Comics Join Me In Rereading: Knights of the Old Republic

I hope those you mentioned get collected together in an Epic Collection Omnibus. It looks like Marvel is going to give the Conan line the Epic Collection treatment as well.

I own most of the SW Epic Collections in digital format from comixology.com. It would be nice if all of the extras and variant covers from Lost Tribe, Old Republic, and Knight Errant get included. Lost Tribe of the Sith, especially, had a prose story section towards the back of the original comics.

The 90s Tales of the Jedi run is one of my favorite series, by the way (all 7 mini-series). Marvel could publish those mini-series with Dark Empire to show how the EU connected the past with the future. The original issue examined in the text portions of Dark Empire I by Tom Veitch was whether a Jedi (Luke, in this case) could infiltrate the Sith without turning to the darkside. Ulic Qel-Droma became a historical example.

The Redemption mini-series is my least favorite. Beast Wars of Onderon, Freedon Nadd Uprising, DLOTS, Sith War, Golden Age of the Sith, Fall of the Sith Empire -- those are my favorite stories in the SW EU. Over the years, the fan reaction has always been mixed.

 

Someone whose least favorite TOTJ story is Redemption? I think that's a first!

If you haven't already, you should listen to the Dark Empire audio drama adaptation. It has more explicit references to Tales of the Jedi, particularly when Leia is listening to the holocron on Byss. Ulic and his descent are specifically brought up.

 

Yes. I know @JohnJacksonMiller once mentioned that he would have liked to have used Calo Nord. You can just imagine the kind of stuff Davik Kang and the Exchange would be getting up to at that time.

 

The Kotor comics are very underrated in my opinion
One of the best Star Wars comics I've read

It's a funny and very original story, the best part are the references to KOTOR games and other EU stories such as Tales of the Jedi

I also liked seeing the Mandalorians at their best moment
The only thing I regret is that they did not show much about Revan and his campaign and we never saw the exiled Jedi

 

I'm still bitter Canderous was human, tbh.

 

This thread is making me really miss legends and the legends old republuc


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Knights of the Old Republic 23: Knights of Suffering, Part 2

Notes: http://www.farawaypress.com/comics/swknights/swkotor23.html

First off, Ha, cool I literally bought both Epic collections and got them just Saturday. So nice timing by me. And this is actually the first issue to be read from a collection instead of the trade.

Cassus walking in the middle of the hologram feed was a rad visual at the time, and its just as cool now.

The Taris senator immediately shows a cool head by restraining Shel and Raana's bloodlust with some help from Gadon and having the constables kids to smooth things over.

Gorravus and Gryph talk shop and the Senator admits to bribing Senators for Taris acceptance into the republic in return for the companies to support his bid. But once he got there he started to care about the people more then the money. Continuing the trend of most characters in the comic being subversion;s in some way of what you would typically expect.

"Most of course not being all, as it turns out that Jervo is exactly as much of a crooked business man as he appears. But the bomb briefcase has been struck by Zayne's luck alongside a sword plus blaster shot and doesn't go off. Turns out Del is a bomb nut, which really makes me wish he could have met Scorch. They would have gotten along famously.

Shel and Zayne finally have a talk, it doesn't go great, and her using the money he sent her to try to put a bounty on his head is pretty peak "Zayne luck". But him and Gryph manage to at least tell there side before Raana shows up.

She pulls a Lucien and "admits" to doing it in that really annoying faux remorseful and cocky way of there's. Zaybe claps back about her nightmares and Shel gets sick of both of them.

Jarael and and Alek spar before they talk, its funny how he talks about people getting snappy sobriquet's and then just uses his disguise name Malek permanently. He then tries to make a move, and provides a pretty slick explanation that bridges the previously jarring gap between Tales and the Kotor game about Jedi romance, namely different schools pushing different things. And sense after the war the Jedi pushed to become more centralized, it makes sense that a previously minor school would find a louder voice. Its really neat to see that the order coalescing still has so many distinct sub factions at this point, also explains a lot about how Revan could have found so many willing to follow. Rigid centralization hadn't taken over yet.

Jarael isn't thrilled for alot of reasons, Camper gone, Adasca being the worst date ever, Elbee shutting down with droid PTSD, etc. But to his credit he takes it well, and even suggests that maybe it's not him specifically she wants, cough, cough ( my ZxJ shipper heart goes squee).

I love star wars strategy meetings, every piece of star wars media should have them.

They plan to blow up the Jedi Tower with Cassus in it, but Zayne of course being the top lad he is is worried about any civilian casualties and Cassus actually being in the tower when the bombs go off. He offers to same day recon. Which leads to Shel also volunteering to go and Raana "Not at all evil totally Good Samaritan" she is says she'll tag along to protect Shel, and also calls Zayne incompetent just to be a dick.

Raana then continues to be the devil on Shel's shoulder, but as willl become clear next issue"Your brothers lightsaber will dispatch your brothers killer" is in fact another prophecy she has managed to misread.

-You would think an organization of future seer's would have heard of what a "self fulfilling prophecy was at some point, but then again Krynda is a terrible teacher with an extremely warped idea of what the power of prophecy actually is.

-Gotta wonder who Bastilla's master was to ingrain such stringent doctrine with regards to romance before it became the norm

 

Calo Nord was my intended villain in the two-issue Scoundrels microseries, had it happened. Gryph and Slyssk were back on Coruscant following Serroco, Calo would have found them, and the Moomos would have found them all, accidentally foiling Calo's bounty. Hijinks would have ensued. Doing it again, I'd have put those issues in the regular series after #21 and given the Taris resistance another issue -- but Vector was solidly set for #25 and there was no way to do that.

Knights of Suffering was the heaviest user of game characters, and it took some heat at the time for that -- but Mission wasn't solely a walk-on, and Gadon clearly fit with Gryph's history. (Griff also came with a fun name joke, which was another reason to put Mission in the book.) I didn't name Zaalbar in my script; my sense is he hadn't met Mission yet, but I don't know about that.

 

That honestly seems like just her being a fool as the Force isn't fooled by her lies.

Mind you, I do think Shel is a character I would have liked to have a much larger role in the comics regarding. I don't necessarily think there should have been a love triangle or anything but she seemed like a very interesting character and would have been interested in seeing where she went from there. After all, she's the victim of a gross betrayal by the Jedi and a sick mind game.

Would she join the anti-Mandalorian Resistance, the Mandalorians themselves, the Republic navy?

Become Revan's apprentice?

Or just find a nice farm on Dantooine?

I also want to comment Jarael is a character we had a comic book discussion about because she was one of my DM's favorite comic book women. She was a lot more understated than most comic book women in certain ways but still beautiful and fierce. She really could have carried her own comic.

 

In cut-content Nemo mentions Bastila's master but not his or her name. It would only imply that he or she is still alive during KotOR storyline (or at least, that her master was intended to be somewhere around on Dantooine or Coruscant).

 

Funny, I actually remembered Calo Nord being in the comic. Guess it's the Mandela Effect.

 

Knights of the Old Republic 24: Knights of Suffering, Part 3

Notes: http://www.farawaypress.com/comics/swknights/swkotor24.html

(Final word blurb cover thankfully)

Flashback to baby Raana gives us are first look at the woman who thinks she was behind the creation of the Covenant, an older white haired woman who this issue will reveal is also named Krynda. Oh the threads upon threads thinking these characters would become ones from Kotor 2 will never not be funny to read in hindsight, so many people get so played. Also the first time we here of the Prophecy of Five which of course causes plenty of its own speculation.

Zayne and Shel do a perp walk call back to issue 1 and argue. Of course in between the murder accusation talk there not to be romantic connection gets brought up and that only makes them both more frustrated. Though unlike many stories with romantic teen drama, they both have pretty valid reasons to be frustrated and upset. This draws attention so "Kiss as a distraction" gets its second use and it works just as well as the first time.("Leave him alone, he's recruiting" remains one of the funniest lines in the series). Poor Zayne can't get a genuine kiss still.

They get inside the Temple Store room and Zayne remembers how Shad was always the best, and breaks down with grief crying and saying he misses him.* Which causes Shel's conviction to start to crack, at the perfect moment too I might add, as it keeps him alive. Raana gets in and yells at the teenage girl for not murdering the crying boy, y'know like a good Jedi does.

Meanwhile the lone Mando left in the tower reveals Cassus figured out where the Resistance was and is off pushing there **** in at this very moment, just as he get suspicious Raana back slashes him, ignores Zayne's attempts to try and go warn Gadon and decides that she is to late but will kill him anyway to atone.

Turns out that Gadon already knows and wants to pull out, but Gryph shows his better side by refusing to abandon Zayne and Shel, and while doing that he sums up Zayne as a character better then anyone or anything else ever could. Seriously, props to whichever Wook editor it was that chose this quote for his page, because you will never find another that encapsulates Zayne better then this: "The kid saves people's lives—whether he knows them or not. Whether they deserve it or not. Without being asked and without being paid." Which is also a good enough quote to get Gadon to help.

I think the fight between Raana and Zayne is actually the longest single sequence fight in the whole comic, the other big ones have things like location shifts that break them up a bit.

Raana at this point fully insane rants about her nightmares and the Prophecy of Five, then gloats about how killing him will give her the largest Padawan kill count, at the worst possible time as Shel is still there and shoves her brother's saber of justice right through her back. Zayne's luck strikes again, along with misreading prophecies. The two embrace in relief and forgiveness as Gadon and Gryph arrive, but even being stabbed doesn't stop Raana as she still tries to go after them, only yo leap and get her hand caught on the temple's ceiling glass.

Zayne one again solidifies he's the best person ever by trying to save her anyway, and it finally breaks through to Raana. Unfortunately her raising her saber to cleave her stuck hand off is justifiably misunderstood by Gryph who sets off the charges to save Zayne, and the tower collapses taking Raana to her death shouting out to Zayne to tell Krynda she is sorry. Zayne finally has a name.*

- This is the first time we relly get to see Zayne have a moment to grieve his friends, before now he's always been in the middle of something, not enough time to just take a moment. The art of him crying is great.

- Well by this point it was already obvious, but Lucien and Q'anilla sharing a room confirms there lovers. And given how the Covenant started, its interesting to have a Jeid sect that is fine with romance and yet hates the Sith so much.

-It really says alot about Q'Anilla that she cares more about Zayne knowing Krynda's name then Ranna Tey dying. Her obsession is super creepy.

 

Zayne is what the Jedi should be like imo. Gives me hope for the Jedi, Zayne does.

 

This is one of my favorite moments in a series full of favorite moments. I think it's also where it finally clicked for me that Zayne hadn't killed or really hurt anyone through the run, which I had just assumed had been happening because that's how Jedi usually roll. God I love Zayne, by far my favorite Star Wars protagonist.

 

I remember how sky-high was my excitment and anticipation for KOTOR #24 based on the cover and what was set up in #23. I could not wait to see Raana Tey vs Zayne. And boy, did the issue deliver. One of my favorites in the entire run for sure!

 

It'd be funny if it was Kreia or Atris.

 

I love the Zayne and Jarael pairing but I'm a bit sad this is probably the closest we see Zayne and Shel get to reconciliation during the series. Like now she understands that Zayne is innocent, but once they looked like they were almost close enough to be a couple and then, well, too many things happened to both of them (and the rest of their talks are off-screen mostly). Its too bad she didn't trust in Zayne more, but then grief over her brother's death understandably distorted her own viewpoint. Hanging around Raana Tey didn't help either.

Funny that Zayne's actually getting handy with the Mando jetpack and armor (phrik vambraces and now Mando armor are useful for fighting lightsabers), but it helps in his fight against Raana. I remember her as almost a pitiful figure, at least she showed some awareness before the end (compared to say Feln or Q'anilia), and was willing to accept Zayne's help. And so begins Gryph's kill count. Kidding, but despite everything their prophecy really gets going here.

I'm glad the series stopped with the caption comics after this. That last one wasn't too bad (none of them were too awful, a bit narmy at worst, but still), but glad it went back to the regular style.

And yeah, Zayne's practically a saint. Heck, he's way too nice to just be a Jedi Knight. Although his lack of kills is partially due to his "luck" (don't try to mess with Zayne, it'll end badly for you... and for him, but the other party is likely to come off worse) and his good intentions.

 

I had forgotten you wrote in the KOTOR Campaign Guide too! God I love that guide. It might not be canon any more, but it still is my definitive view of the Republic in that era. Also, I still love the idea and concept behind the Inexpugnable-class command ships. Plus the ship itself (as drawn by Dustin Weaver) is GORGEOUS.

--Adm. Nick

 

I always felt like one of the great missed conversations between Star Wars characters would be Kreia and Zayne Carrick w/ Griff. Kreia giving her lengthy speech about how the Force is responsible for all evil in the galaxy and should be destroyed.

Griff basically just rolling his eyes about how only a Jedi Master could come up with that sort of view.

Zayne asking why she wasn't doing good to deal with that rather than brooding on it all.

 

Interestingly, it was not long after this that someone behind the scenes asked about that, wondering how long we'd be able to keep that up, particularly in a series that had "war" in the title. My response was that most stars of superhero comics generally tried to avoid killing anyone, so we could go for quite some time -- and if it were to happen, it would have to have big consequences. I recalled the one time Spider-Man accidentally killed someone in the 1980s; his grief over that led to his final reconciliation with Mary Jane, which led to the wedding. So I went the opposite way in "Destroyer" -- Zayne's grief over his accidental actions there prompted the fight that sent Jarael away.

Zayne says in "War" that it was the "Commencement" events that made him unwilling to decide who lives and dies, but it's entirely possible that in an alternate reality where he somehow graduated, his first kill as a Jedi still would have been his last. Nothing against those who do have to make those kinds of decisions; it just wouldn't have been in him.

 

That's why severing arms exist!

 

Zayne became my favorite character after a while largely because he maintained his integrity in the face of overwhelming odds and still didn't kill anyone. It always bothered me that almost every Jedi ever was so quick to resort to violence, while the rest of the time they just sit around navel-gazing claiming they're defenders of peace.

I think Lucas intentionally tried to get around this by making the PT Jedi mainly fight droids. Less of a moral conundrum that way, and I think it was a clever move. Even Obi-Wan's actions in ANH (with the Tuskens, the stormtroopers, and in the cantina) show he doesn't resort to all-out murder first. But the rest of the Jedi stories... there was a lot more carefree hacking away at the enemies in those.

 

Knights of the Old Republic 25: Vector, Part 1

Notes: https://www.farawaypress.com/comics/swknights/swkotor25.html

So we enter Vector, the famous crossover between all 4 DH titles at the time. Also the arc with both of the highest selling issues in the series, with 25 being just behind 28 in sales. And as JJM has enlightened us in this very thread, this crossover goosed up the flagging sales caused by delays over the previous year and ensured its continuation. So it's something to be very thankful for.

Now on the other hand this arc sadly also is uh, not great art wise for Zayne and Celeste. In fact pre "War" its probably the weakest art wise the series ever got. Which is a shame because the art for the Aliens, armored Mando's, and Rakghouls is quite strong. But the human faces are just not, and since there the main characters, well, its not ideal that the best Zayne was drawn during Vector was his one panel appearance in Legacy.

But as for the actual story, we start with a vision of Rakghouls rampaging throughout the galaxy. In the vision some characterization is reinforced with Feln only looking out for himself and Xamar trying to help Q'Anilla, All four protags for Vector make an appearance and of course Zayne being alongside 3 Skywalkers immediately caused speculation he was there ancestor, he aint, but even he he was, after 3,500 years it wouldn't really be a connection anymore anyway.

Lucien, neanderthal that he is complains, but they explain what they saw and he decides they can't send one of the circle while the Order is keeping an eye on them, so they send a true Jedi Shadow, the cross series protag of Vector, Celeste Morne.

I really like the concept of the Shadow's, they work especially well in this era where like I have mentioned before the order is still going through a harsh transition, and thus there existence slipping through the cracks just like the wider Covenant makes total sense.

Who we meet on Taris as she runs into the Constable who has sadly been infected, but has time to give some exposition about what happened after Suffering. In an interesting characterization choice, Celeste refuses to mercy kill her till she turns, which sparked debate at the time over if that was the right thing to do or not.

This rather dark moment is of course followed up with Gryph and Zayne making the entrance running from explosions and arguing, as it should be. Apparently after Suffering they managed to get kicked out by both the Resistance and the Outcasts. (I think whatever got them kicked out of the Resistance happened off screen, or was the screw up the Jedi tower?)

Celeste is rather unimpressed with the pair, till she finds out who Zayne is. But remains more focused on her mission to find the Talisman, and the duo's bickering incompetence immediately makes her question how they could have killed anyone. But this all gets derailed by yet more explosions, which cause a very painful fall for the trio.

They awake as the Mando's are excavating the Talisman, which was what all the blasting was for, Celeste had to kill a couple because Gryph is really very loud. And as the other Mando's head back there there ship Celeste takes a jetpack to follow, and in turn is followed by Zayne and Gryph.

-Our very own Havac is mentioned by username in the notes. For picking out who a character was by his belt buckle. Lol

 

Its kind of crazy how the Rakghouls have such an immense shelf-life in the EU.

 

Popular villains are always hard to get rid of, wether it's Sith, Stormtroopers, Daleks, or The Joker.