Jedi Master K’Kruhk has drawn the enemy on himself in order to spare the younglings.. but without around, can he stay on the light side? Also, the Empire closes in.. but are they friend or foe, in this week’s Star Wars comic. Plus, apemen!
The captain of the local Arkinnean militia has caught up to the Jedi who escaped from the refugee camp, and now that they’ve witnessed his dark secret, they can’t be allowed to live. But will the Jedi pack come across more dangers in the forest, or potential allies? Let’s check out Dark Times: Fire Carrier #4 (Profile on DarkHorse.com) and find out! Spoilers ahead!
Summary: Captain Relik has brought out his troops to hunt down the Jedi refugees who have witnessed the horrors of Relik’s solution to his world’s refugee problem – and with K’Kruhk having destroyed his main ship, Relik is out for blood. Master Zao, having recovered from their runaway cart crash, deals with a new problem: youngling Sidirri, believing K’Kruhk to be dead, is enraged and tapping into the dark side… until Zao guides her to learn that their master still lives. K’Kruhk begins stalking the scout party sent to find him, and manages to get the upper hand on them, capturing a speeder bike. Zao, Piru, and the younglings come under fire as well, but realize that they are not the targets in the forest – Relik’s men have encountered a group of sasquatch-like creatures, and after one of the younglings suggests helping heal a bigfoot’s blaster wound, Zao realizes that they owe these apemen some aid – but their new alliance is halted by the arrival of Relik’s men.
Meanwhile, Vader’s aide mentions again the minor irregularity coming from Arkinnea but is rebuffed a final time by the dark lord.
Review: A new side is thrown into the mix: the forest’s hairy inhabitants. While they seem fierce, can they take on the armored militia to protect Zao and the children? And no word yet from the local Imperial commander or the Star Destroyer Tenacious, coming to rescue their former general in the Clone Wars. Or are they hoping to impress Darth Vader by catching a Jedi?
This issue doesn’t add a lot of plot, but does give us a big dose of action, as K’Kruhk goes into predator mode, stealthily eliminating the squad sent to kill him, even playing dead in a pond after a leap from a waterfall in order to ambush the soldier sent to retrieve his head. And partway through, he has to up his game from disable to kill… sliding closer to the person he does not want to be. (Side note: the militia men remind me a lot of the Cerberus troopers from Mass Effect). But Zao, Piru, and the younglings are no match for the soldiers on their trail, and we get a sense of their danger, while also dealing with the different personalities among the children: Sidirri’s rage rears up again, while Kennan shows his empathy for the wounded bigfoot. After so much “Dark Times” in the previous two issues, we get a little bit of a breather here from Randy Stradley: Nothing really evil happens – just the usual level for Star Wars: bad guys shooting at good guys. Plus Wooly gets his own secret mission. I’m pretty sure it’s going to summon the cavalry or reveal itself to be a four legged hairy ninja.
Douglas Wheatley’s cover might let you think that the forest’s residents are trouble for our heroes, but Gabriel Guzman brings out the compassion in a few great panels (with Garry Henderson with colors) with Zao connecting with the wounded sasquatch. Guzman’s expressions hit the spot again with the encounter between Zao and Sidirri, catching her clenched anger turn to relief, and again with a militia leader going from relief to shock when K’Kruhk has worked his way up through the rest of his squad. Great expressions and solid action sequences.
While focusing pretty much on two centers, the armed K’Kruhk and the mostly unarmed youngling group, the scope of the story has narrowed in on this issue, but sets up the expected cliffhanger for the final issue, and we know that there’s more players waiting to make their appearance for the climax. With plenty of action and the introduction of a new side, though not a lot of plot advancement, we get a needed light break from the heavy revelations before the final showdown.