Knights of the Old Republic #19: Daze of Hate, part 1 (of 3)

Woah.

 

Small but important fix above!

I definitely enjoyed this issue. I don't have a huge amount to say because - while I'm certainly not discounting it as "just setup" I really feel (even more so than usual) that this is a fraction of a story. So while I'm really interested in the rest of it, I don't have anything to say...yet.

I'm not wild about the new penciller; he's capable and talented sure, but I guess maybe not quite my preference? Or maybe I just fear change. I think it's also that the few times he's drawn Zayne he looked kind of bloated and/or a lot older than usual. It's a style that works well on someone like Adasca, or Lucien, but I didn't like the Zayne in this issue.

Then again, I oughtn't complain; comic art is (by my own subjective standards) so much better than it was a decade ago.

 

I wonder if Adascorp can utilize the Exogorth...droppings. If so, hello Organic World Devastators!

 

Good call. I didn't even think about that, but now I'm looking forward to a Zayne/Squint meetup.

Not just by your standards. So, so much better today. The advances made from the mid-nineties to today are so, so much more than the advances made from the seventies to the mid-nineties. Some of Tales of the Jedi looks a lot like the Marvel Comics, and when I read the letters sections at the end, the fans are praising the art as if it's the best comics have ever seen. I realize that it probably was at the time, but it's still a bit odd to read.

I have to wonder, does the fact that comics use glossy paper now help? I know that doesn't really make sense, but... one can't help but speculate. After all, this is the EU! We speculate!

 

I think the implications are that the things have bone that can tear through durasteel. In other words, they're probably actually physically tough as most capital ships. Also, they reproduce and grow larger.

In other words, its cheap self-sustaining capital ships.

Are they invincible? No. On the other hand, whoever has a breeding one can pretty much destroy the Republic fleet simply because he doesn't need shipyards.

 

One other problem I thought of....Adasca apparently was able to basically install a "Wake up, go here, eat." technology into them....does he also have the "off" switch, and what about when they "Split" to reproduce? He won't be able to control them then....

I'd assume a force large enough to take on a Republic (Or Mandalorian) fleet would have to consist of a good deal of worms. Likely, the forces won't be fighting in the middle of nowhere. Once they start wrecking havoc over a highly populated planet and target for one of the forces...will the tech have a way to wrangle them back in?

 

Don't you just love how one simple oversight like that could lead to a mess of storytelling opportunities?

 

Yes. They noted that they can shut them down to a near-death state for hyperspace travel.

Now, the trick, of course, is that they don't seem to have thought of the eventual need to install those on every one that has reproduced...

- Keralys

 

BTS notes are up.

http://farawaypress.com/Default.aspx?tabid=211

 

True, but neither will the new ones have hyperdrives either.

They're relatively harmless, sadly, without the technology to make them dangerous.

 

It?s a combination of both technological and creative development. The technology allows letterers and colourers far more options than they had before, improved printing processes are able to print their work. The creative skills take advantage of the new possibilities and whammo!

I have to agree in comparison some older comics do look less good but, if we?re being fair, the means of production have to be acknowledged. If you were to set the art Gossett did in Tales Of The Jedi or the art by Crespo in X-Wing against the superhero standard in the bulk of the comics at the time, it?d be at least equal to and likely better.

It?s the only way the smaller companies can get noticed in the market, for example Avatar is getting a good deal of attention due to the incredibly detailed art in Black Summer. When DHC started doing SW comics they got people?s attention by card covers, grouping adverts in the back and painted covers! It worked very well. Nonetheless, things move on and some of the stuff being done now is amazing ? anyone here read The Dark Tower comics series? Yes, the same as the Stephen King series ? there are some incredibly beautiful images in that.

 

I just read this issue at my local comic shop, and was pretty impressed with the art (I leave it to the rest of you guys to nitpick over the plot, though I am interested as to how Mandalore will react to Adasca's proposal). About my only issue was that the visors of Rohlan and Mandalore were far thinner than they had been in Flashpoint and previous appearances.

Also, did anyone notice Mandalore has strapped to his belt the same concussion-rifle-like weapon he was carrying in Flashpoint?

 

Just had to drop in and say I really liked this issue. That last arc...whew. Jarael is my LEAST favorite character (perhaps in all of SW-dom) and I was counting the days when we could move on to the other characters. Now, really, is there still any doubt that Alek is Malek? I mean, COME ON. Unless JJM is just a total jerk (which I've met him at conventions a couple times and I don't think he is) and has made it this obvious only to yank the rug out from under us, I'm figuring it that Alek is Malek. I hope so, at any rate.

Good issue. Nice use of the space worms.

 

The hair-remnants make me doubt, even though it really makes a lot of sense for Alek to be Malak (which would almost certainly mean that the Revanchist leader is Revan). Malak was completely bald, devoid of any hair whatsoever.

 

So Gryph & Slyssk are en route?

 

The answer to that does not need to be anything more complicated than that as Alek has lost most of his hair, he eventually decides that he might as well shave his head completely bald. We would need nothing more than Alek appearing bald at some point and him giving a one sentence answer to a question what happened to the remains of his hair. This thing can be solved in a one panel.

 

Well, I just remembered something Kreia said that definately puts her out the running for Revanchist Leader... unless she was lying:

"I know what I am, and I know what I am not. I am not a leader. I do not have a voice that inspires, that..."

Words to that effect.

Of course, one could argue that she has been a "leader" of a sort. And she certainly inspired something in Sion....

 

Well, it could be that his hair is slowly falling out. Really, the hints are so heavy that one minor difficulty like that can easily be swept away. If JJM can take care of the height issue, he can make him lose some hair.

 

So let me get this straight, Malak can't be Alek because Alek as of right now doesn't shave his head?

 

I'm thinking the hair is an artist error, here, given how he was egg-bald in #15 and talks like he hasn't any hair left at all...

 

I doubt if it's an artist error. He commented that the hair wasn't growing back, which could suggest that he's tried to grow it back since Issue 15, but has only succeeded in getting the little bit of fuzz he has now. Eventually, he'll give up and just shave it all.

 

Yeah, I went to school with a kid that had some type of cancer and got Chemo treatments for it for quite some time. Thankfully for him, the cancer went away and he ended up being a relatively healthy young man. Of course, his hair did all fall out. When he stopped the treatments his hair grew back....but it was really really wispy and had some patches where it didn't grow. Instead of of trying to deal with what amounted to a pretty ugly looking head of hair, he always kept his head completely shaved and looked like one bad dude. Perhaps (M)Alek will do similar. Who knows, maybe those crazy Sith Tattoos kill all the hair follicles for good or something.

Malek or not, Squint's reaction to the slugs was interesting. First, he said "How terrible, how can anyone want such a thing?" Next, he is suggesting that the Jedi and not a Government should be in charge of them. After making that statement and seeing Jarael react, he says that the Jedi see a lot of bad stuff on the horizon and taking one of the bad things out of the picture would help. Was that a comment to appease Jarael when in fact he is very interested in using whatever it takes to end the war or would he truly prefer to get rid of the worms altogether?

Oddly enough, I thought this issue added another dimension to Lucien. He seems genuinely opposed to the slugs. Although I like the thought of Lucien = Sion a lot more...this could feed well into Lucien = Nihilus (With Malek/Alek) and the Revan/Malek brand of Sith being far different from the Nihilus/Sion type Sith from the start. Revan/Malek and their lackeys were more into super weapons and controlling governments. Sion/Nihilus (Especially Nihilus) seem to be less interested in overall war and more interested in hunting down force users.

One last thing.....Adasca mentioned Lucien bringing that "Miraluka Girl" to one of the parties in the past. I'm not sure how I feel about the overall relationship between Q'nalia and Lucien...if it is a sibling type relationship or something "Closer."

 

Good issue as normal. At long last Zayne and Lucien meet up again since the Commencement arc ended. Though Raana Tey's at the top of Zayne's "list", I doubt Zayne would pass up an opportunity. Heh, and the teaser for the next issue puts it perfectly: Zayne's talent for being in the wrong place at the right time is a very powerful weapon in of itself (as Gryph was one of the first to identify the potential). Can't wait to see more of Zayne and Lucien's "converstaion" next issue.

Heh, for someone who lived on a freighter for years, she sure knows a lot of the major players. Not entirely sure I see something between her and Alek, but the Zayne-Jarael kiss was hilarious, as was Eejee's comment. And I like the idea of a Zayne-Jarael couple too, another reason I liked that scene.

The only problem with the exogarths is stopping them once they've started, as while the first generation is controllable, who knows about the later generations, they could eat up entire systems. But then again, the mere threat of these things could be enough to force someone to surrender, preventing the need to unleash them on a system.

Aside from Zayne (who is still morally the most upright of the whole cast), almost everybody else looks a bit shady. At first Alek seems outraged, then he thinks the Jedi should get them. I'm glad to hear that Alek doesn't believe that Zayne murdered his Padawans. Nice to hear at least one Jedi vouch for Zayne, though his future is clouded, at best. Karath continues to look stupid, at least Lucien seems solidly against the idea, and the Rohlan-Demagol hinting continues. Alek's comment of thinking that Demagol drugged himself partly conflicts with "Rohlan"'s original statement, given that if Demagol had been awake enough to drug himself that badly, who knows what else he could've done in that time.

And heh, bickering HKs, though I wonder who Adasca bought the production line from. And man, he's in full megalomaniac mode now, basically declaring himself and his company a galactic power now. The art style's not the favorite, but its not too bad either. I'm just glad they didn't have any cheesy dialogue except for the cover. And wonder what's so special about the holding area Zayne and Lucien are stuck in, since they put two Jedi there. Then again, knowing Zayne's luck, a random exogarth could go out of control nearby and take a bit out of the ship in the area they're trapped at.

 

I hope they never get rid of the artist they are using now. Aside from the cartoony coloring that they seem to favor, it was beautiful. I'm not wowed by this arc though. I can't say I'm taking to the space slugs, a little confused with Adascorp (does Adasca remind anyone of Ming the Merciless?), and I'm not entirely impressed with the way they're writing the space slugs. The way they're being developed is far too similar to Farscape's Budong. I was pleased to think of them as asteroid dwellers that wake up when modified YT-1300's land in them thinking they're "safe" in the "cave", but i won't let it detract too far. I don't EVER want to be one of those something-holes who thinks it's necissary to slam writers and artists with messages like, "if they don't step it up i'm dropping the series" because that's just not cool and if that's how i felt i wouldn't WRITE it, I'd just do it. I am not anywhere near that point though. I relaize you have to take the perspectively good with the perspectively bad. I just kind of skimmed this issue though as i've done with the whole arc so far...at least until the VERY LAST PAGE of the issue. FWAHAHAHAHAHA! I love and hate it when the writers do that to us but mostly love it. Now i want to see how it plays out and i am curious to see how those two gents who found themselves bound to eachother will get out of that scrap! And BLAST it Jarael, kick Adasca in the balls! Gods i hate Jarael...but still i'm looking forward to the next issue!


Master Luc

 

Liked the issue a lot, though the art didn't do it for me.