There were a lot of great stories in the works when the plug got pulled on Star Wars: The Clone Wars. While several characters got one last hurrah in the sixth season on Netflix, Darth Maul’s storyline was left dangling from his rise to power on Mandalore and subsequent beatdown and capture by Darth Sidious near the end of season five. Now we finally get to see the final Clone Wars adventure of Maul as the unused story leftover from the show has been turned into the four part comic, Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir. Careful, minor spoilers ahead!
Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir #1, out today (DarkHorse.com profile) picks up where the show left off, and delivers an opening clash of a who’s who of the dark side, as Maul has a score to settle with Sidious and Dooku, who have their own sights set on Mother Talzin.
Review: This issue is full of action, as befits a Maul-centric story, and it shows the gears turning within gears as Maul falls into a trap by Sidious and Dooku to lead them to their ultimate target, the Sith witch, Mother Talzin. Along the way, Maul gets interrogated by Dooku before escaping his prison through the efforts of his Shadow Collective Mandalorians, and is pit against the droid forces of Grievous at his swamp base. Will Maul figure out what Dooku is really up to? I hope so!
Jeremy Barlow, a Star Wars veteran, provides the script, and builds the story well for a comic – providing some intrigue and setting up the plot while keeping Maul in action. The art team (Penciller:Juan Friger, Inker:Mauro Vargas, Colorist:Wes Dzioba and the cover by Chris Scalf) brings a lot of great panels to the issue. Some of my favorites include a whole bunch of the fight scenes on Zanbar between Maul and his Mandalorians against Grievous and his Magnaguards. These scenes are so vivid I can almost hear the sounds of the battle as if it were an episode of the show. Rather than use the animated series’ style, the comic uses a more realistic style, and I don’t think I’ve seen Dooku or General Grievous looking as menacing before.
Bryan Young got his review in as well on this issue, in a recent Full of Sith podcast.
Overall, a top-notch start to what promises to be an epic story. Count me excited. I’m a little bittersweet in that Dark Horse’s last new Star Wars title gets to be canon and not “Legends” because I’m a big fan of Dark Horse’s run with the Star Wars franchise, but hey… time to go out on top, wanting more!