Star Wars: Dark Times.....opinions?

I'm curious, I have asked others in the SOS thread but curious about the Lit posters at large. What do you think of the series so far? The story, the characters, the art, writing, etc? How does it compare to the Legacy, Rebellion, or Knights of the Old Republic current comic series? Anything else you could say would be extremely helpful as well.

As this is the post-Clone Wars series, which was great from what I read (need to work on collecting more trades), I'm sure people had high expectations or perhaps low ones. Is it a good sequel to what took place before? To early to tell? Etc?

I'm planning on collecting comics now via trades as I don't like having to wait month after month to see the next part in a story. Rather just read an entire arc all at once. So I'll be picking this up (once it's in stock again at Amazon.com, wait is about a month I think now so I'll be getting Legacy and KOTOR at least for now) but in the meantime would still like to know others thoughts on the series so far.

Thanks.

 

I got issue #3 as a tryout last month & I must say............


























...that I absolutely hated it. It's the art, it just doesn't work for me & in that particular issue there wasn't an obvious BIG BAD chasing the main Jedi character that is on the run but who has the time to stop & make some slavers pay for taking the kid of one of the alien crew members of his runaway ship. So no cool bad guy & terrible art has tanked Dark Times for me. Think I'll just stick to LEGACY, Conan & Repo from Darkhorse & stay happy.

 

You're serious? It's Doug Wheatley, man, one reason alone to buy this comic series.

Another one would be the wide variety of "underrated" alien species we're seeing there. And the fact that this really feels like Star Wars, like the OT. I think it's more than on par with Legacy, a bit better than Rebellion and for me, personally, a good bit better than KotOR.

Blasphemy!

 

I'm enjoying it. If I were to rate the current comic series I'd probably put them:

1. Legacy
2. KotOR
3. Dark Times
4. Rebellion

That's not to say I dislike any of them, just that it's my personal preference. I'm a Jedi and Sith person, so Legacy and KotOR do it for me. I'm somewhat bored of the classic era stuff, so I'm not overly thrilled by Rebellion. It's one of the better series set during that period but the plot hasn't really gotten going enough for me yet to really immerse myself in it. I like the art for Dark Times, I like the fact we're exploring something new, i.e. "what happened to the Jedi who didn't die?" and I like the actual story so far.

The only thing I'm uncertain of with Dark Times is where the story is going. It's good in a "side plot" sort of way but I'm not feeling the "wow" of the events in Legacy and KotOR. That may be the idea -- that it's a more "personal" voyage -- but currently I confess the plot just isn't as gripping for me as the other two series. That's not to say its bad, per se, just that it's different.

I would say give it a go and read the first issue at least. I'm not sure when the TPB is out for you to skim it in a library or something. It's a good series but you have to be in a different sort of "mood" than for Legacy or KotOR as it's (currently at least) a different sort of story.

 

I got issue #4 last month, not 3.

My opinion & an ant farm is worth about a quarter! Anyways, I guess I've just been spoiled by reading stuff from what I consider better artists so's I'd be comparing them to this Wheatley character & he'd end up coming short. I do think he does a good Vader, troopers, aliens & space ships but that he's not so good on human faces imo. It's like I'd see this girl crew member in one panel & then think I see another different girl in the next panel & then feel stupid cause it's supposed to be the same person. Dass Jennir, while being what seems like a 30'sish guy with white hair, has a face that seems to flip back & forth between really really old man & 30ish younger man all thru the comic. I can't get down with no comic that has an old geezer as the main char of the story.

I'll give it another try this month tho, see if I feel any different about it. I've read other threads 'about Dark Times & what do people think of it', people do seem to generally like it so it was off of their recommendations that I picked it up in the 1st place.

 

I can actually see someone not liking Doug's art. There are a few small things about it that annoy me, such as his hair, but my problems with the art are very few and far between, and greatly overshadowed by his overall realism, attention to detail, and his brilliant use of many different aliens in the background, using either underused aliens, or giving us a new take on other aliens.

So in other words, I feel there are a few cons, but there are so many pros to his artwork, that the things that annoy me are easily ignorable.

 

I'm really enjoying the series so far - Vader's made too many appearances for me not to - and I love the art.

 

The art is mind blowing so far.

Edit: I'd like two a month to come out until it catches up though

 

The art is really good. I prefer Jan Duursema and Dustin Weaver, but Wheatley is damn good too. I too really like the use of long-ignored alien species, and I like the characters and story quite a lot. Someone mentioned that they couldn't see where the story was going and that it seemed like a side-story, and I believe that's because Dark Times, like Rebellion, is going for a bunch of mildly interlinked mini-series rather than the big epic meta-arcs of Legacy and KotOR.

Gotta say though, I'd like this series a helluva lot more if it was released more often than once every 4 months.

 

Dark Times is a good series. It would be better if it came out on time. Doug's art is awesome. I think the story is a good continuation of the republic period.

 

DH has said that Dark Times will be coming out regularly from now on. The previous delays were due to Mr. Wheatley's wife giving birth, and all that such things entail.

 

i'm enjoying Dark Times. the storyline is good stuff.

 

They said it was going to be coming out regularly starting with #4, which was till very much delayed. As has #5 been.

 

I personally like Dark Times but I admit that it probably isn't for everything. A few things to consider.

- I think the art is really good. Large, brilliant spreads with a lot of different characters/ships/buildings/whatever.
- There is a really good variety of different alien species. I enjoy seeing non humans mixed in doing cool things.
- The general story is not epic in scale. It's just kind of an interesting romp around the galaxy with characters that are likely to be of no consequence to any future tales (Although K'Kruhk is going to be appearing down the road I believe.) If you need your stories to be about the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance, you are unlikely to enjoy it. If you just like seeing little "Side Tales" of obscure characters, you'll like it.
- It is exploring a rather unexplored era, giving a feel as to how the galaxy was after RoTS. Pretty cool. It also gives us some idea of Vader and Palpatine's early interactions as Sith Master and Apprentice.
- The delays are insane. I get excited about it every time an issue comes out, I read it and then......I forget about it. It's really hard to get it rolling when four issues a year are popping out. I understand the artist had a child born but to be honest.....I think Dark Horse probably should have had another artist fill in while he took time off. I think it has hurt the series immensely that it is so inconsistent.

 

I would have to say a contributing factor to some of the people's uncertainty to it has been Dark Horse's decision to alternate between Rebellion and Dark Times. With the frequency of the issues cut down I think it does have some adverse effects on the reader?s ability to immerse themselves within the story.

Don't get me wrong I certainly understand why they've opted for this approach, and I guess two alternating series may be better than one continuous one. But there's much less material there and it takes much longer to explore in this format. I myself normally give any new series at least several arcs to see if it perks up before ultimately deciding whether or not to stick with it, unfortunately this?ll take a year+ to do for Dark Times.

The delays certainly haven't helped much either, kind of ironic considering the leapfrogging approach means there's actually less work to do when compared to Legacy and KOTOR.

Ultimately, the art shouldn?t be an issue for whether you stick with this series or not because they?re changing artists for the next arc.

 

I agree. If Mr. Wheatley just had a baby, God bless him but I want more than 4 issues of a comic out per year or I'm lost.

 

I'm willing to cut the guy some slack if he just had a new addition to his family. His style makes it hard to get a fill in artist that would be able to keep aproximately the same look for the book.

 

It's a good series i suppose. The delays are...i don't even know how to describe them. Almost criminal, and if they really want to KEEP a following with this title, they ought to put them out a little more consistantly.

That aside, not bad. I also enjoy the "what happened to the survivors" idea behind it but i hope that they focus on the SURVIVORS and not all the characters around them. And maybe some NEW characters wouldn't hurt either huh? Dass we know and K'Kruhk we know...going to maybe give us something new? I don't want to come off as a dirty little bugger here, just being honest. I'd like more new characters and original and or stand alone arcs.

All in all, on a scale of 1-10 i'd say the current four are rated at:

Legacy - 65
Dark Times - 7ish
KOTOR - 6
Rebellion - 6


Master Luc

 

the only thing that i didnt like were the delays.
but now that its obvious that delay is no longer a problem...

you must read it.
it's SW and it's the "fabled" dark times!!

this is it!
and it's only just getting started!
wheatly's art is fantastic imho.
so detailed -- the art team is really top notch.

i cant really see how anyone could dislike it -- even if they didnt love it.

and the rag tag group that they out together... well, if they see how deep and intriguing Legacy and KotoR are - well, they'll keep the story quality top notch.

there is so much ground -- fertile ground - to cover here -- i cant see it possibly going wrong under the cureent directorship at DHC.

 

I'm happy that Dark times is looking at some of the characters from republic. It was a good series. New characters are a mixed bag. Dark times has introduced a few like Bomo who are pretty cool. Rebellion on the other hand has introduced new characters that i don't give a crap about. Legacy and Kotor have introduced many new characters and i like all of them on some level.

 

I'd echo pretty much everything Carnage said, especially:

I'm enjoying DT a lot -- what there is of it so far -- but this is exactly what happens to me. Each time a new issue comes out, i have to skim back through the previous ishs to remember what the heck is going on. For me, that hurts the series overall -- it's harder to get into as deeply as say KotOR or Legacy when you have to wait months between each ish.

Earlier on in the series run, i had a running joke that the DT comic didn't in fact exist, but instead was some sort of periodic collective hallucination shared by some SW fans featuring Legolas the Jedi, a dinosaur guy and the ocassional Vader-ness. I'm still not completely convinvced that's not true.

But the series is definitely worth checking out, particularly if your a fan of or interested in the DT-era (i'm so looking forward to the Coruscant Nights trilogy). I also like that the current arc of the series is running essentially concurrently with the events in Dark Lord -- i'm often a sucker for continuity synchcronicity bewteen different media (like part of what made LoE very cool -- the frequent referencing of various Clone Wars events depicted in Republic Comics).

 

I didn't like the whole story of Dark Times. Things that were used by all other SW comic and etc seems to be just stuffed in it. That means: no new things to look.

Art was fine though. The best in time, I think.

 

Here we go, one guy posts something negative and thrity poeple come on board and try to post something good. The series may be good, the ART IS VERY GOOD, but the delays to the series don't make it worth while for me. Issue 5 may not even come out till next month. That will make it a year since the series started. That will also mean that issue 6 will get delayed, nothng new. I'll stick to Legacy and KOTOR

 

WoW!! I had no idea that this series was going through these kind of delays. I guess it will be even longer for the trade to come out. The way it was advertised I though at least enough issues for the trade had come out, guess not.

On a different note, what about Rebellion? Is it suffering through the same delays as well?