Lit The Future Dies Tonight: It's the Legendary 181st Imperial Discussion Group Legacy Marathon!

Actually, I don't see too many similarities beyond the obvious Star Destroyer shape/colour. The Pellaeon was much bolder; it's kind of as if it were a star destroyer with an additional hull, a protective casing, smooth but divided by lines that come from the bridge like rays of light or something (vaguely similar to the blue and white on Plo Koon's starfighter). The bridge element almost hides in this casing. It's also coming ever closer to a simple geometrical form, a triangle, as if its design process started with easy shapes in a 3D program.

The TFA ship you're showing definitely started off old star destroyers; it has a pronounced command tower, it has two levels of triangle on top of each other. It doesn't have the line of turrets going forward along the spine (which was more similar in layout to the hangar deck of the Venator). To me, it simply looks as if someone broke an old star destroyer, not as if they created a new one based on basic parameters of it being a triangle and having a command structure at the end. Does the new one look closer to the Pellaeon in cinemas? Haven't seen the movie yet.

EDIT - I remember that I thought of the Pellaeon, too, in one of the trailers... there's a brief scene in which the shuttle approaches the ship. Somehow, that did remind me of the Pellaeon, but it was too brief and believe it or not, I can't find the clip anymore.

 

Yeah, the clip you describe is the one I'm thinking of.

Think it was in the first teaser trailer.

 

I still like the Pellaeon's design more. I think I read before that the design was partially inspired by... Jabba's sailbarge? Or cowcatchers? Or something big, tall, cathedral like? Maybe one or all of those references. Either way, i love the Pellaeon's design. More than I like TFA's new Star Destroyer design. Its ok, but its still kind of... generic, nothing really stands out on it, compared to say the Venators or the Pellaeons. I won't talk more about it here due to TFA spoilers. The TFA books have a few better pictures of the new SD, but I still like the Pellaeon-class more.

I'm also fond of the Scythe as a mass produced Mon Calamari design (and the flashback issue showed plenty of them at the Battle of Caamas). As well as possibly being a homage to KotOR's Hammerhead cruisers too, without being too obvious about it.

 

On the topic of TFA links, I haven't read the Art of TFA book yet, but just read the article on it on io9, and apparently Darth Talon was used in some of the earliest concept art for the movie.

 

Someone ping me when you get to issues 19-21. I've obviously got plenty of comments once Stazi and the GA Remnant come into play!

--Adm. Nick

 

Darth Talon looks so cool, she ALMOST appeared twice so far outside the comics - the canceled Darth Maul game and TFA. Rest assured she will appear again in the new canon, sooner rather than later I assume.

 

Personally do I prefer Maladi's design

 

I wonder what was going on with Allana being by Krayt's side in LotF? I know they thwarted that future, but I'm fascinated by it. Then again, I wanted Darth Krayt to be Jacen...

 

You know it would have been really interesting and rather terrible of Krayt had been revealed to be Jaina

 

Given that Denning said he didn't consider the Legacy comic to be the definitive canonical future, I'm kind of curious what he had in mind for building up to it, because I'm sure he had ideas in mind for what "really" would happen once the books got to that point (and I'm sure they would have been completely cringeworthy compared to the comics).

 

My understanding is Dark Horse comics and Denning both had very specific ideas for where to go and they could not have been more divergent.

 

That's so unfortunate, considering Dark Horse was eagerly doing such cool stuff with Del Rey material.

 

Part of the problem seems to be both were doing the "Return of the Sith" plots simultaneously.

Also, Denning made it clear he loathed the Jaina Solo, Empress of the Galaxy thing.

Which...uh...kind of is a big stumbling block.

 

Seems to have always been the way sadly.

DHC wanted to work with Bantam, only KJA made that work, Zahn certainly didn't.

DHC wanted to work with DR, but again, got given the bird instead.

 

Allow me to rephrase: "That's so unfortunate, considering Dark Horse was doing an incredible job with the post-NJO Star Wars galaxy and fan reception was more favorable to them than to Del Rey."

 

OK, so one more thing #13 that I forgot - it features Pellaeon Gardens, the ultimate Imperial retreat!

...what?

Are there details beyond the Jaina thing? Details details details!

Oh, and one more thing - there's ads for the Sam & Max Season One game in these issues, and I'm currently (still) playing that! Ever since I finished the Monkey Island game in spring, I come back to Freelance Police every few months. 2007? Really?

#14 Claws Of The Dragon!

OK, this is the big one. Arguably the biggest arc until the finale, and generally the ESB moment in the Legacy arc.

It starts off with an opening summary that mentions a "hefty bounty" on the Jedi healer. You know, that bounty that mae Cade & crew break even on their original bounty deal. Barely. How much would they have had to pay for turning the creep in?

There's two larger things in this, one being more time for the Imp pilots (who do their best to be stupid top gun material) and the other an over-the-top Hutt predating Ziro. Retcon: They're related. Artoo doesn't add a lot, he's window-dressing at best, so that's a bit sad. Cade is still moping about the old days and the stuff his father did even though he knows his father isn't responsible for the bad stuff, but whatever, man. Easily breaking into the Sith temple should normally be impossible, but for a (former) Jedi, I'll let this one pass; it's plausible. I mean, it's not like they'll one-up this infiltration thing with a non-Jedi later on, is it. Cade gets captured in a flurry of reverse lightsabers.

#15

A Mofference! no Dark Greetings, though. Shame. And they're talking about... nothing special? Meanwhile, Cade gets drugged and preceives the world in weird psychedelic way. Since he's a death stick addict anyway, he probably always sees everything this way and Maladi has to realize that there's nothing special about her scene either. Shouldn't have used drugs the victim is used to, should you... But luckily it's easy to get Cade's friends in there even though he left them, and suddenly there's more dark side healing to do because Maladi has a weapon that can turn everyone into a coral paperweight in two minutes max (should make that war much easier, shouldn't it).

The big one is, obviously, Krayt's revea. He's... not Jacen. We already knew about that since last May. He is... yep, it's about the tattoos behind the mask (someone already guessed that one back then)... A'sharad Hett!

#16

"I'm supposed to know that name?" Well, Cade, no. And the name Khan isn't supposed to mean anything to you, either. Don't be so selfish, this is about the audience!

Look, there's Ewan McGregor on the cover! Why would he be here? Because that's the big origin story, that's why. Other authors may see Kenobi as "the ultimate Jedi" (Stover comes to mind), but here he's made responsible for the existence of the second galaxy-crunching Sith Lord based on something like mercy, or non-coldbloodedness. Cut the guy some slack! Anyway, back to Hett, who went all emo after his troopers betrayed him (note to Jedi Order: never take in older kids as Jedi, they always go emo). He returns to the last place where something horrible happened to him. While other Jedi try to hide as non-Jedi, Hett becomes a Tusken clan-lord with double lightsabers. His disguise consists of only using reverse grip from now on. Tatooine just became a great place to hide. And anyway, wouldn't Aurra Sing be on this in, like, five minutes? Since we're tying this completely into Republic?

Which is the great-and-weird-at-the-same-time thing. EU, especially the comics world, is becoming more solid because of it, but it's starting to become very small. And all the not-so-important stories that exist between the galaxy-shattering movie episodes suddenly add up to something bigger. Arguably, Kenobi's "mistake" here had bigger ramifications than letting Vader live.

Anyway, Kenobi and Hett prove that this isn't Star Wars since they omit the "May" from THAT ONE FAMOUS PHRASE, turning me dark side in the process as well. Kenobi gets his PANTS handed to him until Hett uses reverse grip, which gives Kenobi the upper hand. Kenobi apparently uses a force push to sever Krayt's arm. Then Kenobi messes up by sending Hett away like that. With Anakin, it does make sense on several levels that he wouldn't finish the job, especially since it doesn't seem likely that he wouldn't die from his wounds anyway. Here, he has a person who's obviously lost his marbles, and he's sent him to meditate. It's obvious that Ben only wants to keep Luke save - make Tatooine a less noticable place again, save him from getting run over by Tuskens, save him by removing all darksiders from the planet. But seeing how completely trained Jedi Hett has gone off the rails, he should at least have confiscated the lightsabers and his Jedi licence or something.

In further news, Cade's healing ability is described a lot like a Reverse-Shatterpoint (which fits the "against-the-way-nature-wants-this-to-go" dark side thing about the ability); in the meantime, an Imperial captain bombarding the Ossus temple looks a lot like one of those ComicCon fans who donate money and then get their likeness put into a comic book, doesn't he? Oh, and in the issue's opening, Corde has one more of those plans that we would have to check to see if her switching allegiance still serves a higher purpose, while Blue's "always" known that Cade's been a Jedi. There's some surprise for you.

#17

No heir has been named for Krayt. So does Krayt have a bigger plan for immortality and neverending control over his mooks yet? Didn't sound like it, but if he's insisting on living "long enough", his plan does have a really big flaw. And it is a lot of control, since old Sith ways are said to be secret. At this point, you even have to wonder why he would call his posse Sith - he uses a bit of the tradition but discourages his mooks from actually getting engaged with the tradition.

Cade's healing power is made into a simple alternative to regular healing abilities Jedi always had. Part of a plan for his dark side temptation, using too much of the dark stuff? Because basically, thinking back to Sazen and Marasiah, Cade had an awesome resurrection power, bringing back the dead. Now he's close to treating muscle cramps with it.

Corde probably has a voice changer (or Calixte goes for the Bale voice); or her current husband is stunned by her cleavage and doesn't notice that she's the same woman he wants to cheat on. Wait, he should recognize that cleavage, too, so that can't be it either. Maybe... she doesn't have a voice since she's a comic book character? Well, probably voice changer. What's with the tattoo/tech things she's got on her face, have those ever been explained? And - would make the plan sense with these being two characters (since we haven't found out yet)? Or is this situation a first sign that Corde is going in for the reveal for us audience? Doesn't she compromise her Calixte persona by this? Questions...

Anyway, let's infiltrate the Sith temple again, because if simply look confident enough, they'll think you're hiding your Force presence. That's some security for you. We get an unexpected three-week-timejump along with Cade's sithy version of his outfit ("Look! We found a black version of your clothes at a local thrift store!"), longer hair that finally makes him look a bit more badPANTS, and more Hett storytime including him keeping his sabers as a bounty hunter ("Dude! We're bounty hunters! Awesome!") and apprenticing him to a totally made-up Sith that appears to have a fine deal for him.

#18

That's the issue with Vergere, post Betrayal-retcon, in it, apparently for maximum Legacy-era-synergy. Urgh. I'm gonna ignore this one.

I'll say this, though: Darth Cadeus. Teehee.

 

#19

Face off! So Krayt and Cade will both switch faces to go undercover on the enemy side?

Apparently, Cade got his old clothes back (which weren't burned, which means the Sith Order doesn't know about hygiene and will probably die because of that), and his daddy finally came back to support him... in using his ability as proper Shatterpoint to vandalize stuff and get his lightsaber back (imagine if he'd continued with a red one).

The Imp pilots once again demonstrate the "what we're given" mentality by following orders instead of adding their own twist to the story. Cade jumps as if this were Cloud City, and we get a big family reveal with Corde/Calixte to make this the obvious ESB episode. I must admit that the Corde reveal doesn't seem all that amazing when you know what's happening, but back then, it really was something, wasn't it. Probably helps only reading one issue per month. Anyone up for a reading project?

One more thought - Krayt wants the galaxy to not fall into chaos, and this is his big pitch to Cade. Well. Why? He himself wants to create a non-chaotic galaxy and claims he can then die and leave his work to future generations. Is he really that dumb that he thinks his immortal work will never be changed by the very next person to come along? And where exactly in his Tusken/Jedi/Sith upbringing did he find interest in creating a great, secure galaxy for other people to enjoy? It can't be a Jedi ideal since he's shunning all the Jedi stuff. Does he already work towards immortality here without us knowing? Did Ostrander know that he'd keep Krayt as the ultimate big bad until the end of the series?

 

Wth two "episodes" under the belt, here's a brief interlude on one more facet of Legacy that I'd like to bring up. So, Cade is a talented healer. A prodigal healer, because nobody knows where his ability is coming from. If anything, he's super-needy and therefore is the first one to instinctively bend the Force to his will in this way.

Force-healing isn't new, and it's never been controversial. When Old Ben kneels down next to Luke after the Tusken attack, it's not clear if he's just "checking for pulse" or actually healing him, and if he does heal him, what the injuries were (the CCG back in the day used the scene for a "character resurrection" function, funnily enough). Healing is basically nurturing life force, so why not do it? It's an important function in videogames, obviously. Later on, we get Clighal, her next-gen update Tekli, Vergere and Jacen as healer characters who help the Force win against death. None of those are problems.

Now, Cade's power is introduced as a power that "brings dead people back", which is quite a feat. Him using it as a healing technique - even if for terminal ailments like Syn's/Blue's Vong implants - somehow waters down the concept. Yes, it's close, but if the characters aren't dead, the magic of conquering death flickers away. So the illness wasn't really terminal, it was just about finding another way of healing.

So, is all of this about the line where you're invited to "let it go"? In this model, when is taking action and working against natural processes of decay wrong? We later find out that Cade has the choice of using reverse-Shatterpoint through The Power Of Love, which is different from using anger to fight death back. So it's not about the nature of the illness anymore, but more about the good feelings you pour into the Force. Would that mean giving something back? Is good healing about giving to the Force, while bad healing is about taking from the Force? (Reminds me of the Nightwatch books, where magic energy can be collected from people's feelings; the main character supercharging himself comes from stealing a smile, a good day, here and there.)

Have I mentioned already that the Cade character as a prodigal healer caught in the balance between good and evil would make more sense if he weren't the cool emo bad boy who's supposedly been close to getting thrown out of the Jedi Order, a concept that's hard to believe for a Skywalker if not clearly demonstrated by everything he did back then, and even harder to believe when everyone wants him back because destiny? Instead, this seems like the role for the emo nerd, the Peter Parker or Harry Potter guy. The thoughtful guy who may think first and become action hero second. Someone like Jacen or Anakin Solo were sometimes written, who's questioning everything so much that it's not unlikely that he can be go either way, and who's not only got an outside talent, but is also an outsider.

 

This is probably when I was most excited about Legacy. On the one hand, its nice that they didn't delay the Cade vs. Krayt confrontation for too long, even if Luke had to guilt-trip Cade into rescuing that Jedi healer he turned in earlier. On the other hand, everything else kind of felt like a letdown since Cade had faced Krayt already and survived.

I also hate that Obi-wan was added to Hett's backstory. Great job Obi-wan, that's two galactic Sith terrors you let go. Hett was definitely unstable on Tatooine, and killing him might have been overkill, so Obi-wan didn't really do anything wrong, but wish he hadn't been involved. Though I don't blame Hett for being grumpy years later when he finds out why Obi-wan stepped in to defend that particular moisture farm. Its not that much worse than Zayne saving Alek (who at the time was mostly heroic), but given Obi-wan's role in accidentally letting Vader live, adding Krayt on top of that... just don't like it.

Lot of Republic callbacks (especially with Chak's appearance), but I wasn't a huge Republic comic fan, so don't care too much. I guess even as Krayt, Hett saw himself as bringing order to the galaxy, that he was still being the "good guy" but as the Jedi had failed, that because the galaxy had turned against the Jedi, he would then try the Sith way. Funny enough, most of the rank and file Sith do seem fanatically loyal to Krayt, aside from relative newcomer Nihl, and the scheming Maladi (and of course another surprise later on).

(Random aside- I wish Krayt had at some point mentioned hunting down and killing Aurra Sing. As a Jedi, he's not supposed to kill her unless absolutely necessary and/or in self-defense, but now as evil Sith, would have been nice to hear he had tied up that loose end. Sorry to bring that up, just hate it when unrepentant villains get away, even worse as she had turned up in LotF, still looking to kill Jedi, decades after most of the rest of the Republic cast was dead.)

Ugh, Vergere and Caedus tie-in. Well, guess the comics were just going with the flow and referencing the current canon of the time. Not like Krayt is all that reliable a source though (even if he's being truthful, he was tortured by the Vong for quite a while).

So Cade pretends to be tempted, Krayt pretends to believe, blah blah, until finally Krayt tells him to obey or else. One of the few things I like about Cade is that he's selfish, but he's really not interested in the wider picture. Anakin wanted to bring order to the galaxy, Krayt is similar in that respect, Palpatine attempted to corrupt Luke by saying the only way to save his friends' lives was to turn to the dark side. Cade doesn't care about any of that, which is why the normal sales pitch doesn't work on him. And too bad Darth Talon's plot armor is so thick, Cade is a mean one, yet too bad he doesn't actually kill any of the major Sith. He didn't kill Nihl as that might count for revenge for his father, but you'd think the rest would be fair game.

Before Vector and War, it was interesting that Cade said he could see that Krayt didn't have it in him for extended combat, so even fighting Cade directly might have been too much for him. Its not until much later, but Cade gets by with his dark version of healing, but its mainly there a lure for Krayt. I did like Cade's line about "the galaxy can take care of itself" (or something like that) before he did his version of jumping off a cliff. Too bad destiny says Cade has to be the one to save the galaxy. And kind of funny to hear Cade's been using his healing gift to get over the hangover from his drug habit, that's a great way to live. Too bad the series didn't go into more about those Krayt healed. By this point, Cade had healed several people (Wolf, Marasiah, Talon), so it might've been interesting if we had ended up with a Harry Potter vs. Voldemort situation, where some sort of link forms between Cade and Krayt and could be his downfall or his salvation or his ultimate victory or something.

The series treated Cade's healing kind of funny, guess darkside healing is ok up to a point, but Cade doesn't reach that limit until the Monster arc. Though its treated really oddly when he keeps Azlyn from dying, but that's much later.

The Mofference is an interesting plotline, just to see all their personalities. Veed and Calixte are plotting (well, Calixte is plotting as she's the brains), Rus seems meek (but he's actually pretty adaptable), and the rest grumble about serving the Sith. Geist was a hardliner, and was probably easy to manipulate during the lead-up to the Sith-Imperial War, the Chiss never does much, but Yage actually gets a lot of background (has a daughter, used to be married to Calixte). Then there's the whole Calixte/Corde thing. Honestly, Calixte is probably one of the most important characters in the entire series, and not just as Cade's mother. She helped arrange the original Sith alliance, but didn't want them taking over and helped Fel escape to avoid the worst case scenario and she's been plotting since. Too bad it takes a long, long time for her to realize working with Veed is more trouble than its worth.

This arc was really exciting, especially back in the day. Cade had faced Krayt, survived, we find out about Krayt and Corde, and Krayt is really losing what little patience he had left. I think next time he captured Cade, Krayt planned on just breaking his mind entirely.

 

I actually like Vergere's cameo, she do her trickster mentor stuff, never states she is a sith but the lesson Hett learns is something radical else then what Jacon learned. Showing the problem with that kind of teaching method.

 

I have the feeling that Chak was one of the character ideas they came up with for Legacy, and since he was a Wookiee, decided to then use him in their final Republic story as a little bit of pre-emptive set-up.

 

The problem is that while it's a great idea to write your own favourite character that way, it's not likely that someone would think that way, not in real life and especially not in the SW galaxy. I wanted to bring this one up during Vector, where Cade not being tempted by power is a major plot point. Cade is so full of testosterone, of course he would be tempted by power. And be it the power to do as he pleases and fry every person that looks at him the wrong way. Not being interested in the wider picture only means that he'd never fall into the trap of "I'm doing this for the best of the galaxy"; he's still wide open for "I'm doing this for getting all the stuff that I want (he does have ambitions after all, otherwise he wouldn't have a proper "sober" job but only drink and shoot death sticks) and for kicking everyone I hate in the teeth".

The trouble is that the "you hate me, so join me" spiel Palpatine did with Luke never worked, and Krayt tries something similar here so it's obvious it won't work either. Anakin, on the other hand, and to a degree Ulic and KOTOR I Revan and DE Luke, and obviously Cadeus, err, Caedus are not tempted by the best buddy approach. They're tempted by the "this is what has to be done" approach. Cade won't really fall into the "this is what has to be done" approach because he's a "this is what I want to do" guy. But again, saying that someone who's simply interested in doing what he wants to do while having a lot of anger management problems would never be tempted in the slightest by the power to bend everything his way is ludicrous. Again going forward a bit, the first thing Cade does after Vector/Storms is not to leave the galaxy alone and mope; he's stupidly going hunting for cash and riches and Blue's new boots, using all the Force-based tricks he now has up his sleeve. Someone who truly wouldn't be tempted having power would not run around with weapons and mess with people's minds.

 

#20 Indomitable!

Now that we've seen in detail what Cade was up to, we're going to see events that take place in some other place of the galaxy with no connection to Cade whatsoever. Regular SW would forge an epic story out of all these facets; here, we get glimpses at the epic stuff and boil Cade down to someone who doesn't want to deal with the larger galaxy, but does very little hiding to go along with the running away.

This time, we find out about the planet Mon Calamari that is obviously cursed with its fantastic shipyards; about the Alliance Remnant, Rogue Squadron (now with a guy who didn't even fly the last time we saw him and would be better suited for commando work), a Dug who's a wonderfully colourful character. Then there's Stazi and Stazi's arch enemy, an Imperial who doesn't like non-humans (they still exist!) and who's really putting his feet apart when looking out of the bridge window. It's... a trap! when Stazi tries to capture a big ship. And just like Cade keeps repeating "like Ossus" everytime his war wound comes back, Stazi keeps repeating "like Caamas". Will he be able to snap out of this trauma...?

#21

Yep, because the trap is a trap in a trap, with the double agents being triple agents, lots of stuff blowing up. The second in command is declaring Stazi to be more important than just a side character; Rogue Leader knocks Stazi out and stuffs the big leader into his starfighter (where in the world do they have space for that in a combat situation). Those pesky rebels! Never take what is given, like their good admiral wanted to when he was prepared to down with his ship. well, now he has to take the messianic Alliance leader status that he's been given, and Rogue Leader has to take a promotion. Anyway, that Imperial sucked. Way to design a trap around "he's always thinking the same", but then again, if the Imperial had based his plan around Duros art, it probably would have succeeded. Duros art, does it contradict the EU?

Bonus!

Cade isn't clean yet and has a weird drug hallucination! He's fighting the Sith again, but then Boba Fett traps him! Luke's ghost tries to intervene, but it's Han who saves him from Krayt... and steals his girl? "Someone tell me how this is happening!" (insert "drugs are superbad, superbad!" public service announcement by James Brown; not available on youtube, apparently)

#22 Darth Krayt is not pleased! Err, The Wrath Of The Dragon!

Well, basically, this is the superdark genocide issue. However, it's most memorable for making everyone turn in their suggestion what Darth Krayt is saying in a speech bubble on the cover when he's not pleased! My favourite was him saying "I am not pleased!", that one made me cry tears while laughing.

Ah well, where were we... yes, genocide. It doesn't help that the artist is rocking a proper cartoony style, which turns Krayt into a proper monster, not just that kind of monster. Content-wise, the dark side has never been harsher ever since Alderaan, and even then we had to find out about all those nice Alderaanians to really know how much we cared. With Mon Calamari, this is Vong-level destruction of established material. But well, seeing how the rebellious fish people got on the nerves of powerful beings for about 150 years, it's not implausible that someone would finally put the foot down. Any pretense that Krayt is good for the galaxy is out the window, and I suspect any suggestion that Jedi and Sith are somehow the same along with it.

However, this issue still has some plot left. The Felpire has to help the Alliance, because everyone and their uncle was about to do something to that one new star destroyer (really, one star destroyer seems like not all that much seeing how large some fleets are, and how many ships were sacrificed to get it). Sabotage is going to blow the ship up if Stazi doesn't receive a warning in time! So it's time for Imperial Knights Treis Sinde and Sigel...

The beardy wise master and the cocky youngster go all Naboo on the hangar, with an added twist of beardy masters Sith-at-the-boarding-ramp dueling. The cool guy with the impractical name remains to do heroic work, while stuck-up snappy name aggro girl warns Stazi. Could this lead to... an alliance? Well, at least everyone's got an Alliance now, in form of that one ship.

 

You do know that this came from the NJO right?

Well, not the name, but all the rest of it.

It is just another example of how well Legacy used continuity to fill in little details.

 

Issues 20-22 bring me back to a much simpler time, when the EU was still vibrant and Legacy was the hottest thing going. It was Admiral Gar Stazi and my love of the character that brought me into contact with John Ostrander, who was a total gentleman, a true fan, and someone who I ended up developing a really cool relationship with. He is on record stating that the Galactic Alliance wouldn't have taken as prominent a role in Legacy if it wasn't for the extremely positive fan reaction tp Gar Stazi back during the story arc on the Wheel.

Forgive my immodesty, but I can't talk about these issues without a big grin remembering Admiral Nict, the character John named after me. He has just a few lines and dies in a blaze of glory, but the decision to make him an old friend of Stazi's and one of the noble Alliance commanders who refused to retreat still makes me smile.

Stazi as a character is one of the more interesting and memorable good guy military officers from the EU. He is a brilliant commander, but I loved how John Ostrander wrote him as a troubled character. He was almost a bit unhinged at times, but that was a result of the 7+ years he spent on the run, struggling to keep his fleet together and the spirit of the Galactic Alliance alive. I'm a fan who was extremely happy about the canon reboot prior to TFA, but I genuinely lament the loss of Stazi's character. One of the best admirals ever.

Issue #22 was heartwrenching and brutal, but it propelled the story forward and solidified that Krayt was a true monster. People tend to forget that his initial order was for 10% of all Mon Calamari in the galaxy, not just on Dac, to be killed. Proscription at it's worst. The decision to enslave the remainder was also chilling, as the current generation probably grew up hearing stories about the Imperial occupation & slavery of their ancestors. The Mon Calamari had worse suffering ahead in the Legacy series, but this is what set it all off.

Of course, even this horrible act backfired on Krayt. By the time we see Stazi and the Galactic Alliance Remnant Fleet again in issue #32, the fleet is swelled by ships donated from worlds across the galaxy who were disgusted by the act odf genocide. Krayt thought he was going to cow the galaxy into submission, but in reality it helped united the galaxy against him. The Dac genocide brought together the Fel Empire and Alliance Remnant and this ultimately leads to his downfall.

--Adm. Nick