Lit A Chronological Journey Through the EU: Currently Disc. Interference

And so it begins–KOTOR is my favorite SW comic series, and the best, IMO. Can't wait to see how you like the series!

 

Well, dick move if you ask me, but whatever. Instead of being able to borrow the trades from the library, I had to go and attempt to track down each individual issue that had one of those in it and buy it online. Way less convenient and way more expensive. Would have made my life a lot easier if they'd just been included in the trades. The reason for trades in the first place is that they're more convenient than having a **** ton of individual issues cluttering up your shelves. But now it's going to be individual issues on the shelves, less durable, more confusing and not as nice looking. I mean, whatever, but it's just a bad idea to do it that way in a universe that has obsessive fans especially. I mean, I'm sure they made more money; a lot of people probably bought the monthlies & the trades.

 

5. Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith (1996) – Tom Veitch & Kevin J. Anderson

The entire Jedi Order is stymied by a bunch of college kids with approximately the same powers as The Scarecrow. The Jedi leadership coolly stands aside and let Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma make the most lame-brained decisions possible, because a Jedi must choose his own path, even if that path involves murdering billions. Ulic falls to the Dark Side because of a Sith poison; gee, is it just me or does this make it seem like Palpatine took the hard way with Luke in RotJ? Where was the hypodermic when Palps needed it, right? The book climaxes with Exar Kun and Ulic deciding to start a war to shake the galaxy because some dude that was blue told them they should.

The scary part? I haven’t even gotten the stupidest thing yet.

MOMENT YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Nomi Sunrider mounts a massive rescue mission to snatch Ulic away from the Krath. Nomi and her friends defy the Council, blast into a city packed with civilians with their warships, whip out their lightsabers and kill a few folks, risking all their lives. So that Nomi can walk up to Ulic and alert him to the fact that his own rescue team isn’t going to take him with them. THE **** YOU TALKING ABOUT WOMAN?! DID YOU FORGET TO LOOK UP ‘RESCUE’ IN THE DICTIONARY? BECAUSE I THINK YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO ACTUALLY TAKE THE PERSON YOU’RE ‘RESCUING’ WITH YOU.

If you thought, as I did, that Gav and Jori stopped behaving like rational humans in Fall of the Sith Empire, you won’t even believe this stuff. Does anyone have a rational thought in this entire story? Is anything actually motivated or do they just do all this stuff because the writer says they have to? How many times are you going to tell me that Shoaneb has no eyes? Because that last one is actually kind of obvious, dude, since, you know, I do!

At this point, these stories become so actively stupid that they actually make you dumber just from having them in your house.

Star Wars Chronology!

 

Gotta ask: when you get to it, are you going to include The Stele Chronicles or The Farlander Papers? Just curious, as you mention your completionist nature above (something I can identify with, although my collection is far from done).

Edit: On a related sidenote, does the Tie Fighter Official Strategy Guide actually include The Stele Chronicles, or does it just continue them?

 

No, don't hold back, Rogue1-and-a-half, tell us how you really feel about it.

 

Sure, I will include the Stele/Farlander stuff, provided I can find them.


Commencement



3,964 BBY

*This is interesting . . . our main character is utterly incompetent. I really love Zayne for this reason; he’s really very unique in the way that he’s both clumsy and unlucky.

*The scene where the politician is nattering about how the Jedi have crime under control and then the padawan falls screaming through the air next to his speeder is pricelessly funny. I laughed out loud. Cute.

*And the twist that the Padawan arrivies late to his graduation only to find that his fellow classmates have been MURDERED BY THEIR OWN MASTERS is just really brilliant. I'll admit that the image just threw me off; I was literally trying to understand what I was seeing and then one of the masters said, "You're late, young one," and it just killed me. It’s just great.

*And I can kind of already see the genius of what Miller’s going to do with this series and with Zayne. So, he’s late to the ceremony, right? Which seems like part and parcel of his whole incompetent/unlucky thing. When he’s racing to get to the ceremony, you’re kind of like, “What a doof.” And then the twist comes and you realize that Zayne was actually incredibly LUCKY, not unlucky. These are the little paradoxes that Miller is so adept at.

*I loved the way we transition from that to the flashback to an old master talking about the master's role: "We are not just their teachers; we are their protectors." Great. Brilliant.

*And so our Zayne is on the run from the masters, including his own, Lucien. And he had finally managed to capture the criminal he’s been after, Gryph, so suddenly, it’s the two of them on the run from these homicidal Jedi. This is a great set-up in the sense of the bickering buddy comedy and all that.

*The very idea of a Padawan trying to outsmart a bunch of Masters makes for great drama.

*And this certainly gives that scene where the masters talked about the 'graduation' a different tone. "Say what you will, I'll miss them." Geez, yeah . . .

*And the mystery is just stunning. WHY? Why on earth would they kill their own Padawans?

*So, the masters go down into the Underworld section of the city after Zayne and there’s this fantastic large panel of them fighting off hordes of bad guys.

*Great, great bit with Gryph convincing Zayne to shave off his braid. Great picture of Gryph and then Zayne's braid hits him on the shoulder. This is character stuff, guys, and great character stuff at that and so artfully done.

*Great scene with Zayne conversing with Master Tander via holo.

*So, wait, Tandar is a Yoda like Jedi, but he doesn't talk backwards . . . so was Yoda just goofing on everybody or what?

*The realization that Zayne thinks he might have actually have killed his friends and then blocked it from his memory: very cool.

*And the mystery grows, even as the clues grow. The fact that four of the five Jedi on planet are Consulars, the mysterious demise of a droid on the moon . . . this is great stuff, feeding us clues and still keeping us guessing.

*We finally get the payoff, in two brilliantly done large panels as we see the horrific visions that led the Jedi Masters to believe that one of their padawans would become a Sith lord that would destroy the Jedi. Only option: stop the prophecy at all costs; kill all the padawans.

*The droid's 'suicide' is great too.

*And at this point, I lose all interest.

*A nice three panel shot of Gryph, showing him going, quite nicely through a whole ream of emotions. Gryph is a really great character and the artists are able to make him just incredibly expressive.

*The final meeting between Lucien and Zayne is cool, as is the flashback to the murders.

*And the bounty hunter bites it. What a shock.

*And the story ends with Zayne deciding to become the prophecy if need be to get justice for his murdered friends, meaning that the Masters made the prophecy come true by trying to stop it. Well, yeah, that’s gotta feel good.

*An interesting start; well characterized, with an interesting and compelling premise. Sadly, the solution to the mystery proves to be yet another Jedi vision of the future, which is pretty clichéd. But still, having read farther in the series and already knowing how Miller is able to really build an incredible story out of this set-up, well, it’s a reminder about judging things too harshly. I definitely originally kind of didn’t like the whole “vision” solution because it felt pretty formulaic. But Miller really makes this series work, so dinging the series as a whole based on that particular plot point would have been really dumb.

*CANONICAL STATUS: Most of the records relating to Zayne Carrick are considered to be extremely accurate. Mostly likely these events happened exactly as recorded here. This work is RECOMMENDED as a historical reference.

*4 stars. Highly recommended.

John Jackson Miller

*Next time, let’s just keep on trucking. Love this series, so let’s keep going. Join me next time for Flashpoint.

Star Wars Reviews!

 

"And at this point, I lose all interest." What happened there?

 

I was being a little more flip than necessary about how the whole mystery resolved into yet another "vision of the future" thing. As I read on into the series, as I stated at the end there, that very quickly stopped mattering to me at all.

 

Flashpoint



3,963 BBY

*So, as this story opens, Zayne and his little group of misfits have made for the front lines of the Mandalorian War. The thinking is that this is the best place they can lose themselves and evade the murderous Jedi that are after them. Anyway, the story opens with them conning their way into a Republic outpost. They manage to convince the soldiers there that the Mandalorians are attacking and all the soldiers beat it out of there, leaving the outpost in the hands of Zayne’s group.

*So, they set about loading all the supplies and such into their ship when the downside of their “let’s go to the front lines” plan reveals itself, namely the Mandalorians attack for real.

*Great, great two page spread of the attacking Mandalorian horde just thundering down on our heroes.

*The Mandies capture Jarael because she was, and I am not making this up, playing with Zayne’s lightsaber and pretending to be Jedi Master Q’anilia instead of helping load the ship.

*In a moment that really underlines just how perfect the art is here, a panel captures Jarael realizing she is surrounded by Mandalorians. She is frozen in mid-movement, hilariously lifting up her Miraluka-esque blindfold with one finger. It’s the little moments that make the characters.

*Anyway, frigging great action sequence here as the Mandies capture Jarael and Zayne, Gryph, Elbee & Camper desperately flee through the forest, fighting Mandies as they go.

*More proof that Zayne & Gryph add up to one of the best duos in the Star Wars galaxy: Zayne throws a blaster to Gryph. “Take this. You may need it.” “What am I going to do, sell it to them? I think they’re covered when it comes to blasters.” “I mean use that trigger thing there. You’ve sold enough – you must have heard about it.” “I talk my way out of jams, henchman. You’re the muscle. Now muscle.”

*Oh this little sequence has a fantastic punchline. Just as Zayne and co. get to the ship, a Mandalorian Berserker cuts them off. It appears that he’s about to take Zayne out when suddenly . . . he turns and leaps into their ship and starts trying to steal it! That was a twist I didn’t see coming.

*Brief scene of Mandalore the Ultimate (right? All these Mandalores get me confused) discussing their assault with his second in command. I really hope this series isn’t just set against the backdrop of the war; I hope it is actually ABOUT the war, which scenes like this seem to make me think it will be. I mean, here’s hoping Mandalore the Ultimate is actually a character in the series.

*So, Zayne & crew get on the ship and Camper, surprisingly, takes out the Mandalorian.

*There’s this amazing panel of Gryph. In the fracas with the Mandie, he drops a ton of explosive charges and there’s this amazing shot of him screaming in panic and waving his arms. See, this is what I love about Miller’s work (and, of course, the artist Dustin Weaver who seems to be right on Miller’s wavelength). It’s his willingness to just go into full on comedy in the middle of a serious story. The humor was one of the reasons I loved the Lost Tribe stories.

*Admiral Karath gets an introduction. So, this guy is a hawk to make hawks seem like doves, if you get me.

*They spot Zayne’s ship leaving planet and heading for Mandalorian territory. This gives Karath the wrong idea and he’s pissed about it: “That’s it, then. Our Jedi killer was a Mandie operative . . . I’ll deal with Zayne Carrick personally.”

*So, the Mandie Berserker turns out to be a fellow name of Rohlan Dyre. He’s been getting suspicious about the Mandalorian assault on the Republic. He thinks there’s something odd about the tactics and the strategy. He thinks the Mandalorian leadership is up to something they’re not telling the troops. So, he’s trying to get away from the attacking forces so that he can figure out what’s really going on.

*Also, Mandie Berserker would be a great porn name.

*Anyway, he tells Zayne that Jarael’s been taken to a research station named Flashpoint. Because she had Zayne’s lightsaber, the Mandies think she’s a Jedi and all captured Jedi are delivered to a mad scientist called Demagol who runs Flashpoint and spends his time experimenting on Jedi to try to figure out what the deal is with this whole Force thing.

*God, shades of Jenna Zen Arbor. Let’s hope this turns out a little better than those books.

*Zen Arbor? Or Zan Arbor? Eh, I don’t care enough.

*Aha, time to check back in with a character introduced in Crossroads. Seems Squint is one of the captured Jedi at Flashpoint. Had a feeling he’d be back.

*Nice bit here. Demagol arrives to take Jarael to be experimented on. “Demagol, wait! Leave her. I’ll go.” “Squint, you know you’re my favorite, but this is rude to our new guest.” “Take me. I insist. I must have some ability you haven’t discovered yet.” “What are you doing? You can barely stand.” “These are trials only a Jedi can survive, Jarael. And I think we both know I’m the only Jedi in this conversation.” “How did you know--?” “Because we DO have abilities they have yet to discover. Maybe that’ll be their undoing.”

*I kind of wish that last sentence had been replaced with the bleaker, “And that’s our last hope.” But I like that exchange a lot.

*So, Rohlan brings Zayne into Flashpoint as a “prisoner.” More great stuff between Squint & Jarael. “Zayne? Zayne Carrick?” “You know him?” “We met on Taris a few weeks ago just before we set out. Our masters knew each other. You know him?” “You’re not up on current events, are you?”

*So Crossroads was “a few weeks ago.” I forget if there are any time markers in Commencement. I think it probably begins just right after Crossroads, like just a few days, if that. But some small amount of time has clearly passed between Commencement and Flashpoint; Zayne’s group is working together to some degree and they’ve been making plans.

*So, Demagol takes Zayne back to start vivisecting him. Rohlan & Zayne overpower Demagol and lock him in a closet. In a really humorous bit, Zayne and Rohlan pass through the prison area with Zayne wearing Demagol’s armor and Jarael manages to break free of her guards and leap on Zayne, thinking he’s Demagol. Pretty funny stuff.

*There’s a really cool sequence, played entirely without dialogue, of Zayne standing in plain sight of the Mandalorian guards (dressed as Demagol, of course) and coolly using the Force to plant charges all around the ships. He’s motioning with his hands, but it appears to the guards that he’s simply standing with his hands clasped behind his back. It takes a minute to explain, but visually, in a series of dialogue-free panels, it just really works.

*So, Zayne sets off the explosive charges while Gryph calls in on a Mandalorian channel pretending to be a Republic Admiral bombing the base. The Mandalorians retreat in a big hurry, leaving Flashpoint in the hands of Zayne’s group.

*It’s really clever actually. This is essentially the very same plan our little group used to make the Republic forces retreat from their bunker at the beginning of this story. I quite liked the reusing of the plan, with some very minor tweaks. These guys have some smarts and some good plans . . . just, you know, not a lot of them.

*So, Rohlan turns Demagol, back in his suit and unconscious, over to the Jedi who are headed back to Republic space. I’m pretty sure that when Rohlan went into the base to get Demagol that Demagol turned the tables on him and pulled a switcheroo. I think Demagol, in Rohlan’s armor, just handed off the unconscious Rohlan, in Demagol’s armor, to the Republic. There’s a shot of “Rohlan’s” impassive helmet with Jarael reflected in the visor. Demagol had earlier evinced a fascination with Arkanians, so, yeah, I’m thinking “Rohlan” is really Demagol.

*Squint tries to get Zayne to join him. Squint’s headed back to find his master who has a plan to stop the Mandies. Zayne tells him he still has something he needs to do.

*So, Squint says goodbye to Jarael: “I don’t know what your plans are, but they sound pretty dangerous. Good luck out there, Squint.” “Oh, that’s just a name the guys made up. My last name is a bit of a mouthful. Next time we meet, Jarael . . . just call me Alek.”

*OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII . . . .

*Okay, Miller, you got me. This was a genuinely jaw dropping moment. Squint had hair in Crossroads, but when he shows up here, as a prisoner, his head has been shaved, so he’s bald. And all this talk about his mysterious master, who is never actually seen and never referred to by name . . . and the way this series is working in characters from the games . . . and yet I still didn’t get it. Squint is Malek; this mysterious off-screen master . . . God, it’s Revan.

*Okay, I am seriously pumped as **** right now. Like I said, I know only the vague outlines of the stories of Revan & Malek, namely that at some point in the Mandalorian Wars they fall to the Dark Side in order to defeat the Mandies. Then Malek betrays Revan and takes over and Revan loses his memory somehow.

*Now, it appears that these characters will be part of this series (unless Miller just gave Malek a cameo here and they’re not in the rest of the series, in which case, what a case of blue balls I’ve got coming). I really hope so. They’re characters I’m interested in and fascinated by and know very little about. Seeing Malek here and then pulling up that picture of him in KOTOR . . . what a difference a few years can make

*I really want to feel the tragedy of this, you know. I mean, we’re around six to seven years out from the KOTOR video game, but looking at the timeline, it appears the war basically stretches over more or less the whole period. The battle of Malachor takes place in 3,960 (we’re currently in 3,963, though right at the beginning of the year), which I think is when the Mandalorians kind of get stomped in a big way, but we’ve got the Republic engaging with Sith forces as early as 3,959, in Czerka 431 & Permanent Demotion, so the war with Revan’s Sith group must start immediately; Revan essentially defeats the Mandalorians and declares war on the Republic at the same time or something like that.

*The Betrayal of Darth Revan is dated 3,957 with the video game taking place the following year, 3,956. So, it looks like Revan & Malek are basically at war for the next six years or so. Yeah, that changes a guy; I hope we spend some time here on Malek’s fall. Like I said, tragedy is what I want.

*Yeah, so I’m super excited right now. Can’t wait to keep going on this series, looks like a blast. Commencement was intriguing, but I’m well and truly hooked right now.

*Oh, wow, that was such a long detour I thought I was done there for a second. Anyway, one last note; the last scene is of “Rohlan” stowing away on Zayne’s ship instead of going back to the Republic as he said he was going to. Yeah, this is definitely Demagol. The ship takes off and Zayne, unaware that he has one in his hold right now, muses, “I’ve seen enough Mandalorians for a while.”

*Yeah, this is great and one of the things that is most interesting to me is that this series doesn’t hew to the traditional six issues to a trade = one story to a trade or whatever. This trade contains three different stories. And yet I look at Flashpoint and I see a story with a tremendous amount of energy and wit and action and, even more surprising, great character development. I think about some of the six issue stories from earlier in the timeline: The Sith War, The Golden Age of the Sith, Dark Lords of the Sith, Sith of the Sithy Sithing Sith (that one may not be a real one, but it sure could be). This story is so much better in only three issues.

*Anyway, what can I say? I liked Commencement a lot. I LOVED Flashpoint. Bring the rest of the series on!

*CANONICAL STATUS: The records of Zayne Carrick’s adventures during the Mandalorian War are of extreme accuracy. This work is RECOMMENDED as a historical resource.

*Highly recommended. 4 stars.

John Jackson Miller

*Well, next time, we’ll check in with Zayne’s enemies with Knights of the Old Republic 9: Flashpoint Interlude: Homecoming.

Star Wars Reviews!

 

Nitpick: while the character's real name really is "Alek" with an E, his future alias is "Malak" with two A's.

 

You're going to be very pleased with the future of the series.

 

I love the love for KOTOR

 

I'm looking forward to beginning a re-read of this when the first Epic Collection for it comes out next month. Very much looking forward to it. Last time I read it, I hadn't played the KOTOR game yet. Now that I have, I'm looking forward to seeing what wink-wink, nudge-nudges I may have missed.

 

I remember discussions about this while the series was ongoing. Pretty much any KOTOR thread brought it up.

 

Ah, I remember those old "which future KotOR game character is that?!", along with the speculation that Zayne or one of the Covenent members could end up a Sith. The KOtOR comic still remains probably my favorite story in the old EU, and these first few arcs show just why its so popular.

Most of the time I'm a bit annoyed at how much the Old Republic era is a bit hard to distinguish from the prequels, but here, set against the Mandalorian Wars, its a great change. and Zayne of course is a very, very different protagonist than any we've ever had. Whether he's lucky or cursed is always one of the more fun themes of the series.

 

I think this is Kreia, actually. When they become Sith Revan assumes the role of master and Malak is the apprentice but as Jedi they were just two Knights who grew up together.

 

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 9: Flashpoint Interlude: Homecoming

3,963 BBY

*Okay, so this is kind of interesting. This single issue story was originally published in the middle of Flashpoint. In the original comic series, Flashpoint, the story we looked at last time, is split over three issues, 7, 8 & 10. This one is issue 9. I’m assuming maybe there was some sort of an issue ( *rimshot* ) with the Flashpoint story that delayed the final section or something. Because I don’t know why you’d do it this way intentionally. This would fit just fine as issue 10, coming right after Flashpoint. I mean, that’s where it is on the timeline, obviously. Anyone know the backstory on that?

*Not important really, but worth noting. Maybe. I don’t know.

*And this is a really, really great story and I kind of need to mention something, which is that I love this series, so I’m just going to go ahead and tell you that if you haven’t read this series, you should really go do so. Because I’m going to be spoiling the heck out of it in this walk-throughs and, you know, that’s kind of a shame if you haven’t read it.

*If I don’t like a story or a book or whatever, I don’t really care about warning people about spoilers. I mean, some of my summaries I do intend to kind of stand in for the story I’m talking about. I mean, I want to be in-depth enough that you can read my summary and kind of have an idea of what happens in the story without having to read it. This is fine for stories that I honestly don’t think you should take the time to read. But if I really love something, I will warn you, so consider this the warning for, well, for this entire series. If you haven’t read it and just don’t think you want to do so, but you’re interested in getting my take on things, well, okay, then stick around. But seriously, if you haven’t read the series, you should.

*Okay, moving on. This story focuses on Lucien, Zayne’s homicidal master and I really, really love Lucien as a character. I think he’s absolutely every bit as great a character as Zayne, really, which is kind of necessary. I think I mentioned it before, but it’s very clever to make them enemies because they really are opposites. Lucien is a well-respected, highly intelligent, competent Jedi Master; Zayne is a bumbling, unlucky, kind of bright in a weird way Jedi Padawan.

*In a way, I think Lucien is kind of the ideal Jedi. He’s the Jedi Master you’d put on the poster, handsome, well-built, dashing, etc. Zayne is the Jedi nobody wants to be; awkward, gawky, clumsy. It’s brilliant, really.

*So, Lucien (and the other murderous masters) stop off at Lucien’s mother’s house. Krynda Draay.

*It’s in this story that we really start getting some character development on the rest of the Masters. Q’anlia, the Miraluka seer, gets some interesting backstory.

*Oh, I should say at this point, since I was just talking about Lucien so much, that in my dream television series/movie series of the EU, Lucien would most definitely be played by Michael Fassbender. He’s so perfect it’s ridiculous.

*Anyway, flashback to the first meeting of Lucien and Q’anilia when they were children. It seems that Krynda has a special ability for teaching Force sensitive children to be seers, but in the aftermath of the Sith War, she’s stepped away from the Jedi and has no interest in continuing to do so. But something about Q’anilia is . . . special.

*Ah, perhaps this is the reason this story got shoehorned in the middle of Flashpoint. Because when Lucien and his group of Jedi arrive at the Jedi Temple, the mysterious master of Alek is addressing the Council, trying to get them to commit to joining in the war against the Mandalorians. So, after Flashpoint, we now know that this is Revan, but reading this between the second and third issues of Flashpoint, of course, you wouldn’t. But this appearance actually would give you some serious clues. I mean, if you know that Revan’s major break with the Jedi comes over the Jedi involvement in the Mandalorian war and then this guy shows up and, despite the fact that he’s seen speaking to the Council and also to Lucien after his speech to the Council, he’s still seen only from behind or with his face strategically in shadow under his hood. I think you might read this and deduce that this guy is probably Revan.

*Anyway, cool to see him (or rather see his robe) as a character here. Hope to see more of the doomed Jedi.

*One of the Jedi Council really reads Revan the riot act. But he says that some of Revan’s actions in pursuing the war are “beyond reproach.” He says it like a bad thing, like it’s even worse than reproach or something. I’ve always heard it used as a positive. Like something is so good that it’s beyond any criticism you could level at it. Huh.

*So, more flashbacks. Li’l Lucien is being trained in the ways of the Force by his mother’s assistant or butler or something, Haazen, a failed Jedi learner himself. He wants to be trained by his mother with the rest of the students, but she just genuinely doesn’t think he’s good enough.

*Oh, this is going to be a great relationship to explore in this series.

*Great dialogue: “Those Miraluka you invite in here – they can’t even see!” “They can see farther than you can, boy! If only my father’s blood had been stronger! I would gladly have given my eyes – and yours – for you to be able to see what the Miraluka can! What I can! But it was my destiny to have both sight & second sight. It was yours to have sight alone. Too much like your father!” “My father? My father was a great warrior!” “Your father is a DEAD warrior.”

*This is frigging awesome.

*So, Haazen arrives and tells Lucien to have more compassion. Krynda carries a great weight of guilt because she was a great Jedi Seer, but she was unable to predict the rise of Exar Kun and the Sith War.

*Yeah, she really should feel guilty. I mean, I have no psychic powers, but it was plain as day that Exar and Ulic were gonna split the Dark Side wide open from their very first appearances.

*Anyway, yeah, Lucien’s dad died in the Sith War.

*Haazen has a word of wisdom: “You will never understand your mother . . . until you understand her mission.”

*And I see that Raana Tey and Squid Face (I’ll grab his name eventually) of the murderers are also being taught by Krynda. Whatever her “mission” is, it has something to do with forming the group that Lucien now seems to be the leader of. A group of seers, apparently, specially trained to see any indication about a new group of Sith. And that group does have a vision and that’s why they killed the Padawans. Yeah, I get it. But it’ll be interesting to see what Krynda thinks about this action. Will she think her trainees took it a bridge too far? That could be an interesting dynamic.

*Oh, this is great. Lucien and his group are being interrogated by the Council, which isn’t that thrilled about four dead Padawans and a fifth on the run, accused of being the murderer.

*And this has a wonderful page-ending panel of Lucien: “Masters of the Council . . . I did it. I’m guilty. I killed the Padawans of Taris.” My jaw literally dropped.

*And then you turn the page and the next panel is Lucien again: “Or I might as well have. The Dark Side touched my own Padawan.”

*That was a great little trick there.

*So, Lucien asks the Council to appoint his group to lead the search to bring Zayne to justice. The head councilman gets off a great little speech: “You know, I’ve never really understood how you five kept winding up together – but it’s safe to say the fruits of your collaboration have not impressed us . . . You are all being reassigned – to separate postings.”

*After their meeting, the group discusses Revan and his efforts to make the Jedi focus on the Mandalorian war. Lucien has played it, in his meetings with Revan, as if was sympathetic to this, but really he’s not. The whole purpose of his group is to guard against the Sith and they fear that the Jedi will lose focus in the Mandalorian War.

*One of Lucien’s group brings up the whole concept of regaining ground lost in battle. “What’s the basic word for it?” “Revanchism,” Lucien spits, “And it’s irrelevant.” So, our “mystery Jedi master” isn’t named Revan yet. But he will be.

*And this whole thing is compelling to me. The Covenant is all about watching for the Sith; they fear that the Jedi have, as a whole, lost focus on this issue. But all the while Lucien & the Covenant believe that the Jedi aren’t focusing on the right thing, they themselves aren’t focusing on the right thing – Revan is right in front of them and, ultimately, the war he begins will threaten to destroy everything that is important. It’s very compelling, these people utterly wrapped up in focusing on the most important thing, while the thing that’s actually most important is right under their noses. In some way, it seems to me, this is essentially the history of the Jedi Order in a nutshell.

*Flashback to Lucien kicking all kinds of ass, beating up the seers in a drill. It seems his role in the Covenant will be that of a warrior, not a seer.

*Okay, but we get some names here: Q’anlia is the Miraluka, I knew that, and Raana Tey is the other female, but I don’t know what species she is. Anyway, she’s got orange skin and basically bigger balls than all the Covenant’s guys put together. Very mercurial.

*Then there’s Xamar & Feln, which are the other two guys. One of them is a squid-face guy and the other one is . . . is he the same species as Kit Fisto? Looks like it. And Krynda mentions that Feln is a Feeorin. So, if I just knew what in the hell a Feeorin is, I’d have all the masters figured out. Well, soon, I’m sure, now that I actually know all the names.

*So, Krynda says she knows that this group of four seers is the Covenant, the group she’s foreseen that will “do what has to be done” to keep the Sith from returning. Seems she might be down for Padawan murder after all. But Haazen convinces her that they will need “practical help.” Cut to Lucien smirking.

*So, the history of this little group is now clear. And there must be all kinds of emotional tension simmering in this group. All to the good. The more character development the better.

*So, the story ends with a confrontation between Lucien and Haazen in the present. So, Lucien had let Haazen know about the vision Q’anilia had and Haazen had ordered Lucien to bring the five Padawans back to Coruscant so he could evaluate them. Instead, as Lucien puts it, “I interpreted the situation on the ground and acted.” So, okay, there’s some definite tension between Lucien’s group and the leadership of the Covenant.

*Haazen says he was a ‘failed Padawan’ himself. Lucien responds: “You still are.” Sick burn.

*So, Haazen reveals himself by pulling off his robe. He’s got like robot legs and his whole torso is burned and scarred and I guess all this happened during the Sith War.

*Anyway, Haazen flat out orders Lucien to bring Zayne back to him alive. Lucien just as flatly refuses; Zayne is too much of a threat, Lucien says, and the minute Lucien has his hands on him, Zayne’s going to die.

*There’s this whole thing about Lucien wanting to see his mother but Haazen won’t let him or tell him where she is.

*Great ending of Lucien on the street outside the house. He screams, “There’s something you’re not telling me, isn’t there?” at the closed doors and then calms himself to murmur, “That’s all fair – there’s something I haven’t told you too.”

*Hell to the yes. HELL to the YES.

*This story is really fantastic. It’s awesome that this comic series gives an entire issue over to the story of its main antagonist (and fills in a lot of the other antagonists as well). Zayne doesn’t appear in this issue at all, which I think is really cool. Spending an entire issue on, essentially, just character development of the villains of the series? I support that. Enough cardboard villains in the Star Wars comics.

*And this just really lays some fascinating groundwork. So many dynamics to explore. The Jedi Order as a whole being unaware of the Covenant being hidden within it. The whole relationship of Revan to both the Order and the Covenant. The relationship of Lucien to his other Covenant members; I find this one particularly fascinating. The other four members are all more mystical, all Seers, while Lucien is both their leader and also seemingly the least important. They’re Seers; Lucien is the “practical help,” the enforcer – he’s a thug essentially, there to do the dirty work.

*And the relationship between Lucien & Q’anilia seems particular interesting. I want more of their history.

*And then there’s the whole dynamic of Lucien & his mother; some serious issues there obviously. And what exactly is Haazen hiding? Does it have something to do with the strangely absent Krynda? Well, yeah, I’m pretty sure it does.

*But I think maybe the most compelling thing is Lucien’s last line. This story has really stripped him bare and helped us get where he’s coming from. At the end of this story, you kinda feel like you know who Lucien is and what he’s up to. But just the second you feel that way, there’s a twist: there’s something still hidden in the story of Lucien Draay. And I, for one, cannot wait to find out what it is.

*Flashpoint was great. Homecoming is even better. Seriously. Flashpoint made me excited to see where this series was going next. After this one, I’m absolutely drooling to see where we head next. Frigging awesome.

*This series has genuinely gotten better with each story. Commencement was good; Flashpoint was great; Homecoming is phenomenal. Miller, I knew I could trust you.

*CANONICAL STATUS: This work is of exceptional accuracy and is RECOMMENDED as a historical resource.

*Highly recommended. 4 stars.

John Jackson Miller

*Next time, we’ll keep on moving. Back to Zayne’s group for Reunion.

Star Wars Chronology!

 

Oops. How did that happen?

 

Yeah, Homecoming is one of my favorite issues of the series. You'll kind of see that it brings up a lot of plot points you won't even realize are plot points until much later, and it's amazing.

 

Are you going to play and review KoTOR games? Its gonna to be an interesting experience, since unlike most of us you will read comics first.

 

Yes, my plan is to play the games as well. As someone who is not at all a gamer, I'm not sure how that's going to go really, but I'm going to give it a shot.

 

It'll go fine; KOTOR barely requires any gaming skills because everything is determined by skill points and dice rolls. You've just got to select which attacks you want your party to do, and you can even pause combat to select them. It's all management, not fast-twitch skills.

 

Great! Don't worry as Havac have said KoToR is not a hard game. Remember however, that you totally need to play KoTOR 2: The Sith Lords with restored content mod!

Also, without spoiling too much, you have already seen 10 characters, that you will be able to meet in games.