New Dark Horse Comic Series - Knight Errant - written by John Jackson Miller! With novel!

Interesting...either way, I'll be preordering it from Amazon soon.

 

OK, as with last year's KOTOR finale, in advance of the Knight Errant novel's Jan. 25 release, I'll be taking a few questions on my blog about the Knight Errant material that's already appeared. No novel or future comic secrets spoiled, of course -- just covering what's come out to date, from Influx to the comics to the Atlas. Likely won't get to as many as I did in the KOTOR case, but will do what I can.

Click to post your question!

 

YAY!

My copy of Star Wars: Knight Errant has despatched!

Should get it some time next week, but I'm no longer as fast as I used to and I'll want to savour those 416 pages too!

 

Picked up the novel yesterday. Haven't gotten very far, but it is a nice change of pace from the Big Three. Haven't read any of the comics yet either, but the story so far is fairly well contained.

 

Lucky - hopefully my copy ships from Amazon soon.

 

I got an early copy and I'm about halfway through.

Yes, you will. And you have to pay attention because there's a LOT going on. In true JJM fashion, all the little details eventually click into place. I may have to read it twice just to catch everything and I never re-read SW books.

 

Kerra is Leeroy Jenkins...

 

I'm almost done with Knight Errant the novel.

My basic reaction so far (I'm on page 313 currently) is that it honestly makes a much better introduction to the world of KE than the opening comic book arc.

Kerra has more personality.

The "revelation" about the villains makes them much more interesting.

There's more interaction with NPCs.

It's also more humorous and less depressing.

I really like it!

 

Really wish I could find time to catch up on my novel reading.

The positive reviews for the KE novel have been kicking myself for being too dang busy at the moment.

Oh well...

At least there's something good to come from the miniseries delay, as it gives me longer to get around to the novel...

I deserve a lifetime discount at GoodValors for this torture the world is putting me through.

 

Doh, I mispelled Lord Daiman's name as Daimon!

I must commit Jedi seppuku!

*weep*

 

Knight Errant novel review *SPOILERS*

I'm not one to argue with success but I think that JJM should have started with this novel to begin the Knight Errant series as opposed to Aflame. in a weird way, it seems that Aflame is pretty much the same sort of action-filled teaser as episode 00 was. The Knight Errant novel doesn't really require the first comic book arc to appreciate and really, I think an adaptation of this novel would have been a far better recieved jumping off point than the initial comic series. JJM should be proud of himself, I don't know if he's written any novels before but this is an extremely good one. I wouldn't have minded a self-contained work handling her introduction and the start of a series (I hope Del Ray also has him write more books - spread this book's worthiness far and wide folks!).

Why is the novel good? It provides Kerra Holt with a supporting cast and an archenemy as well as a reasonable goal for the start of the series. Just as Zayne Carrick had his "Count of Monte Cristo" quest for justice and revenge, so does Kerra Holt now have her Emperor Palpatine. As much as I like Lord Odion and Lord Daiman, the simple fact is neither were particularly good archenemy material. My earlier theory that these two were relatively minor Sith Lords actually was born out here (yay for me!). They reminded me a bit of Wonder Woman's (I know I'm getting skeptical looks here) villains Phobos and Deimos. Neither of them were particularly threatening on their own because they're crazy bastarves but you should watch out for their father Ares. Simply put, both were almost cartoonish in their evil and you couldn't imagine either of them being the kind of Sith that Palpatine wouldn't squash like a bug.

Which is why we're introduced to Vilia.

I was wondering why JJM created such oddball cartoonishly evil Sith Lords like Odion and Daiman (but in a good way!) when we knew he could create something better in Lucien Draay and Haazen. Here, he actually makes both Sith Lords have a great deal more depth and interest by making their apparent immaturity a plot point. Odion and Daiman are actually just immature brats playing Sith Lord. I was blown away by the discovery that both are just henchmen for their grandmother, the reigning Dark Lord of their territory who has at least a dozen grandchildren ruling a vast empire underneath her but keeps them all under her thumb by playing them against one another Ming the Merciless style. Yellow Peril villain or not, Ming was one of the greats for his simple philosophy, (Paraphrased) "The key to successfully ruling disparate princes and kings is making sure they hate each other slightly more than they hate you. That way, they can never team up against you and overthrow you."

Vilia is the first sign that the Sith Lords in "Sith Space" could run anything more than a cult of personality and a large pirate gang. She's a nice explanation for 'who makes the trains run on time' and an excellent "Big Bad" for the series. I don't mind soulless incarnations of evil (Nihilus, Palpatine, and Cronal are effective because there's no sign they're anything BUT monsters), but I enjoy villains who have a personality more. Vilia is a nice contrast between a kindly grandmother archetype and the ruthless scheming Sith Lord beneath her veneer. In a way, she reminds me of Darth Traya only perhaps without the moral ambiguity (Traya is a pretty hard act to follow in that respect). I anxiously await seeing her appearance in the comics and possibly more books.

Now that I'm done praising the Dark Lady of the Sith, I'll get to the basic plot. Really, it's Kerra Holt attempting to explore the vast Sith Territory and try to get a handle on a land where hyperspace communication doesn't exist and every world has it's own set of petty warlords. JJM surprises me here by having Kerra Holt rediscover a way out of Sith territory in this book, which allows her theoretically to act with the approval of the Jedi Council despite her "errant" status. I actually hope JJM takes a

 

Will have to leave reading the review until I get around to the book myself...

I did catch your opening line about whether the novel should have come first though.

I've pondered that myself. I think, though, that Aflame serves a similar purpose to what the first arc of Invasion did: it was intentionally a more "cinematic" opening to thrust totally new readers right into the action, without the risk of disengagement if the build up had felt slow?

Taking the Invasion analogy a step further, this is why I expect the next arc might feel quite different, as the fish has been hooked, so it's now a case of reeling it in to land the catch. In Invasion, that meant things easing off a little to set up the deeper, more long-term plot lines, so I'm hoping we'll see something similar based on the few spoilers from the novel that I've strayed across, as the background strikes me as much richer than Aflame necessarily let's on in the first 5 minutes of the film, so to speak.

 

It is a spectacular book, but not just wanted to add a few corrections, not sure if you missed those parts or are just so excited about how good this book is it slipped your mind, and it is just a really thick book.

I'm mostly sure Kerra has killed a few people in this book, mostly Sith minions, either on the second planet and on the ice planet (and I think several minions too during the comic arc, probably). She's not happy about it, especially when she's fighting the Citizen Guards at the end, but she's got no choice in those situations. And there was also the time she sent Jelcho, Odion's Givin aid, on a crash course into the Death Spiral with a bandoleer of baradium. So while she's quite concerned with life, she doesn't have a record as good as Zayne's, but her era is much darker too.

Also, Kerra did have two lightsaber fights in this book, and one was with a Sith Lord. Calician isn't that big of a deal, but her final battle with Arcadia just read as really epic, especially with the city falling apart around them. I so hope we get to see a picture of that someday (Knight Errant Handbook please? Since we're not getting any more Campaign Guides anymore), of Calimondretta collapsing around them, while Kerra and Arcadia are fighting, although Kerra isn't doing very well, although that's another thing I like, that she's not really a match for any of the Sith Lords. And then Arcadia switches to a double lightsaber style, and Kerra is still losing. Fortunately for Kerra, Rusher comes to the rescue with another artillery shot (I so love Rusher and his crew).

The novel does add a lot of depth, but still, the Aflame arc is really what sets Kerra out on her journey, so it is necessary. And while Daiman and Odion aren't the big bosses, they're both excellent examples of just how crazy this era is. The novel expands on that, and does pack in a lot. I'd guess the novel covers at least a year's worth of comics (with each world lasting at least two-three issues, maybe more with some of the bigger ones), so am still very glad we learned so much at once.

 

Oh, I know she had lightsaber fights but neither of them are "conclusive" is what I'm saying. There's no moment where one or the other opponent is struck down. Calcian is a figure who loses a couple of limbs but ultimately, he meets his death at the hands of the Sith Lors who capture him.

I actually thought that was quite clever of JJM because it has Kerra Holt still deal with a Sith Lord in a decisive manner by "ruining" him as opposed to killing him. I'm aware this distinction is largely in my head since Kerra tries to kill Sith left and right but I do think it's rather interesting that she's not chopping up Sith left and right like say, Luke in Fate of the Jedi.

Odd fact that I think might be interesting; the twins are actually the best argument yet put forth by any canon supplement that the Jedi Knights are right to train children from birth and seperate them from their parents. Seriously, if an autistic Force Sensitive can grow so strong that he takes over an entire world then I really think there might be something to the idea the Jedi Knighthood needs to stay semi-isolated from society and might also be very careful about where exactly they go to bed with people.

You could also say that there's a good point about the Sith dynasties being potentially horrifically destructive ones (especially if they're ex-Jedi Knights or Masters who defected).

Speaking of Arkadia, I think she's one of my favorite characters. There's something to be said for attractive, seemingly sane, Sith who are a rarity. The irony is that she's still barking mad, she's just so in a much more calm and collected manner than her brothers. Hell, she even has a respectable motivation in ending in the "race." In fact, you might argue that Kerra made a mistake in not taking her up on her offer. After all, destroying one of the most powerful Sith in the region would be a good thing (of course, I think Kerra might have the sense to know it was probably doomed from the beginning).

Given she's described as attractive and 20 something, I suppose we can be grateful that Kerra is female and apparently straight or fans would already be setting her up to marry Kerra like Ben and Vestara.

 

Yeah, breaking up and destroying a family is a good thing.

Charles you comments about Jedi being right to "take" children is wrong on so many levels I just can't even understand why you would offer such a thought.

Parents offering their children is one issue - Jedi prying them from non consenting parents is completely another.

It can be argued that everything Palaptine did was for the greater good as well..............

 

Yeah, the Jedi do not have the right to take children from their parents just because they might be too powerful in the Force. It is okay if parents give their children to the Jedi, but not if the Jedi took them. If someone took my niece and nephew without my permission, there would be hell to pay and I would make sure I got them back. At least Luke changed that in his order which is a lot better than what the old Jedi Order did.

 

Uh guys,

I'm referring to the existing practice of Jedi seperating children from their families voluntarily for training in an isolated area. For the most part, I think the Jedi take it to an extreme and it's unnecessary (I think Jedi should probably teach children to control their abilities to a certain extent and then spare them any advanced training until they've reached an age they can properly utilize their abilities - I.e. not every child should become a member of the Jedi Order but all children should be given control of their force abilities).

In the case of Knight Errant, I was commenting on a ridiculously extreme example of what could go horribly wrong with a force sensitive. In the case of the Dyarchy twins, you have an austic Sith Lord (apparently a "savant" with his force abilities) and his sister who feeds his Sith abilities utilizing his powers to take over an entire planet and several other Force Users so that he can spread his influence over an entire world until it becomes nothing more than an extension of his will.

All without him even being aware he's doing it.

In this respects, the Jedi would be obligated (as I doubt child services would be qualified for handling this matter) to take the kids from their parents. Maybe it's because I've seen how some parents treat their children but I think the Jedi should be allowed to take children from their parents if they're abusive, Sith Lords (which goes under abusive probably), or woefully unequipped to handle the situation like here.

Though, in this case, it's actually a Sith Lord's pair of children who were abusive (in their own way) and also woefully un-equipped to handle the situation. In Kerra Holt's place, it's a tragedy she wasn't able to deliver the children to the jedi and take them from their Sith grandmother so they could have normal lives.

 

In all fairness, I doubt they would have been that bad if their regent had foolishly tried to exploit their powers to his own ends. Without the Celegian network, their range is limited.

Also: I remember her killing a lot of people. And cracking bond one-liners at some of the deaths. Strange.

Other than that, I agree completely. This really sets up the KE story so I can't wait to see more. Though I think she showed the most personality in the Influx short story. I dunno...something about her portrayal there really stood out...probably because she interacted with people she knew.

Speaking of future storylines...I remember that Kerra mentioned that one of the holograms looked like it was coming from underwater...and the next KE storyline is going to take place on a water planet.

 

[image=http://www.lost-man.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/StarWarsKnightErrant_0_jedi.jpg]

Ahem.

I *MAY* have been mistaken in believing that Kerra Holt hasn't killed anyone. I think part of it is just the fact that she tries to kill Daiman, Odion, and others but never gets around to doing it. We also don't see her reaction to any of the people she does kill, so that was my mistake and I make a retraction for it.

Still, I guess I just think the books are less violent than others.

I don't know why I have that impression.

 

She does slice through Sith minions, but since its not a visual medium, it probably doesn't make as big of an impact in our minds as when we see it in a comic.

Although another nice thing I liked was that Kerra realizes that even if she kills a Sith Lord, it won't really improve anyone's lives in the long term, or even the short term, since usually the nearest Sith Lord would just sweep in and take over. And while Daiman is bad, trying to live in Odion's death cult territory could be even worse, or possibly even worse, ending up under the Dyarchy's mind control. Although that's why she was aiming for Daiman first, since even if he died, his followers would cover it up and things would go on, but without a crazy narcissistic Sith Lord in command.

Yeah, the twins were scary, but it seemed like it was more Calician that got the ball rolling, in terms of their world domination scheme, he just overestimated his own strength and underestimated their power, so he ended up in their thrall too. Actually, the twins might've just ended up starving to death on their own, as Calician mentioned that Dromika ended up burning out any normal person's mind that got too close. Funny enough, now that the twins are under their grandmother's care, they seem like they're just out of the game, period. A more permanent solution could be just to kill the twins to prevent the chance of them ever meeting up again, but seems like they'll be safe with Vilia, especially compared to Arkadia who used Quillan in an attempt to assassinate Vilia.

It is kind of a unusual that Kerra hasn't killed any Sith Lords yet, but she has been responsible for irking many of them, from Daiman and Odion in the Aflame arc, again in the novel, she helped bring down the Dyarchy, and then helped wreck Arkadia's capital. As C19 mentioned, its obvious that Kerra is probably still too headstrong and will eventually burn out, or run into something she can't solve easily. Who knows when that will be, but it'll definitely be a sight to see.

Gotta remember to order the Aflame TPB when it comes out in August (or hopefully sooner). Wonder if there'll be any extras in it or not, it'd be nice to see Influx in print or the Atlas supplement (but probably not, given how Dark Horse TPBs usually are).

 

Daiman's Correctors have clearly gotten to you. It's easy to forget when Kerra kills one of the Lord Daiman's many toes and fingernails, that she is in fact killing living, breathing people, and not just figments of the Lord Daiman's imagination.

 

Kerra has killed -- but she does not dwell on these acts, and since she is our companion in most of these moments, perhaps that's the source of the impression that she hasn't. It's pretty central to how she keeps it together, and yes, it's not necessarily a good thing.

BTW, here's where you can find me at the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo:

FRIDAY
11:30-12:30: Signing at the Del Rey booth with Paul S. Kemp, author of Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived
3:00-4:00: Del Rey panel with Paul and Erich Schoenweiss
6:00-7:00: Video Games and Comics panel with Mass Effect and Knight Errant/KOTOR editor David Marshall

SATURDAY
4:00-5:00: Signing at the Del Rey booth
5:00-6:00: Signing at the Dark Horse booth

SUNDAY
11:30-12:30: Star Wars Comics panel
2:00-3:00: Signing at the Dark Horse booth

There will be news at the show on Knight Errant: Deluge, as well as on the news sites. Hope to see you there!