Star Wars Addiction

January 3, 2008

Dark Horse Comics has been pumping out high quality Star Wars titles for so long now that enjoying each new release is almost a foregone conclusion. That said, Knights of the Old Republic has long been my least favorite of the four ongoing series, primarily because of the laborious dialogue.

While the plot arcs have been stellar additions to the canon, the execution occasionally left a bit to be desired, as the characters often talked, and talked, and talked some more, with so many long-winded speech bubbles filling the panels (and even the cover), that you’d be hard pressed to see the art for the words in the way.

Happily, the last few issues have kicked it up a notch, and the year long Days/Knights narrative has reached a satisfying conclusion in Issue #24: Knights of Suffering, Part 3.

Wrongly accused padawan Zayne Carrick has come full circle, returning to the planet Taris where he first witnessed the murder of his fellow padawans at the hands of their traitorous masters.

Cassus Fett, the noted leader of the invading Mandalorian horde, has holed up in the Jedi Temple, making it his personal headquarters and drawing the ire of the Jedi and local criminal gangs like the Hidden Beks.

Zayne embarks on a mission to confront Fett, as well as the mentally unstable Jedi Raana Tey who insists on proving Zayne’s culpability in the earlier murders. Accompanied by the sister of one of the slain padawans, Zayne must use his wits as well as his suspect Force abilities to survive the final confrontation with the skilled Tey.

This issue neatly addresses the many outstanding plot threads that have been building over the course of the story arc, leaving the reader with a welcome sense of closure. The script, by John Jackson Miller, does more with less, and the whole comic is better for it. The pencils and inks, by Dustin Weaver and Dan Parsons, respectively, are exemplary, with a generous helping of full-page action spreads and finely detailed characters. Michael Atiyeh does an equally fine job with the colors, glossing the Old Republic locales with a somber sheen that gives the title a look unique among Dark Horse’s Star Wars lineup.

While it remains to be seen how the series plays out following the forthcoming Vector crossover arc, its clear that Knights of the Old Republic has hit its storytelling stride, and is running on all cylinders.


	DarthDan January 3, 2008 Comment 1 Nice to see that it all came full circle, though I'm curious about the coincidental Mandalorian leader named Fett some 4000 years before another Fett named Jango would be picked up from a planet of farmers by Mandalorians and subsequently sire a future leader of the Mandalorians named Boba Fett. This doth sound a bit contrived. . . KOTOR seems to have its own look when juxtaposed with other Dark Horse SW titles. iam118 January 3, 2008 Comment 2 Yeah, I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed this series so far. JediJef January 3, 2008 Comment 3 I'm a little worried about what's going to happen with Vector, to be honest, as I was just starting to get into KotoR over the last few issues. RebelFox January 5, 2008 Comment 4 Nice article, Master Jef. Always a joy to read. Mara Jaded January 5, 2008 Comment 5 QUOTE(JediFox @ January 5 2008, 11:27 AM) Nice article, Master Jef. Always a joy to read. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> What? No spankings this time?? I missed spankings...mutters Forever January 5, 2008 Comment 6 I really love the title for this story arc. Excellent article again, Jeff. My favorite author.