Comics A/V Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir #1-4

Now that I've read the context of the issue, if one were to hypothetically retcon Plagueis to fit with this revelation... I'd do it like so.

Mother Talzin is indeed Maul's mother. Sidious did indeed visit her, offer to train her, ect. ect.

However, a servant of Talzin's and fellow human Nightsister, Kycina, grew attached to the child and smuggled him out at the same time as Sidious left. By sheer absurd coincidence, (or perhaps through some sort of Sith mind trick), she delivered him to Palpatine as was presented in Plagueis, claiming her as her child whom should be protected from the power mad Talzin.

Talzin didn't realize it was Kycina who did took Maul, (or if she learned later, she suspects it to be a Sith influenced event) so she blames Sidious for the theft, regardless of whom actually carried out the act.

Hypothetically of course, Legends and whatnot.

Beyond that, I don't mind Talzin being Maul's mother.

 

This comic series had great potential, but, like The Clone Wars, it suffered from incredibly rushed pacing, over-use of characters we know cannot die and juvenile plotting choices. Furthermore, the art is not only sloppy, but wildly inconsistent. Dooku looks decent in some panels, but Windu and Palpatine in the opening panels looked atrocious. Truly. For such a story, the end to Darth Maul's time in TCW, this is an embarrassment.

In terms of bad pacing: look at the action in this issue. What it covered most certainly could have been two or three issues. Mace Windu finally faces off against Dooku again, and if they wanted, against Darth Maul. Instead of what should have been a thrilling duel between two sword fighters with unmatchable élan, we have the duel promptly cut short by a rocket launcher. Why? I just don't get it.

In terms of characters used, this was also rubbish. Why use Aayla Secura, Kenobi and Windu again? Why not be original and use, say, Saesee Tiin, Eeth Koth, or Oppo Rancisis? Hell, even use like Coleman Kcaj or Stass Allie. Koth and Rancisis can now die, but of the Jedi they used in the comic, only Tiplee did, and in a typical cartoonish fashion, just like Adi Gallia's unceremonious disposal.

Moreover, the scope for excellent dialogue was enormous. Imagine Maul and Dooku discussing the Dark Side of the Force in depth or Windu and Tyranus discussing their differences. Instead of this we just had incredibly rushed things happening. "Stand down in the name of the Republic. This has gone far enough, Dooku." Perhaps I'm just bitter this wasn't a novel written by Matthew Stover, but this was just pathetic.

Overall, this comes over like some fourteen-year-old's wetdream of what could happen: "General Grievous slays some Mandalorians with his bare hands as Darths Maul and Tyranus team up to fight Mace Windu and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Oh, and the buxom blue Jedi is there, too! And make it in a space station! Ah, and make that station in space!"

They really messed this up in every way they could; it's offensively bad.

 

It works. The narrator's point of view in the novel (which really implies Palpatine doesn't know who Talzin is, stating "Palpatine filed the information away" after asking who Talzin was) probably has to be ignored, but the actual sequence of events could still fit!

There's still one more issue to go. Possibly the last Clone Wars era story for a while...

 

I don't think Maul HAS to die. I could see him going a Thanos route in Infinity Gauntlet, getting drained of Talzin's magick and retiring to some off the grid planet and becoming a farmer.

 

Imagine the bad dialogue and rushed pacing if it was a regular CW episode. At least with a comic we can take time to look at individual panels.

 

Hi Jack G,

I also have the feeling they pressed a whole arc into four issues where you at least expect eight. This screams after being animated in a longer more epic way or to be written at least in a novel. That could be the third arc in Maul's live, after "Wrath of Darth Maul" (Early Childhood till the Fall into the Shaft) written by Ryder Wyndham and "Shadow Conspiracy" (Salvation by Savage from Lotho Minor till the Death of Savage and Maul's take-away by Sidious from Mandalore) by Jason Fry. I still don't know Matthew Stover. I would like Ryder Wyndham writing the third part of the Maul-Trilogy, for he added really good information and made it a multi-dimensional book more than just a report of events while Jason Fry is just repeating what we do already know from TCW-Films and he did not even include the side-stories from the Dark-Horse extra-issues.

 

Guys, I can't figure out Palpatine's expression at the end : is he smirking at his plan going the way he wanted it to go, or is he seething in anger at seeing his plans being put in jeopardy?

 

That was the point.

The simplest way to look at it would be to assume that Kycina works for Sidious and was assigned to snatch Maul for him. Sidious probably took over her mind, or maybe she really wanted to do it.

Honestly, the Darth Plagueis narrator is, when it comes to Sidious's scenes, unreliable enough to support all kinds of interpretations throughout the book without "damaging" it in the slightest.

He looked quite happy to me. Sidious smiling for the camera as the last shot of a TCW episode was painfully overused, yet I'm glad we got one last smirk.

 

Well, now I officially want to read this. I always wanted to see a Windu/Dooku duel, and Mace, Obi-Wan, and Aayla are my three favorite prequel Jedi so....I might just have to check this out.
It doesn't sound too different from say, The Lawless. "Darth Maul and his long lost brother team up, command an army of Mandos, and take on Sidious. Then the Mandos have a civil war, and Obi-Wan disguises himself as one, and..."
Than sounds silly too, but it worked.
Anyhow, it definitely sounds like this story would have been better as TV episode. Pity it didn't make it.

 

I'm pretty sure Palpatine didn't expect Maul to actually capture Dooku and Grievous. His plan was to release Maul and then let the Droid Amry hunt his forces down, so that Maul would cry to Talzin for help. The plan was for Talzin to leave Dathomir and come to Maul's aid, so that Sidious could find and her destroy her once and for all.

Now, Sidious is probably going to have to take his two sabers and leave the capital to do what Dooku could not, and finish Maul and Talzin off for good.

 

Is Mother Talzin also Savage Opress' biological mother? I don't know if it was ever clear whether Maul and Opress were biological brothers or whether they just called each other "brother" because they were part of the same clan.

 

Maul and Savage were brothers-that was stated in Clone Wars many times. Seeing as Talzin was Maul's mother, it stands to reason that she was Savage's mother as well. It explains why she cuts Ventress loose after Massacre but still brings Maul and Savage back. The brothers are actually her children-Ventress was just an orphan that Talzin tried to adopt.

 

Are we going with this being simultaneously Legends and canon like TCW or firmly in the new continuity only?

 

How Talzin did touch Savage in "Monster" wasn't like a mother touching her son :lol: .

I also did wonder, why they brought the Nightbrothers into the comic for it is obvious that Dooku will mop the floor with them, when even Ventress was able to do so before. Maybe it was decided to exterminate both the nightsisters and -brothers till Getherizon will show up much later.

 

Lol true that. Talzin did seem a bit too pleased with how strong and ahem...well-endowed Savage was. Tho maybe that's just how the Dathomiri roll. I wonder if Ventress and Savage ever actually mated, like Brother Viscus thought. Ventress was gone for a while after WotM. Maybe carrying a child and giving birth?

Speaking of Viscus, where did he go after the last issue?

 

Gethzerion isn't canon anymore.

 

Presumably he went into hiding with the rest of the Shadow Collective, but that is of course assuming being smashed into the ground by Dooku didn't kill him.

 

Spoiler

I hate to break it to you - they don't duel.

It would be even better as a movie!

 

Windu and Dooku briefly fight in SW Obsession.

 

Briefly is right.

 

A movie has crossed my mind too; it could have made a nice close off and mirrored how TCW began with a movie.

Maybe they could do a TCW spin-off film in a few years... they never said the spin-offs will all have to be live action, after all.

 

Yea, Windu basically Force-pushes Dooku backwards, they exchange like three parries, and then the Magnaguards intervene, grappling with Windu while Dooku escapes.

 

And then Windu gets pushed down that hole.

 

Indeed. I like their exchange in that comic.

"Dooku! This war ends now!"

"Ah, Master Windu. Still so convinced that one man can make a difference. I am but a cog in a massive war machine. Even if you kill me, the fighting and death will continue. Of course, you won't kill me. Not today."

 

Still its now Legends and ain't part of the new official canon.