Lit Star Wars: Dark Times thoughts?

From Doug Wheatley's Facebook page...man I miss this series

 

Ah got to Love Doug Wheatley, whilst he uses Clone Troopers he goess for real Star Destroyers not the ugly Jedi Cruiser

 

Partly because of this thread, I finally went back & read the entire Dark Times comic series. I had collected all of the individual issues over the years, but basically just "set them aside" to read later.

And what a great SW comic series it was! Truly sublime art by Doug Wheatley & a compelling story. I really enjoyed the time period, i.e. the years between Episodes III & IV. As I mentioned in another thread, I haven't read much EU taking place in this era.

Wheatley's art is truly incredible. He's able to draw almost photo-realistic humans & aliens, fight scenes, architecture, and tech/vehicles extremely well - all of it was a true joy to behold. I especially liked looking for all of the various alien races in the crowd scenes.

All of the Dass Jennir storylines were superb, but my favorites would have to be: The Path to Nowhere (Part 1), Blue Harvest, and A Spark Remains (the final arc). Some comments:

-It was interesting to see Vader with the clone troopers, not the Stormtroopers. Obviously, since this took place directly after Episode III, there were no actual Stormtroopers yet.

-I was surprised when it was revealed that Jennir was considered a "lesser" Jedi by his masters when he was younger. Especially considering that he survived the "purge" & was one of the last remaining Jedi in the galaxy after the Episode III time frame. I guess his Jedi masters underestimated him...

-The various looks that Jennir had over the course of the series (long hair, beard & short hair, beardless w/short hair) all served to distinguish the various story arcs to some extent.

-I typically don't like reading EU with Darth Vader (except for the original Marvel series from 1977-1986), since I feel the character is over-used in the EU. However, I thought the use of DV in Dark Times was not too much & not too little, but just right.

-The only "weak link" in the series were the two storylines that dealt with Jedi Master K'Kruhk and the younglings. Not because the stories weren't solid (they were), but because these were the only arcs without the Wheatley artwork! I really missed that here, and felt like I was reading an entirely different series. I really wish he had illustrated these two arcs as well.

SPOILERS BELOW - to those who haven't finished the series yet:

I really enjoyed the final issue! I knew Dass Jennir wouldn't survive a battle with Darth Vader (and you knew Vader wouldn't die), so I thought it was clever that his friends basically took him away from the battle scene against his will, so he was able to survive. This was a great way to ensure the character lived.

I wonder if Dass Jennir will end up in the Marvel Star Wars comics? I'm not reading/collecting any of them, but may be tempted to if the Dark Times title makes a come-back...only if these issues have Doug Wheatley art, of course!

 

Great review of the series Blur!

I'd love to see Dass and Bomo back, be it in comics, books, tv shows or even movies. Maybe in some future Rebels episodes they can be used as members of a different rebel cell Not guaranteeing that will happen, but it's not impossible.

 

I enjoy ghe dark times series i do wonder dress was plan to die or not in the end of the series before then Disney buy out but dark times is my frivrate year and thats way i was a star wars rebels fan

 

We don't know if Dass was going to die by the end of the series provided it wrapped up in the way Dark Horse originally intended. Maybe he was going to survive anyway? We can only guess at the moment. What can be stated with relative certainty, however, is that we would have gotten more Dark Times issues if Dark Horse didn't lose the license and if the old EU didn't get cancelled.

 

yes agreed but i do wonder to this day what Dass fate would be

 

agreed even i who includes The dark times series in my own canon wonders what happen to Dass did he survived the purge?

 

I loved this era of storytelling