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

I'm still intrigued most by what shaped their "anger is ok, in moderation" approach. They're already drifting towards the role the Jedi will take up, but there also isn't really a central government yet either, compared to the Galactic Republic so most of them are still focused on study (physical or mental). Although they should have an easier time since they only have one star system (albeit one with plenty of inhabitable planets), and considering they started out with an entirely Force sensitive population, there should be more than enough peacekeepers. Most other sects don't advocate too much light as a bad thing, but here almost sounds like Tython responds badly to that too (and if Tython says its bad, that's probably a good reason for them, although you'd think by now there would be at least a few darksider disasters, but guess those were all exiled to the moon then). Kind of funny that one of their biggest conflicts so far was started by a non-Force user too.

Still, if the Jee'dai aren't as rigid as most versions of the Jedi Council are, it'll definitely be a refreshing change for once (way back in the OT Yoda and Obi-wan said anger was bad, but since then its been expanded as emotion=bad, and been enshrined in the Jedi Code as "no emotion, there is peace", but I'll still be waiting to see when this "golden age" ends). Whether the arrival of the Rakata will wreck it, or whether it'll just expose internal problems.

 

The Rakata-Hound relationship has me very intrigued too...

When did the Rakata start losing their connection to the Force? Do we have an approximate date, or is that still all thoroughly ambiguous?

Perhaps the plague wasn't a total Force nullification that happened overnight, but a more gradual thing, that slowly ate away at their strength? Think how things like DTT built up in the ecosystem without people realising until it was too late?

Agreed. I've been wanting this kind of story about the "Jedi" ever since I first saw Obi-Wan.

You never know, going off Shezor in EAW:FOC, it could be Sheesh.

 

I agree that the core wisdom is similar but I'm wondering if the Dark Side is at all the definition the Jedi hold. That the Je'daii are so insular at this point that unchecked cruelty on a mass scale is something they have yet to encounter. (Which they will, in the Rakata)

Shows that the Jee'dai aren't seeing themeselves nor do they need to see themselves as vaunted peacekeepers yet. Perhaps their isolation from non Force users keeps them from power tripping and descending into a more modern idea of evil? That as the galaxy got larger and more dedicated Dark Siders exposed themselves, the Jedi realized they had to take a side and stick with it no matter what?

I'm thinking that this has to be the case although the Rakata must know they're not the strongest Force users. Otherwise why employ or enslave Hounds? The Rakata have the numbers and still hold the power but obviously they're not as Force sensitive as they used to be. Still, that doesn't answer how quickly they're losing touch with the Force.

 

Read it, liked it, loved it. Everything was awesome about this issue. Loved the weaving of the story about the Tythans and making it so cool. Plus, Byss being a Rakatan world was cool as well plus their conquest of Tatooine. Will really enjoy seeing more from the Rakata side though. I know its early moments but I so do hope there are some Je'daii that are trying to look into the secrets of the Tho Yor that brought them to Tython.

And yeah the Force Hound/Rakata relationship thing got me interested as well. Either the Rakata are losing Force sensitivity or perhaps their senses aren't as good as that of the Hounds or perhaps they simply see it beneath them?. As for the Rakata plague, as far as I know, I don't think there is a firm placement on when it occured.

 

I agree. Also, it's interesting that while the semantics of the whole thing are presented differently that usual... we still get a pretty hefty emphasis both in #0 and in #1 on the associations with the dark side being the worst. I mean, the Jedi Master could have said to those younglings that too much love would be bad too but instead he highlighted that too much anger and hatred are bad bad things. The same deal in #0 when we were introduced to Ashla and Bogan and the idea that Je'daii who become imbalanced to either light or dark are sent to the corresponding moons... it ominously suggested that a Je'daii who strayed to far to the dark may never come back and thus never leave Bogan if exiled there.

And being balanced between chaos and harmony is, indeed, a contradiction in terms. Intended or not.

Also, I don't really favor the idea that some seem to be latching onto that these guys, the Je'daii, have it "right." That makes no real sense at all. They are at the very beginnings of the explorations of the Force. It makes more sense that buy TOTJ the Jedi are much more honed in and hence the similarities with the PT/OT Jedi and their teachings regarding the Force. Never the less, I maintain that the Jedi were never intended to be all "we follow the light side only" but they were always intended to have a holistic view of the Force but that obsessing upon and the dark side to the exclusion of the Force as a whole was dangerous... and it is the emotions of anger, hatred and fear that narrow the focus of the Force-user.

I don't think the Je'daii have it "right" in every way and they will eventually find that out. As the story progresses they are going to discover the boundless evil of the Rakatan Infinite Empire and their use of the dark side of the Force exclusively. I hope eventually we get to Xendor, because the First Great Schism will be the real tipping point for the Je'daii and how they view the Force. They will always say the dark side is part of the whole, but to draw upon the dark side only leads to imbalance. It will be interesting to see how the Temple of Science and those beasts play into this whole dynamic..

 

Got the issue, loved it. Can't wait to see it develop.

Perhaps the Hounds are just skilled in a particular area of the Force? Like with Jedi seers, perhaps their talent lies purely in sensing the presence of other Force sensitives? I got the impression that the Rakata leaders had complete control over them, as one of the Rakatan leaders is able to simply push both Xesh and Trill.

I also like Zor's idea, that the Rakatan have been steadily losing their connection to the Force, and their ability to sense others is one of the first things to go.

 

Can't agree with this enough.

The Jedi champion the will of the Force, which is so much more than "adhering to the light side" would entail.

EDIT:
All that aside. CRIKEY. I have missed Jan's art. I didn't realise how much. She really brought her A Game to this issue. It was pretty much perfect.

 

I absolutely agree with everyone on this comic -- outstandingly fantastic in every way! And while I've never been too interested in the Rakata, I certainly am now!

I have to ask, if John or Jan are listening (or if someone else knows the answer) -- how much say did George Lucas have in any of this? Water on Tatooine, origins of the Jedi, Ashla and Boda -- Lucas must have been in on this to some degree. Granted, it's not on par with say, Chewie's death, but it's something I would think Lucas would have a say in.

 

IGN review

Oh, Star Wars. You've tricked us again. Just like the back story of Darth Vader was best left to those few lines uttered by Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope, the origin of the Jedi should probably have been kept a secret, too. Get this: flying space pyramids collected a bunch of aliens and put them on a planet where they learned about the Force from battling the local wildlife, building temples, and watching the moons. I kid you not.

That is the mysterious origin of the Jedi? The whole story was reduced to an unimpressive story with the air of a fable that ultimately falls flat. Even the most casual of Star Wars fans would be left with a sour face and lots of questions. Where did the space pyramids come from? Did not a single alien object to being kidnapped and forced to be a battle-monk for the rest of their life? Being whisked off to a wondrous place to learn how to do magical things ought to be cool, but this planet is not exactly Hogwarts. There is a chance those questions will be addressed later on, but as of now, the tale lacks energy and answers, making for yet another awkward entry in the Star Wars saga.

Luckily, Jan Duursema's artwork conveys the grand scale that the story attempts to reach. The space pyramids take off from arctic landscapes, dense forests, and steamy jungles and travel through space to an incredible pillar surrounded by intense lightning. Xesh, a "Force hound" who appears after the Jedi story, looks impressively sinister and tough in his black outfit and cyclops-helmet. Much like the prequels, John Ostrander's debut story does not satisfy basic fan questions, but it sure looks good

Ouch!!!

So is the review accurate or is it full of @#$%?

 

I've never been able to take SW comic reviews seriously outside of this forum. Maybe things like DotJ just seem so good to us because we're used to the novels.

 

A very, very important lesson.

IGN are always full of @#$%. Always.

 

That reviewer sort of fails insofar as they complain about the story being mythical/fable in nature...when the story is framed as what is essentially a fable being told children. Albeit one with historical relevance.

Then again, it's also IGN....

 

I nearly laughed out loud when he mentioned Hogwarts. He seriously envisioned the origins of the Jedi... as Hogwarts?

IGN should probably stick to game reviews... at least they're somewhat competent with those. Laziness is a common feature of IGN reviews. If you hate a product, you really should be able to coherently tell us why. In Dawn of the Jedi, he just seems angry that not all the answers are given right away.

 

The review seems to think it important to answer where the Yo Thor came from and why no one objected to being called to them in the first issue. I.. I would remind this critic that The Clone Wars is on every Friday evening.

If you have to ask why no one objected to the call of the Yo Thor, you don't understand the Force.


If it's too much like the movies it fails. If it's too different than the movies it fails.

 

IGN has it in for Lucas & anything Lucas related.
This is b.s.
The comic is 25 pages long, the beginning of an ongoing series. What comic provides all the answers in Issue #1? Note how the reviewer gets 2 separate digs in about the PT: agenda, no?
Ignore. The issue is excellent. Actually, the art is weaker than the story, imo, compared with the art in Legacy, although I'm sure it'll get better with each issue.

This is more like it:
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/154406-the-evolving-anthropological-tone-of-star-wars-in-dawn-of-the-jedi

 

Not even.

 

That review was awful, awful in that the guy obviously doesn't get it. Why didn't anyone object to being taken in a space pyramid to an unknown world and set down with a bunch of people they didn't know? Wasn't that explained in the beginning? They felt the call of hte Tho Yor from within and went into them and found what they were looking for. Later when they listen to the Force it is the same as when the Tho Yor called them. So.. .yeah. They are already Je'daii/Jedi without the name when they are taken into the Tho Yor. Not a one of them was kidnapped.

+1 for being a dolt.

 

Alternatively... what if they never had it? What if their fabled command of the Force has always been derived from the "reaping" technology we see in action this issue?

Though, yeah, I think Zor's probably right.

 

I got it tonight, very good start, lots more information condensed in there than I imagined. Nice to see a picture of the Despot Queen!

I already saw the preview online, and read #0, so the real treat for me was seeing Tatooine and the situation with the Rakatans and their Force-hounds.

Including Tatooine was a great decision, it was so awesome and also so tragic to see its origins, a utopian world destroyed by heartless invaders. I know it's only a comic book, but I was still surprised to see the Rakatan guard impale a defenseless kid like that.

It will also be interesting to see how the Rakatans' society actually works, what this systems of Predors is like (does the Infinite Empire have an Emperor? Or is it feudal?), and how they enslaved these Force-hounds (if they rebelled, they could probably bring the Rakatans down).



EDIT:

Also, I just came across Darth Rivan's quote again, does this remind anyone else of the Je'daii?

"Darkness is a friend, an ally. Darkness allows us to understand others, to see what they value when they believe no one else is looking. It allows us to be honest with ourselves, to express those values that we would disavow in the light. The light blinds us. It is only in the dark that we see clearly, and there is a great dark hidden among these worlds."

 

As usual, everything we do is submitted to LFL for approval. This included the series overview/proposal when we started. There was already talk of Ashla and Bogan which we tweaked a bit. Water of tatooine was something we found when doing our research and it seemed fun to show the planet like that; also, the planet is such a seminal place in the saga. So a lot already existed in different places. That's not to say we didn't add a lot -- for example, we knew how many planets were in the Tython system but that was it. We added names and all the rest.

-- John

 

Hey John, thanks for giving this 100%! It looks to be even bigger/deeper than "Legacy".
While you're filtering down some of the more far-out concepts from early script drafts, any chance of seeing "The Skywalker" and his 12 sons? I've always loved that story, it's like something from the book of Genesis, really deeply mythic...

 

John, is there any connection with the 8 Tho Yor, 8 spokes on the Bendu wheel and the Ba Gua symbol of Taoism? I like the use of Ashla and Bogan as moons and thus making the metaphor for the light and dark sides of the Force a natural phenomenon much like the initial natural metaphor for yin and yang in Chinese philosophy is that of a mountain with the sun shining on one side and the other in shadow. Brilliant. I also really like that you made the Je'daii temple of learning how to manipulate the Force called Qigong Kesh.

 

Really enjoyed this. Actually rejuvenated my interest in Star Wars after a half-decade lull (which reminds me, I need to play catch-up).

I think I can already see myself getting pretty invested in this era. I've been dying to see a story set this far back for ages, so to finally be reading one is kind of mindblowing. But while all the mythology in this issue was intriguing, I was a bit disappointed that so much of it was expository and we didn't really get to know anyone, especially coming hot off the lore-drop in issue 0. That said, that's just a technical/personal gripe because I realize issue 0 was more of a marketing tool and setting up the era in the comic itself was mandatory for anyone who hadn't already read that. It did succeed at getting my attention, but I just can't wait for issue 2 to get to know the characters more so than the plot.

It's also nice to see that we'll have something really well-written to point to at the start of the timeline. I tried re-reading Golden Age of the Sith a while back and, youch. The first page of Dawn alone had more narrative weight than the entirety of Kevin J. Anderson's Tales of the Jedi contributions.

 

I don't know why they even review things other than games. Especially things that require a reading level above Noddy Goes To Toyland.

You see the same in their actual game reviews though (not that I've read IGN in years). If it's not spoon fed or goes "BANG BANG BANG!" within the first ten minutes it fails.

What disappoints me with things like book or comic reviews is how they're abusing their dominant market position to wrongly influence people with their own routinely negative opinions. Moreover, I often think it's deliberate and that they just want to put people off non-gaming hobbies to ensure they end up buying more video games instead.

We can't have those nasty ongoing Star Wars books stealing people's Xbox Live pocket money can we?

 

darthGhost posted:

Including Tatooine was a great decision, it was so awesome and also so tragic to see its origins, a utopian world destroyed by heartless invaders. I know it's only a comic book, but I was still surprised to see the Rakatan guard impale a defenseless kid like that.

We dont know how utopian the society was on it, nor what kind of predators populated its jungles.

Zorrixor posted:

What disappoints me with things like book or comic reviews is how they're abusing their dominant market position to wrongly influence people with their own routinely negative opinions. Moreover, I often think it's deliberate and that they just want to put people off non-gaming hobbies to ensure they end up buying more video games instead.

Do the IGN people know their EU?