Also out this week: the fifth and final issue of Dark Times – Out of the Wilderness. Dass Jennir tries to outwit his assassin, but will Bomo Greenbark and the Uhumele crew arrive in time for a rescue?
This week’s bumper crop of Star Wars comics continues! In issue #5 of Dark Times – Out of the Wilderness: Dass Jennir’s attempt to rescue Ember Chankeli from the slaver caravan hit a snag when the mysterious assassin on his trail, Falco Sang, appears on the scene and manages to capture Ember and use her as bait. Like any Jedi, Dass Jennir springs the trap, using H2 to masquerade as him while Dass gets ready to expose the killer. After the showdown, the crew of the Uhumele catches up with Dass Jennir, and Darth Vader also joins the party.
The ending of this storyline wasn’t the epic ending I was expecting, but a more personal one. Bomo and Dass were reunited and realize that catching up is enumerating the friends they’ve lost since they last parted. Vader also makes a new friend, but the discussion isn’t as openly shared. Overall, it leaves more questions to hook us for the next installment in Dark Times. Randy Stradley puts a little ray of light into these Dark Times with a little happiness for Dass and the Uhumele crew, but Dass Jennir recognizes that for him and those he cares about, dawn is a long ways off.
Douglas Wheatley’s stellar details in the art fit well with the scenes in the desert, as well as the return to the Uhumele. Dass gets a new look, which I’m not necessarily enamored of, but it brings the character back to his roots, as he comes out of his own personal wilderness. Wheatley’s ability to give emotion to the characters, both human and alien, is really showcased in this work. Overall, Stradley and Wheatley form a great team for this story.
A good ending, though perhaps not quite the action-packed finale that we might have expected from throwing all of Dass Jennir’s pursuers into the mix. It’s about characters here, and recognizing that you gotta take the small happinesses in life, even when there’s a galaxy against you. There is some sort of odd framing device in the middle of the story, with a Jedi Sue Rostoni relating some of the story after the fact…adding an extra dimension of questions. Re-reading the entire story arc seems like the plan to do!