"Fast Now! I want a clean sweep... no survivors!" With those words, Valance the Hunter burst onto the comic scene as his crew attacked a medical facility, killing every being and droid. Valance is the original Star Wars bounty hunter, introduced in the pages of Marvel Comics Star Wars #16, before The Empire Strikes Back gave us Boba Fett and his cohorts. The galaxy that Valance inhabits in the pages of the Star Wars title help shape his character. Marvel picked up on the bigotry expressed by the bartender in Mos Eisley in the Star Wars movie when he said to Luke about the droids "We don't serve their kind here!... Your droids. They'll have to wait outside. We don't want them here." Throughout the early part of the Marvel run, there is an undercurrent of hatred towards droids (we would not find out why until the prequel trilogy) and Valance had an especially vengeful hatred of them. It turns out by the end of Star Wars #16 we learned the origin of Valance's hatred; Valance was an Imperial officer who was wounded in battle and turned into a cyborg to save his life. Cyborgs are treated even more poorly than droids in the Star Wars title.
In Star Wars #16, Valance learns about Luke Skywalker's destruction of the Death Star and kind treatment of C-3PO and R2-D2. Valance becomes obsessed with finding and killing Luke and his droid companions, an obsession that would play out in the Star Wars title in future issues.
Star Wars #16a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 1978) Newsstand 1st appearance of Valance the HunterStar Wars #16b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 1978) Direct 1st appearance of Valance the Hunter
Star Wars #16 is one of a few Marvel issues that does not focus on one of the main heroes introduced in the movies. Instead, it introduces us to a new villain and wraps us storylines for previously introduced characters like Jaxxon, Amaiza, Don-Wan Kihotay, and the Starkiller Kid.
No comments:
Post a Comment