 on Marvel Comics' official website (backup link)
  2. The events of Star Wars: Bounty Hunters take place after the Escape from Cloud City and before the Rescue of Han Solo, which are dated to 3 ABY and 4 ABY, respectively, by Star Wars: Galactic Atlas.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "May be addressed in Bounty Hunters 42 (In response to: "Do you guys ever think about Manaroo and Dengar planning to leave bounty hunting behind and retire but then Dengar is still doing bounty hunting during the time of Aftermath and Manaroo is nowhere in sight?)" (backup link)
  4. 4.0 4.1 TwitterLogo Friends of the Force (@FriendsOfForce) on Twitter: ".@ethanjsacks asked for 3 things to send it out with a bang and the final issue (I think) is his favorite he's ever written. "We've managed to keep Valance alive this long, so hopefully he'll make it through his last adventure."" (backup link)
  5. 5.0 5.1 TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "Yes, it's true. STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS ends with Issue 42 in January. If you weren't at the panel, I can tell you I asked @Marvel and Lucasfilm for three things to end it with a bang (no, that's not a blowing up Valance reference). 1/" (backup link)
  6. TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "NO. 1: It's going to be extra-sized to send Valance with off an explosive finale. (Sorry.) It's so big we need TWO artists including the great Jethro Morales… 2/" (backup link)
  7. TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "NO. 2: I asked for was to bring back @paolovillanelli for the ending. YES! If you weren't at the panel, you missed Paolo jumping up from the audience, yelling "You promised I was done, I can't take this anymore," and running out of the room. We're proud of that bit. 3/" (backup link)
  8. 8.0 8.1 TwitterLogo Paolo Villanelli (@paolovillanelli) on Twitter: "Issue 42 of #starwars #bountyhunters is out today. Is the end of nearly 3 years of crazy storytelling with fellows @ethanjsacks and arifprianto super grateful to all the @marvel editorial team and @lucasfilm for giving me a chance to come back to finish what we started /1" (backup link)
  9. TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "Don't worry he's under contract. He had to draw the ending. And it's perfect. Then there was request NO. 3. 4/" (backup link)
  10. TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "Yup (In response to: "what was request three? was it the jango miniseries?")" (backup link)
  11. 11.0 11.1 TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "They asked me what I wanted to do next. I said Jango. They said yes. They said your artist will be Luke Ross. I spontaneously combusted. Coming in March 2024." (backup link)
  12. StarWars NYCC 2023: 13 Highlights from the Lucasfilm Publishing Panel on StarWars.com (backup link)
  13. TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "True story: I had plans for a series of happy endings for all the major characters at the end of Issue 42. But then @paolovillanelli agreed to come back. So we went with Plan B" (backup link)
  14. TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "The true story part was the first part. The Paolo part was a joke." (backup link)
  15. TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "That last page of Bounty Hunters #42 was always how I wanted to end the series. I just didn't know who would be on the other end of the grasp yet." (backup link)
  16. TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "I just knew ...SPOILER ALERT...>>>>>>>...that it couldn't be Yura. She had to be strong enough to have moved on after he left her for years, a he struggled with the feelings that he was horribly damaged and not worthy. And he had to grow to find the worth in himself." (backup link)
  17. TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "He finally grew into the person she saw in him. (In response to: "It somewhat reminded me of this, which is interesting!" and an attached image of Lash telling Valance "Because I was once that kid... and no one was there to save me.")" (backup link)
  18. Bounty Hunters 42
  19. TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "There have been a lot of seeds planted for some bitter fruit for the lug!" (backup link)
  20. TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "Verified. That was for Tommy. (In response to "I have acquired the big grand Bounty Hunter finale and found the Droopy McCool reference! Ethan told me earlier today that he put the reference in just for me (not a bit) and it's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. I would die for u @ethanjsacks")" (backup link)
  21. TwitterLogo Tommy Stella (@tommy_stella) on Twitter: "It's an honor to be your Droopy muse. Or as the kids say, your droose. Hayden said that earlier. Hayden is kids." (backup link)
  22. 22.0 22.1 TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "But most of all, thank you. Whether this is your first BOUNTY HUNTERS comic or you are a card-carrying member of #ValanceNation who endured years of perpetual heartbreak and occasional smiles, this series couldn't have made it without the support of the fans... 15/" (backup link)
  23. TwitterLogo Paolo Villanelli (@paolovillanelli) on Twitter: "/2 too bad we are killing all these wonderful characters! Hopefully one day we'll be back for more :)" (backup link)
  24. 24.0 24.1 TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "This guy is the most talented and awesome soul to ever kill a Nexu. Grateful to have carved a swathe of destruction across the Star Wars galaxy as his co-pilot." (backup link)
  25. TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "First and foremost, I salute my friend, artist @Paolo Villanelli, who bestowed this book with its signature cinematic look. Paolo co-piloted the series with me for 31 issues and remained an inspiration right up to the last page. Our collaboration became magic.... 5/" (backup link)
  26. TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "But we were blessed to have a murderers' row of other great artists also shine on this book--@ramonfbachs, @NatachaBustos, @alessandromirac, Lan Medina @Tinto83Tinto, and @jetzun each made my scripts turn out so much better than I could have dreamed... 6/" (backup link)
  27. 27.0 27.1 TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "There are not enough words of praise for letterer extraordinaire @TravisJLanham, which I realize is ironic. There are too many fantastic cover artists to name-check here, but I cherish the fine work of each and every one... 8/" (backup link)
  28. TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "There wasn't a single page over these four years that didn't look stunning. One reason was the consistent brilliance of colorist Arif Prianto, who made every panel from issue #1 to issue #42 feel like a frame from a Star Wars film... 7/" (backup link)
  29. TwitterLogo Ethan Sacks (@ethanjsacks) on Twitter: "Thank you to my editors, @MarkPaniccia, @DannyKhazem , @MikeyJBasso, and @CBCebulski, whose guidance and support meant everything. Thank you to @TommyGWrites, who helped me take my first step into a larger world, to paraphrase some old guy on Tatooine... 9/" (backup link)

External links[]


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