The struggle for power between Maul and his former master intensifies in the second issue of Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir! Dooku and Grievous are out to catch Maul and Mother Talzin, but the dark side witch has her own trap to set. Some spoilers ahead as the battle of dark side vs dark side continues!
Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir #2 (DarkHorse.com profile) ratchets up the tension between the rival dark side camps: Darth Sidious, Dooku and General Grievous; and Maul, Mother Talzin, and Maul’s coalition of criminals and mercenaries. Having been recently beaten at his base, Maul regroups his forces at Ord Mantell, and Talzin plots with him to set a trap for Dooku. The count, expecting to capture Talzin, finds instead a boatload of Nightbrothers waiting for him, while Maul leads a counterassault in space, disabling the Grievous’ droid army on the ground.
Review: Plenty of action in this issue as the sides gear up for a battle, and then unleash their forces against each other, with Maul’s plan to trap Dooku and Grievous seemingly pulled off. But with Brother Viscus and most of the other Nightbrothers defeated, is the Shadow Collective enough to keep Dooku captured? The story, originally written to be part of a story arc on The Clone Wars, and adapted and written by Jeremy Barlow, only picks up steam as the issue goes along – we regroup from the previous issue and bam! I liked how we see how the Shadow Collective members behave in the heat of battle. There’s also some cool witty banter between Maul and Grievous that I can hear in Sam Witwer’s and Matthew Wood’s voices.
I really liked the art in this issue – there’s some great pieces, as pencilled by Juan Frigeri, inked by Mauro Vargas, colored by Wes Dzioba, and lettered by Michael Heisler. The art style uses some thick lines at times, which works well for Maul and Grievous, but less well for Dooku. There’s a great shot of Grievous ordering the bombardment, and plenty of cool action scenes, in space, on the ground, and with lightsabers and dark side powers. Another cool panel is a first person point of view from Dooku’s perspective in the battle with the Nightbrothers, and the final panel of Maul being touched by Talzin also is quite solid.
The cover is awesome, balancing color and action. But then again I would expect nothing less from Chris Scalf.
You gotta get this series!