Yoda once said “Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things” and as such no Jedi should buy this book. Everyone who isn’t a Jedi and who does crave these things however would be well advised to give this a go.
What They Say:
By now the galaxy has learned the terrible truth: Sith Lord Darth Maul still lives. Worse, he has joined forces with his brother Savage Opress! The Jedi are searching for them and, after Maul and Opress cut a murderous swath through the Outer Rim, so is an army of mercenaries hired by a wealthy mine owner. Darth Maul has a price on his head, and for him there is only one way to deal with such a problem: go directly to the source!
The Review: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The issue kicks into high gear from the first page as the chaos that Darth Maul and his brother Savage Opress bring with them is seen in all its horrible glory wand carnage as the devastated bodyguards of Ja’Boag lie at their feet and their employer is dangled by Opress through the Force over the fire pit that constitutes part of his mining operation.
Upon arrival the Jedi are immediately pushed into action as they act to save Ja’Boag and are set upon by the pair of wrath filled brothers when the attempt at negotiating a peaceful surrender ends pretty much how one would expect it to. In the midst of the fight casualties mount among the members of Ja’Boag’s army and only some fortuitously placed materials prevent the casualty list for the Jedi from growing much higher, though nothing can prevent there being major injuries and a mistake by Opress leaves Maul alone and wounded. With his greatest ally cut off and also suffering from the battle scars is Maul finally finished or is it possible that he will find help in the most unlikely of places? And what happens when the Jedi start to investigate Ja’Boag- will they discover that they may have been better off leaving him to the Sith brothers not so tender mercies?
After the first issue of the series the potential for payoff was present though the chance that things might go askew wasn’t exactly impossible while the large amount of exposition left the lore of some of the characters to carry the weight of the issue more than anything that actually happened in the issue. The second issue on the other hand takes a much different approach than the careful setting up of the pieces that its predecessor did as now with those pieces in place the game can be carried out in a swarm of action with death being only one small error away from being visited upon any of the players on the field.
The story and its danger is really sold by the cooperation of a very well set up environment for the events to take place at while the energy of the artwork serves to enhance and turbo charge the action. The fight alone is worth the price of admission but it isn’t the only draw as Maul’s post fight encounter and the twist it brings when combined with the growing suspicions of the Jedi makes this issue worth the price of its predecessor as well and will make it almost impossible for anyone not to pick up the continuing issues as the tale spun here creates an impressive galaxy of options for how the events could play out and the issue leaves an almost tangible level of anticipation to see just how that happens.
In Summary:
The second act of this Darth Maul adventure storms onto the scene with a flurry of activity that is sure to please any action fan but it saves its most choice selection of prime grade material in the late twist that sets up an incredible hook as the entire common knowledge of the Star Wars universe may face a sizable tilting on its head. While there is a chance this may end up being a tale of the scorpion like climax, there is an uncertainty to things that is rare in the Star Wars comic universe and which makes this easily an issue any Star Wars comic fan should pick up.
Grade: A-
