Dark Times #2: The Path to Nowhere, part 2 (of 5)

I thought that's why Yaddle was on the Council. At four-hundred-something, Yoda's practically Robbing the Cradle.

 

Whoa? Celibate?

"Celibacy" means that you don't marry. It is often confused with "chastity", which relates to sex.

For example, Catholic priests are required to be celibate, ie, they don't marry. Specific laws of chastity are not required for them, however, as it is expected that all Catholics abstain from sex outside of marriage.

That is why "celibate" has erroneously come to mean "chaste", even though they are two different concepts.

In short, the Jedi are celibate - but they are not required to be chaste.

 

oh so that's why Anakin and padme had to get married first??? *grin*

It's Quin who sets the bad example...god love him!!!Let's here it for the bad boys.

 

Nay! Let's hear it for Anakin's marital responsibility!

(I never actually thought I'd be calling it that, but in this light it seems fitting.)

Anyway with Dass Jennir being a slightly unorthodox Jedi, as I think we've seen, and with the order being pretty much totaled as of now, I doubt that he'll bother to heed a lot of the non-existant council's regulations any more.

I wonder if we'll meet any other Order 66 survivers later on in the series?

 

Yeah, I thought I'd implied that with the over-enthusiasm.

Ah, ok, my bad. The priests being "celibate" always led me to thinking "that's why they're not allowed sex", when of course - as you say - it's just a side-effect of not being married.

 

Why shouldn't he? They're part of his belief system. It would be refreshing to see a Jedi who actually believes in the Code. Some Jedi will be more adaptable, of course, but it's hardly as if all of them want to turn their backs on their Order's moral code as soon as possible.

 

Kai Huddorra's got no qualms about using the Force for gambling. The Code is quite ingrained in him, eh?

I agree, too many rebel Jedi. What do they even have a Code and Council for if no one gives a Sith.

 

I actually meant some of them, not all of them. But it isn't as if the Clone Wars didn't do an excellent of job of messing up the order and confusing it's members. In retrospect I'm surprised that Yoda and Obi-wan were able to hold on to so many of the old order's ideals and teachings in the OT. Of course I'm not saying that the fall of the order means that all of the surviving Jedi would go "Hey, we're going extinct again. Let's forget the order's core teachings and everything else that made us Jedi and do wild and crazy stuff" (Then again, look at Koffi Arana) but I do think that more of them would be susceptable to adapting in order to survive.

I mean, Dass is hooking up with pirates right?

 

That's totally what I'd do.

 

G-canon my friend.

 

G-rambling. Possibly even a G-joke.

 

A freighter crew, who've maybe done some smuggling. Big difference.

 

I greatly enjoyed this issue. Etka Reich, who wrote in to say: "Doug Wheatley's art blew me away. His is the most incredible art on the stands today, no question." Was absolutely right. Remember that shot of Dass Jennir, not saying anything, that was be-a-utifully rendered? Similarly to Brian Badeaux in Rebellion, there were some instances of art being used to tell a story. The page with the four panels of the Clone troops and their transports moving forward --- I'm not even kidding when I say that John Williams's "The Droid Invasion" began playing in my head. I didn't even realize it until halfway down the page.

This series seems like it has a lot of potential. The little snippets with Vader promise great things to come, and the band of rogues are being introduced slowly but surely. Plus, Jennir seems to be going a little roguish himself. The essential "female aboard the rogue crew so there's romance between her and the hero" was even thrown in.

"Jovial" Jay Shepard wrote in to say: Dark Times #1 is actually Republic #84. Yeah! I've felt that way since Issue #1, as well, and couldn't be happier about it. I would love to see a future story arc involving Kai Hudorra.

I speak very highly about Rebellion, but I think that it would be a worthy sacrifice to see Dark Times become continuous. The fact that I'm saying this after two issues says something about the quality of the series so far.

 

Jeff, thanks for the kind words re: Dark Times.

Don't worry, we haven't forgotten Kai Hudorra -- or even Noirah Na -- and Vader is always looming on the horizon demanding that we find a part for him to play. But all of those characters will have to wait a bit. Don't want to strain credibility by making the galaxy the size of my backyard. Suffice to say, their times will come. And, I've always felt that anticipation was sweet.

Vader's portrayal in this series owes everything to his tragic origins in RotS, and to his I'm-so-not-used-to-this presentation in Dark Lord. Though, Welles Hartley and Mick Harrison are grateful that Jim Luceno didn't think to play the very obvious (we thought) "slavery" card in that novel. That oversight certainly gave the team a nice peg on which to hang Vader's character.

I have to admit, I'm baffled by the widespread assumption of a romance between Dass Jennir and Crys Taanzer. Could it be that "romance" has become so central to popular storytelling that just putting a man and a woman together in a scene instantly raises the expectation that they will get together? I've seen the same thing over on Legacy, too, where Cade Skywalker and Sia Fel sharing a scene instantly raised the Romance flag. And in the Jennir-Taanzer case, they shared exactly three words with one another, then she turned and walked away. That Jennir was amused by the exchange was evident by his smile, but Taanzer's expression (so beautifully rendered by Doug Wheatley) was so enigmatic it could give the Mona Lisa a run for her money, IMO.

If either of the pairs mentioned end up as couples, please come say to me, "I told you so." But from the evidence presented thus far, I'd say a Bomo-Ratty pairing was more likely.

Anyway, I'm gald the series has people talking!

 

Right.

Okay, how about this? Even though Astraal Vao showed NO signs of interest in Jeriah Syn's leering advances, there was speculation that they'd end up a couple, too. I think you guys just have sex on the brain.

 

It's the conditioning from entertainment media. In most TV shows, movies, comics, etc, any time a man and woman share a scene -- particularly if there's some sort of argument or tension -- they eventually have some sort of romantic entanglement. Call it the "Sam & Diane Factor"

Of course, that being said, i'll be the first to admit to sex on the brain. Though the positioning can get a little awkward in that case.

 

I couldn't agree more. Throwing all of those characters together again at the beginning would be a bit anticlimactic and credibility-straining, for sure. I'm certainly not tired of reading about Jennir yet.

 

Randy, come on. The hero's supposed to get the girl. I've been using that for a few weeks now to refute GAJ's claims that an Imperial Princess would never hook up with scum like Cade. It's ingrained into our culture. They either get the girl or they're a tragic hero on the next level of tragicness. Of course, no one says they have to rush into it. It's not like we were saying Syn grabbed Astaal's lekku and the next panel shoulda shown them sharing a bed and a bottle of wine, but it'd be...cute, maybe... to eventually see them end up a couple after starting off on rocky footing (and that look Syn gives her is just downright creepy, which would strain the credibility of any quick starts to whatever relationship they might end up with)

But actually, I've got it on good authority that 'Sia and Naxy Screeger end up together. John or Jan (can't remember which) told me a while ago.

 

No way. No way. Astraal can and must do better than Syn.

 

And Syn can probably rape much better than Astraal...

 

Uh huh.

Lewd comments equal rapist.

I never knew.

 

That sounds wrong.



Oh, wait, that's because it is.

 

Agreed. If every Jedi Knight abandons all the rules and beliefs of the Jedi it is obvious why the Jedi Order fell in the first place. These people were not interested in being GOOD because they believed in it. They were being good so they didn't get kicked out of the Jedi Order and have to live on the run, probably watched over by Jedi Knights constantly to make sure they didn't get too out of line.

If the other Jedi Master Hudorra enters the Dark Times story arc, I would love to see sort of a "Contrast" type thing. Maybe with Jennir staying true to all of the Jedi ideals and Hudorra being a smuggler/gambler/scum type. Give Jennir a happy ending of some type (Maybe knowing that he gave his life in the end so Boma could reunite with Leesa and Reesa) while Hudorra is shot in the back for pushing his cheating so far. He dies knowing he was a jerk.

I thought I did have...with everything in Star Wars being more like "Two Degrees of Seperation...." I do not think Jennir and the human female are going to end up in a relationship. Look closely at the two Panels where she says "Sniffles is right". The same brow wrinkles....similar nose structure....the same straight, straight hair. The same lip structure.... Yup, I'm calling it. She is his sister.

Carnage

 

Hudorra isn't really scum, though. He's just got a different idea of how best to fight the Purge: by going underground, disappearing, blending in, waiting it out and biding your time. That's a different kind of compromise with his values than simply saying, "Hey, I really want to sleep with that chick, but the Jedi Council says I can't . . . oh, wait, the Jedi Council's gone! Sweet, let's get it on!"