Comics Star Wars: Crimson Reign

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Interesting -- it seems that Darth Vader #18 and Bounty Hunters #18 come after this issue, but that Star Wars #24 comes before it. Will have to do a re-read of the series post-BotBH.

 

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There is definitely a contradiction - because in the end of the War of the Bounty Hunters Vader and Palpatine already knew that Crimson Dawn is planning something big and the latter send the former to hunt it down. But here they only found out about it from Barsha.

Spoiler: Issue #5

Overall decent, but this issue, IMO, lacked major reveals and kept things too vague - what is the purpose of hourglass-like artefact? Does Palpatine consider Maul being dead? And speaking of the latter - hope that at least in The Hidden Empire it will become clear what was the nature of his relationship with Qi'ra.

Wonder if chaos, caused by Crimson Dawn's agents, will be retconned to be one of the major reasons why Palpatine let the Contingency happen, although his spirit survived the Endor - there was no reason in trying to save the Empire that was already compromised on so many levels. Maybe Vardos, despite its pro-Imperial facade, was really full of Crimson Dawn spies.

 

All I know about that place the Knights of Ren went is that it has something to do with Momin. I just read Fortress Vader and those things were something in Momin's past.

 

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Oh man, now I want the parasite queen to return.

I mean, I know this whole crossover plot is crowded enough as it is, but still...

 

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The scene with Palpatine and Vader hypothesising which previous Sith trained Qi’ra was nicely done.

Though I must say I didn’t love this event any more than the previous. I’m not big on crossovers at the best of times, but this felt like a lot of wheel spinning. Rather than make this the big show stopper that effects all the other titles they probably should have just given Soule a Knights of Ren series that he can do off in his own little corner.

 

Yeah, this really felt like wheel-spinning. Maybe setting the stage, to be a bit more charitable. But not much more than just introducing the central concept (which we knew from WOTBH) and the cast of characters, which is a shame. Didn't feel like an "event" series at all since very few events even occurred.

The idea itself remains fascinating and has so much potential. Hopefully Hidden Empire capitalizes on it.

 

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I'm curious about that statue/monster thingies the Knights fought, since the big one also appeared on Soule's Vader run (it was one panel during the flashback to Momin's life, and it was shown in the context of the many dark side locations/shrines he visitedl). Soule's pretty good with that sprinkling of breadcrumbs on earlier works that pay off later.

As with WothBH I find all of this crossover kinda of a waste of time. I find hard to believe how so many people would join a ruthless, barbaric crime sindicate by thousands and infiltrate pretty all of the galaxy for... what exactly? What's their motivation? [\spoiler]

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Both greed and dissatisfaction with their place in the system.

 

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Well, at least poor Bazzra got to curse one last time. We are two knights down; the missions they are getting from Qi`ra... understandable if they decide to go after her next, honestly.

 

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Shadowy imperial guy in issue #5:
Sinjir?

The mention of the imperial security bureau seems like a clue. Though his characterization seems a little off compared to how I envisioned him in the Aftermath books. However, if it is him, I totally get why he has to act all professional and stuff in front of the two big wigs.

Nevertheless, I understand that I might be stretching here - not sure how a character goes from being called Barsha to Sinjir. Though I am intrigued! Can't wait to October for the Hidden Empire!

 

It would be interesting if it were

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Gideon. But only if Gideon is an agent of the Crimson Dawn, otherwise its all rather lackluster in the end, long term since we know what happens.

Issue 5 was really so-so, soon as it started to get interesting it ended. Its nice that its confirmed by the realization of both Vader and the Emperor much to their chagrin that Maul taught her Teras Kasi, which according to the Emperor is by itself is arcane, and combined that with Sith Combat secrets - among other Sith secrets - as she is one instrument of his revenge against them(the Sith).[/quote]

 

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As a fan of the Archivist, I liked the cliffhanger they gave for her. I thought that was effective, having Qi'ra remove and destroy the earpiece, and us not knowing if she did that to strand the Archivist and cut her off, or if it was some sort of safety valve to erase the trail to her in case Imperials investigate. I am very curious to see what happens to the Archivist next, I hope she is a character that survives past the battles of Endor and Jakku.

 

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Although it can be fun, hope that Hidden Empire will not feature Momin's second resurrection.

 

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Im thinking it will have something to do with something he created or some lore he learned from a even older sith

 

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Maybe. I just hope that Qi'ra's undoing will not be because using this artifact will corrupt her/ make her a pawn of its creator's will, a too banal plot twist do not want her repeating the fate of the Illusive Man in ME3

 

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So, Qira is going to war with Vader. We know Vader can't lose, because we obviously KNOW how he goes down and have since 1983. Many Vader-centric comics also end with Corleone-esque massacres of everyone who cheesed him off over the course of the run, so... anybody else getting the feeling Qira is not long for this galaxy?

And somehow, that stunted slime DJ lives on...

 

Yea, I thought the issue was good individually but as the end of an event? Not so much. It felt more like just a prologue to Hidden Empire. As for Qira yea, as interesting as she might be, I don't think we'll see her post-ROTJ on screen for instance.

 

Plus, what the heck is

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Xizor

up to, I wonder...

 

Probably monitoring the situation before making a decisive move. Really hope that this time he is going to outlive Vader.

 

Yea, I'm really hoping Hidden Empire is good. This seemed too much of 5 standalone issues.