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January 30, 2008
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 Vector, a twelve part mini-series crossing over into all four of the current Dark Horse Star Wars titles, has been something of an enigma since it was first announced, and, though its initial issue hit newsstands and comic shops today, the series remains a cryptic curiosity. Despite some engaging artwork, the jury is still very much out on its merits as an addition to the timeline.
Issue number one, which is also Knights of the Old Republic #25, finds erstwhile padawan-on-the-lam Zayne Carrick skulking through the bowels of the Taris undercity with his partner in crime Marn 'Gryph' Hierogryph. The two are dodging both the invading Mandalorian army, and the horde of rakghouls (werewolf-style creatures first glimpsed in Bioware's KotoR video game) bent on wreaking havoc amongst the Outcasts that live underground.
Simultaneously, a member of the Covenant, a secret society within the Jedi Order, has a terrible vision of the future, detailing the destruction of Taris at the hands of a vast plague of rakghouls. Additionally, an ancient Sith artifact known as the Muur Talisman is glimpsed, and the seer goes on to witness Zayne Carrick, whom she recognizes, as well as three other Jedi whom she does not (but who the readers will identify as Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and Cade Skywalker). While the ultimate reasons for and effect of the vision are unclear, it seems likely that the story arc will trace the path of the talisman through several millennia of Star Wars history.
Its difficult to judge the Vector story itself based solely on the first issue. John Jackson Miller's text is tightly woven; he eschews the elaborate, exposition-heavy dialogue that typifies much of KotoR's first twenty-four issues in favor of sparse one-liners and a bare minimum of description. Some of the tongue-in-cheek humor works, some of it doesn't, but, as ever, Gryph fares the best, spouting gems such as:
 While Miller is busy throttling back the word balloons, penciller Scott Hepburn and colorist Michael Atiyeh are picking up the slack, filling the issue's glossy pages with sprawling panels that speak to the breakneck sense of pacing present from the opening frame. The backgrounds are lush and vibrant, and while the manga/anime inspired characters are not my preference, they do lend a certain fluidity to the proceedings that work well when paired with the stripped down dialogue.
Ultimately, the Vector story arc does have potential, but it is worrisome to see so much lip service being paid to how accessible it is to non-core readers. Various interviews with John Jackson Miller, as well as a bullet-pointed checklist in the reader letters column of the issue itself, have pointed to the fact that Vector requires no preceding knowledge so as to make it 'easily accessible' to new consumers. Furthermore, readers are 'not forced to purchase issues of series they wouldn't ordinarily read just to follow the story of the cross-over."
Come again?
Let's analyze that statement for a moment. The story arc is going to be so easy to follow that it doesn't even require you to read all of the issues to get the point? Is that about right? If so, wow, I think we have reached a new low in pandering to the widest possible audience at the expense of storytelling quality, all of which begs the question of whether Vector is a Star Wars story that needs to be told, or a marketing initiative designed to prop up flagging comic sales. Time will tell, I suppose. Vector may yet wind up charting an authentic, enjoyable path through the continuity, but if the first issue is any indication, its got a long road ahead.
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