Legacy #7: Broken, part 6 (of 6) - Glowing Luke on the cover!

Right now Talon, like Maul, is a weapon. There are those who felt that Maul's death at the end of TPM wasted a lot of potential. I think GL had his reasons in his overall narrative but I see the point. Talon's death right now wouldn't serve any real purpose. There are places to go with her. If/when something happens to cause her to question her unwavering obedience -- that would be interesting. But ONLY in the context of who she is right now.

-- John

 

I understand that John. It's just I have little time for sadists. It's not like Mara Jade where she's an unwitting tool of the Emperor. I worry that she's going to get away when I think that there's a good feeling in Star Wars that evil is punished and all sins brought to account for.

Ventress may have grown up in a Hell Hole and so did Sing but no one made them what they were despite their screams to the contrary. They chose to love hurting others and for that they don't get a free pass from me. Watching them in action is disgusting.

Oddly, I think Darth Nihl is more like Maul because while he certainly is an anxyhole, I don't think he gets his joy solely from slaughter and torture. That makes Nihl more likeable and interesting than Talon, Ventress, or Sing.

 

Nihl seems to me very different from Talon. For starters he wasn't even born with the Sith, he used to be a warlord, so I don't know, that alone.

I've found Nihl quite interest, for some reason I feel as if he's as old as Krayt, and that he was one of the first Sith he got into the order, anyone else think similar to this?

 

Not so much but he doesn't strike me as so petty as Darth Talon. He's got emotions, dreams, ambitions and feelings other than being a monster. He doesn't even recall Cade that well so he's obviously got other things on his mind.

 

Well she is pretty young, and most young girls/women I know are petty, and really what does Talon know of the greater world? when I see characters, I not only see them as themselves, but as the potential that each one has for the story... and she really does have a lot of potential.

 

Talon doesn't strike me as wishing to be a monster, she just wants to serve her master. Nihl does so too, but he's older and he wasn't born into the order so there is a history.

So they are quite similar, but while Nihl could've had a life before becoming a Sith, Talon doesn't have the benefit of the experience. In the end, however, they both just care about the Sith, about Darth Krayt, and how best to serve him.

 

Great issue, and I really look forward to Legacy continuing after this. Lots of good lines, and some great imagery, so kudos to both John and Jan. I love the panel of Antares holding Sia's body. The Star Destroyers over Bastion have been mentioned, but that's another wonderful shot. And Brad Anderson deserves credit; coloring in comics is something I've really come to notice, and the colors of Legacy greatly enhance the overall mood.

I did find the talky battle rather iffy. The thing with comics is that while you really see just a bunch of snapshots, if well-done the comic will get you to fill the rest in, so a bunch of images from a battle become a fully-moving battle in your mind. When characters talk a lot in a single panel in mid-action, particularly when they're actually in the middle of an action like leaping or swinging a saber, it pulls me out; it's as if all the characters froze still to hear the monologue. On second reading, though, it does have a rather Tolkien-y feel, and since it's mostly the more upper-class characters, it isn't as bad as my first impression. I'll just think of it as part of the style. Characters like Syn, as expected, do keep it short and to the point, so I like that.

In regards to the overall arc, I found that reading them all in a row was much better. On first read, the Vendaxa parts dragged somewhat, particularly with all the fighting split over two issues; 5 and 6 felt like much of the same thing, and honestly, when I first saw the 7 preview I thought "More fighting?" But without breaks, they flow much better together. I think it was John who mentioned that modern comic writing is often done with the TPB in mind, and I can definitely see that here.

Indeed, anything that carries out over the course of the arc, like Cade's character evolution, works better when read in row. I like the character of Cade a lot more now than I did before. Slow issues, like the exposition-heavy 2, have a lot more impact when they occur as just a part of the overall story rather than the only part of the story you get in a month (or more).

And finally there's the issue of delays. It probably shouldn't be this way, but I feel that annoyances at the production end of the comics can color the appreciation of the comic itself. Particularly if it's a slow issue, I know I've had the feeling, fair or not, of "I waited a month for this?" All in a row, and that isn't an issue. All parts of the story are equal in that aspect.

This is a long way of saying that I'm glad I took the suggestion of reading Broken as an arc, because it really made me a lot more of a fan of Legacy.

On another note, here's my quick recoloring of the Deliah/Sia panel:
[image=http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/6656/deliahrecolornm6.jpg]

 

You can't teach the joy in another human beings suffering. That has to come from within. Ventress got away, Aurra Sing got away, and Talon has gotten away for a bit.

I'm sorry, her sheer delight at slaughter makes me utterly repulsed by her. Darth Maul toyed with his opponents but even that didn't approach Talon.

 

Umm... yeah, actually you can. People aren't instinctively that way, Charles. Unless you're ascribing to some degree of "nature WAY WAY WAY OVER nurture" that is completely unsupported by anything we've ever seen psychologically. Even people who are predisposed to violence have to learn the kind of behavior we're seeing in Talon. It doesn't come from a vacuum.

I'm suddenly disagreeing with you a lot again, after we had that nice period of general not-disagreeing. Odd.

Nice job on the recoloring, L_H. VERY nice.

- Keralys

 

okay were has she been overly cruel in the comics so far... I haven't seen her torturing anyone yet... I have seen ruthless sith tactics, but I haven't seen her warrent the attitude you have towrads her... give me some examples please

 

Good luck with that. Charles made up his mind about her when he saw the preview cover for #0.

- Keralys

 

I think Darth Tallon is mentally ill actually Keralys. I think the same for Aurra Sing and Ventress. The chemistry is not right up there and I've seen plenty of people in real life that have problems that go well beyond the way they were raised. I don't have a desire to read about them to be honest.

Darth Nihl may be evil but I think he's a being capable of being more. I don't get that from Talon. She's an animal and one that should just be put down. Darth Maul was made that way by Sidious, Talon would have probably been a killer no matter where she was born.

 

Actually, I thought it was a pretty cool cover. I thought Darth Talon would be a "likable Sith" instead of another Ventress clone. Maybe someone whose never been outside of the horrors of the Sith and could be either an enemy or an ally.

Instead, what we got was something less than a person

 

*sigh* Support it, Charles. You make general statements like that and then don't support them, and then expect us to buy that they have some sort of validity. There's no evidence - anywhere - that Talon is mentally ill, nor that she's any more corrupt or cruel than any other Sith out there, particularly than someone like Maul, who was absolutely brutal.

To borrow the old saw: Provide Proof Or Retract. Seriously.

As for my last statement, it was meant as humor.

- Keralys

 

Good luck with that. Charles made up his mind about her when he saw the preview cover for #0.

- Keralys

suddenly I am afraid... very afraid

okay here I go

But with the SW universe there is bound to be psychotic people about... not everyone can be whole and healthy, this is what give SW such a living presence in the minds of the fans... as for Talon being psycho... well I am not convinced of it. No one is born a killer, some people have a better instinct for it, but people just don't become killers, usually it takes a trigger event to cause it. But honestly I don't see in her what you see... is it her skimpy attire that makes you believe thus? or the lack of emotion? what I ask ye?

 

So, by posting "Provide proof or retract" you think its magically the burden of proof on someone whose pretty already put up their statements. Where exactly are you getting the idea there should be any debate on this? Give me some supporting evidence cause PPOR is a strawman if you don't provide any evidence to the contrary. You haven't. What proof isn't Darth Tallon mentally ill?

Okay. None of these individually would make her a Beast but together its beating you over the head with it.

1. Her causal murder of her mentor at the drop of a hat.
2. Her psychotic glee in EVERY FIGHT we see her in.
3. The joy she takes in murdering Sia's mentor.
4. The delightful grin on her face when she's stalking Marasiah Fel.
5. The fact she expresses no interests, thoughts, statements or ideas beyond "KILL JEDI" or "FOR MY MASTERS GLORY."
6. Her slavish nutter devotion to Darth Krayt

So pretty much EVERYTHING SHE DOES ON PAGE since her first appearance.

Hell, at least Maul in his journal wrote about how he liked soft beds. So yeah, please Master K provide me where there's a sign that there's something more to the character of Darth Tallon by all means. That she has friends, interests, or any REASON to be the utter monster that she is to her fellow beings.

Cause...I'd appreciate being proven wrong.

If we'd seen her by the Sith snack machine shooting the breeze with Darth Maladi or something other than "CRUSH, KILL, DESTROY" then I'd withdraw my assumptions but Darth Nihl in six panels shows more emotional range and depth than several comics of Tallon.

Weirdly, her skimpy attire shows that I'm a bit sexist since I assumed sine the audience was supposed to find her sexy that we're supposed to sympathize with her and that she'd prove to be a possible good guy :blush: Of course, I felt the same way about Diedre Kendrick (she of the loincloth and black bikini top) in Forgotten Realms too so what do I know?

 

I don't think any proof that she actually enjoys slaughter. That it somehow directly gives her pleasure?

As far as we've seen, any pleasure she get's is from being the better hand, the better servant. She LOVES the Sith, and she'll do anything for them.

 

The freakish grin she's always wearing is one of horror in your opinion?

Edit: Maybe I'm being overly judgmental but damn she just creeps me the kriff out!

 

errrr then I guess Shado Vao is as mad as a meataxe!

 

Darth Nihl used to be his own man in the past, as the saying goes, so if there is a leading member in the Sith Order who could challenge Darth Krayt, then he could well be the one.

And even if he would be loyal to Krayt, it would be surprising if he would have never entertained the idea that after Krayt dies, he could take his place. Because at this point only Darth Wyyrlok III seems to be a person who could be considered another possible successor to Krayt and he would likely be a leader who would try to keep the dream that Krayt had about the future of the galaxy and the place of the Sith in it alive. Nihl, on the other hand, could well have other ideas.

As stories usually go, if Krayt would die and Wyyrlok and Nihl put against each other, Nihl would win - just because Wyyrlok as a successor to Krayt would be more of the same, which is usually not considered a very good way of advancing the plot.

So, if Nihl has these ambitions, but is fearful of rising openly against his master, then perhaps he would not be very eager to see Cade brought to Krayt alive so that he could heal him, and would like that Cade would instead die without his involvement in it becoming public and Krayt would have to face whatever fate awaits him at the moment. This could then put Darth Talon against Nihl, as her mission is to bring Cade to Krayt alive.

 

The thing with her is, she's been in quite a few issues and she's truly not very interesting, as a character or as a Sith. Maul, at the very least, did have little bits to him that made him somewhat interesting. I'm a bit annoyed at both Sith surviving after an arc lasting over half a year and culminating with such a huge battle. What Talon's death'd do would allow more interesting villains to emerge. There're always 'what ifs' and sometimes a character's death allows for them, too. Because of Maul dying, we got Dooku. I'm really hoping Talon goes down shortly when she goes after Cade and he gets another crack at Nihl...

 

Actually, Rogue77, if it came down to Nihl Vs Wyyrlok, I'd have to say Wyyrlok would win, since in Insider we were told that:

"His knowledge of the rituals and lore of the Sith is unparalleled, and his dark side abilities are surpassed only by Krayt."

 

True, though Sidious proved to his master that not every fight must be a great spell duel.

 

Still, you don't become Second in Command of the Sith by being a nice guy.....he may be a diplomat, but something tells me Wyyrlok can really go bonkers if the situation calls.


There's also the fact that in that same article we are told Nihl has no personal ambitions, which were what he sacrificed when he joined the Sith.

 

From in-universe point of view Wyyrlok should likely beat Nihl easily - but if we consider this kind of fight on the basis of what effect it would have on the story, then the person who represents change should win. Because Wyyrlok would just be another Krayt without the armor and helmet. Nihl would be something else. And then it would probably be better just keep Krayt alive.