“Who’s The Vos?”
Creative Staff:
Story: Michael Moreci
Art: Nick Brokenshire
Colors: David Kennedy
Letterer: Tyler Smith, Jimmy Betancourt
What They Say:
Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos arrives on the crime ridden world of Bevana, on a mission that could be the key to ending the Clone Wars. But it turns out the defector he’s tracking has more than Dooku’s secrets, he’s also made off with a sizeable amount of the count’s fortune! Now Vos finds himself in a lethal race against time with the deadliest bounty hunter in the Galaxy, Cad Bane!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Dark Horse Comics returned to the world of Star Wars after a few years away and they launched with what’s basically an anthology series with various creators coming in for single-issue stories. This latest tale brings in the talents of Michael Moreci on the script while Nick Brokenshire handles the artwork with David Kennedy on the colors. The story has a pretty brisk feeling to it and definitely plays to the all-ages aspect but also spends time with a character that a lot of people have an attachment to from their time in the Clone Wars as well as the reference in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. Quinlan Vos doesn’t register much for me with either of those but the character gets a solidly fun adventure here.
The premise is straightforward as it takes place in the Bavan system on a world that essentially has a lot of bounty hunters and other seedy types. While we get a few names along the way, a young man is the target of a lot of people here as he was in Count Dooku’s service and bolted, taking not only the secrets he had with him but some materials as well. That has the Republic sending Quinlan Vos to bring him in with hopes of getting the intel. And it’s tough from the start since the target is easy pickings for even the lowest level of criminals and bounty hunters operating on this world. It’s a fun rescue that we get early on that puts him in Vos’ care for the duration as he tries to make a deal of sorts to survive, but it becomes a lot more imperative once Cad Bane shows up.
Naturally, these two have a history though Bane of course would have preferred Kenobi being here, which he says outright. What we get is a pretty good chase sequence that has Vos trying to keep his guy alive while fending off not just Bane but a bunch of others that come after them as well. And it naturally gets more complicated in what Vos has to protect as well but that just makes it more fun to watch play out. It runs the game from being on foot to small craft and then to a big showdown in a smelting location so that you get some good variety in quick order. It’s got a breeziness to it but it also works well with the dialogue so that everyone feels authentic as they can in such a short space. The advantage is having the voices in our heads from the show itself, especially for Bane, and it does a nice tie-in moment to the Bad Batch as well that left me smiling.
In Summary:
Fans of this era of storytelling and these characters get something that’s definitely a lot of fun. Moreci handle the voice and style of them well while Brokenshire’s artwork is fantastic in feeling like it’s distinctive but also capturing a bit of that animation feel at times with some of its angular elements. And we get a lot going on int he backgrounds so that it doesn’t feel like we’re getting something simple and minimal here. The end result is a story that delivers well for fans of these characters but are also quite accessible if you’ve never heard of any of them or just have some passing knowledge from the recent live-action shows. It’s a lot of fun with some solid pacing and good dialogue that keeps it from being a super fast read.
Grade: B
Age Rating: All Ages
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: September 27th, 2023
MSRP: $3.99
