After fleeing from the local massacre-happy militia, Jedi Masters K’Kruhk & Zao and their younglings now have to contend with natives and the arrival of the Empire. How much more can the Jedi take, in the finale of the ‘Fire Carrier’ storyline for Star Wars: Dark Times?
Dark Times finishes up the ‘Fire Carrier’ story arc with Issue #5 (DarkHorse.com profile). Since the upcoming storyline flips back to focusing on Dass Jennir, it seems that really anything could happen to K’Kruhk, Zao, Piru, and the rest of the Jedi refugees. Well almost anything, considering that K’Kruhk does survive to the Legacy era, but is not on the radar during the classic trilogy and post-ROTJ timeframe. And that does not bode well for a gaggle of Jedi being hunted by the local Arkinnean militia, looking to silence the witnesses to their wholesale refugee slaughters. Plus add some giant forest-dwelling sasquatch-types, and some Imperials investigating the Arkinnean militia — could these groups be allies, or more enemies? No summary this time, but mild spoilers ahead, yet I’ll keep the story ending a surprise for readers.
Also, check out my spoiler-free interview with writer Randy Stradley as we discuss some of the elements of Fire Carrier.
Review: Are there happy endings in Star Wars? Sure, when evil is defeated, and our good guys come out okay, like at the end of A New Hope or Return of the Jedi. Can there be a happy ending in a series called Dark Times? Maybe when the good guys just manage to live free to see another day to keep the light on. Do we get that here? I’m not going to say, though if you’ve read Randy Stradley’s previous story arcs, you’ll know what the track record is on that.
Both the local Imperial commander, Teron, and his comrade, Captain Denimoor, commanding the Star Destroyer Tenacious, knew that their Clone Wars general, K’Kruhk, was likely part of the group being hunted by the Arkinnean militia, but their motives were not clear – were they looking to secretly aid a former-brother-in-arms? or were they looking to track a Jedi for their new boss, Darth Vader? I had hoped for the former, but feared the latter – or even a split motive. Plus we also had assassin Falco Sang being ‘retrained’ by Darth Vader – would he come into play here? So many ways for this story to conclude, and many of those would have a tragic ending.
It came as no surprise that the Wild Men primitives of the forest, the Yunu, ended up allying with Zao and the younglings (or that Woolly reappears), but I did get a shock with what happens with one or two of the kids.
Randy Stradley has scripted a fantastic Star Wars story with Fire Carrier so far, and the ending does not disappoint. It is full of tension and emotion, and it provides a good way to wrap up K’Kruhk’s storyline until we see him again. It also shows that good and evil are not just defined by one’s affiliation, but by one’s character, shaped by one’s experiences.
The art by Gabriel Guzman (with colors by Garry Henderson and lettering by Michael Heisler) continues to pull us into the story, with some great scenes. Zao and Sidirri share some scenes at the beginning as they repel the militia attack, and Teron’s arrival. But the four-panel set that forms the final two-page spread — I can’t wait to see that in print form to see how it all flows together. Good stuff – Guzman continues to impress with his skill in depicting non-humans and natural environments! Doug Wheatley brings us another great cover, this time, highlighting that tension between former allies now caught on opposite sides under the new regime.
As I mentioned in my reviews for the previous issues of the ‘Fire Carrier’ arc, this is my favorite storyline that Dark Horse has out right now, and the finale is well worth it!