Lit Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm #1 (of 5)

Evil Author having so much fun at our expense. I expect no less. Can't wait until this comes out.

 

The Hat should have been the protagonist of Vector. Should you ever do another crossover and/or resurrect legacy, we should definitely see the Hat's evolution over time. Clearly all those great jedi had the hat and we just didn't know it at the time.

 

Eight hours to awesome!

 

Couldn't resist buying the digital copy first, excellent first issue, really grand sense of fantasy in this mythic age, and just so much references and content.

The first half is a general summary of Tython's history- the Tho Yors stayed on various worlds, like Ando Prime, Kashyyyk, in the desert on Ryloth, etc., until Force sensitives were called to it (including the Dai Bendu, Wookiees, Dathomiri shamans, Twi'leks and Selkath, too bad we didn't get to see Korriban though), then they moved on until they all gathered on Tython around the ninth Tho Yor. They then spread out across Tython, and apparently when the balance wasn't maintained there were earthquakes and storms (darkside disasters I can see, wonder if there was ever too much lightside energy). Eventually there were enough non-Force sensitives born that it was hard for them to survive on Tython so they migrated offworld, spreading to the rest of the Tython system, with the Jee'dai acting as peacekeepers when necessary (although they're already starting to become myths/unpopular for the same reasons as the Jedi eventually would, like raising children away from their parents). We see Queen Hadiya, a Twi'lek, who started the Despot War, and this is all being told as a story to a young child. The child hates Hadiya after hearing this, but another kid says hate is bad, and the storyteller, Ketu, says that hate is understandable and has its uses, but never to feel only hate.

The second half starts on lush Tatooine (really, really cool to see it before its glassed), which is currently being subjugated by Predor Tul'kar, and the kumumgah are really not happy. Then he is summoned to Byss, which is a base for the Rakata to explore the rest of the Deep Core from. Skal'nas is the higher Pre'nor but his Force hound, Trill, can only sense Tython but can't find it, and so now instead Tul'kar's Force Hound, Xesh will.

Loved this issue, especially all the references to things from the really old Old Republic era (like seeing Tatooine in its original state), all this ancient history. Wait, the issue called this the "Before the Republic" period, I think, gotta get used to that term. Not much action so far, but as an EU fan I just love it, and its a nice introduction to this era. I also liked seeing all the Rakatan ships, most of the designs are derived from the Star Forge (the temple on Byss looks kind of like an upside-down Star Forge, or at least half of one). Was Byss mentioned as a Rakata world before? Wookieepedia mentions it now, but not sure if that's a new edit. The Essential Atlas has it marked as a Rakatan world, but I think this issue's presentation of Byss as a major world is new. Good introduction, can't wait to see what the rest of the series will be like.

 

Oooh, interesting. I think that the Byss information is entirely new but makes somewhat sense really. Makes me wonder if the Rakatan influence was why Paplatine took it as his personal stronghold

 

Oh wow, completely forgot this came out today. And on my busiest day of the week, too. Might have to get to it tomorrow.

 

Absolutely fantastic issue. I'm going to be sure to read this series issue by issue as it comes out. The Jeedai truly are a different and unique system of beliefs. They emphasize balance far more than adherence to the light side, yet still do so from a moral perspective. They clearly understand there's danger in going too far dark, yet do not shrug off the dark entirely.

A belief that could be their undoing.

It will be interesting to see how this all pans out over time.

 

Well, I have been waiting for this to exist since 1977! Seriously. This is what I always thought the "prequels" would be. And now it's here. This is as close to "canon" as we're going to get, with words & concepts taken from GL's early drafts & its development filtered through Lucasfilm.

It is a vastly epic in scope. This ties together the "canon" world (the films + TCW), EU (from books to video games and all points in between) and Lucas's earliest imaginings of the SW Universe. The #0 issue and the opening 2 "acts" of issue #1 could have each made its own epic series! I really hope we see this go all the way and blossom into the vast saga it is poised to become.

The art so far is fine but I feel that Jan is just warming up. As always, Ostrander is completely solid and provides strong basis for whatever stories he's planning on spinning out in this series.

The set-up is intriguing, with strong characters right up front (Xesh in particular). New concepts and familiar stand ready to merge in future pages. All told, it's an overwhelming opening, with lots to absorb and assimilate. I will definitely be reading this a few times more before issue #2 comes out!

What more can I say? This is the story I have been waiting to hear since I was four years old. I'm excited!

 

Laser sword....

Anakin knew them by their historical name.

 

I think they're calling them "force blades" or something...

 

Force saber, as I recall. They are powered much in the same way all Rakatan technology is... a mix of technology and the Force with the Force as power source.

 

I concur, this feels amazingly epic. Both halves of the story had plenty of EU references and each had a shocker too! After the mystical re-telling of a 10,000-years of history (which is kinda more of an introduction that #0, which was more of a Handbook) we meet Jee'dai and their Code and views are definitely something new: with too much dark and too much light being equally bad - now there's balance we're talking! And in case that wasn't enough to tip the reader off, the second half starts on Tatooine: a lush world with multiple cities alongside blue seas. By that point it should be obvious that this time we're talking really ancient history - sorry SWTOR, KOTOR and TOTJ. We then have the set-up for the story which I take is yet to begin in #2 - but nevertheless, this issue was a total blast!

 

On Byss: Ancient ruins on Byss have been part of it since the beginning - The Dark Empire SB mentions there were "pre-Expansion ruins" there. I believe that the Essential Atlas was the first to explicitly make it a Rakatan world, but it certainly was a logical choice. That's awesome that the series is intertwining with the established canon so well, though.

 

Fantastic!!

Already I like Trill. Fascinating that the Force Hounds seem to be able to sense Tython yet the Rakata (who don't seem to sense the Force as strongly) retain power over them. Interesting that. Or do the Hounds have a more developed "ability to feel the Force in others" while the Rakata can use the raw Force as well as their servants? Or I suppose it could just come down to the Force Hounds being plain outnumbered by the Rakata.

 

TWO WORDS: BEYOND AWESOME

great start and I love it... despite my earlier concerns.. which are all gone now, I absolutely love that era and what you did with it John/Jan!

PS: Kumungah and Tatooine? SWEEEEEEEEt

 

Really liking this so far. It's so refreshing to be in such uncharted waters in the GFFA - even compared to the beginning of Legacy.

 

I'm pumped!

I love how the story started. John's ability to give the reader more background information through use of a story to two young characters really made me smile. I always fear with comics that I get lost easily because I don't have enough word information so I definitely appreciated the way this story started. I really enjoyed the artwork. I loved the details of Trill's outfit as well as the ninja hound (idk how to pronounce Xesh so I'm going to think of him as ninja hound).

I was heartbroken when Legacy ended and I still fear not liking this new series as much but this first issue is a step in the right direction.

 

So my LCS got shorted and didn't recieve any copies of this today. I'm not sure how long I can maintain the willpower to not highlight the spoilers.

 

Such fantastic art. Fantastic writing. It gave me found memories of how Legacy started. So many questions. So many twists. Looking forward to March.

 

I absolutly loved this issue. Its nice to see that the Rakata have the same symbol Revans empire had.

Trill and Xesh look really wicked and great continuity.

How were the Rakata able to speak with the Kumungah so easily?

Maybe the Rakata are born linguists.

We also know because of this why twileks and wookies show up so often.

 

Xesh pron. Zesh

 

What I rather like is that there's already some fascinating contradiction in the language the Je'daii employ.

Take "In balance with chaos and harmony", for example.

On the surface, it looks like a "middle ground" between the Jedi and Sith... but, wait a minute. Balance is, in itself, harmonious, isn't it? Hell, "the harmony of balance" is even referred to during the Je'daii history lesson. So is it a middle ground at all? Or is it, perhaps, another way by which one can acknowledge that, in fact, "There is no chaos, there is harmony"?

In short: one could maybe argue that the while the message of the Je'daii differs from that of the Jedi, the wisdom is -- perhaps -- more similar than it first appears.

I'm interested to see it explored, either way.

(And I love that light is paired with "revealing" and dark with "mystery". After all, only one of those words entails familiarity and understanding. )

 

Knight Errant goes to Aquilaris and DotJ goes to Ando Prime. I wonder if Dark Horse is going to continue visiting planets from the Podracer videogame this year. Note to Artists: I vote Baroonda next. It's like Star Wars: Hawaii, but with dense swamps, too. The Nightlands from Racer Revenge was also very pretty. Just ignore TCW's turning Ryloth BS.

 

Also, as of this issue the Star Wars Timeline officially begins and ends with Ostrander/Duursema team