It’s the big showdown of Dawn of the Jedi: the mad Daegan Lok and Force Hound Xesh against the Je’daii on their tail. Who will triumph?
Out this week is the fifth and final issue of the ‘Prisoner of Bogan’ story arc in Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi (DarkHorse.com profile). Our Je’daii heroes have finally tracked down the escaped prisoner Daegan Lok and his accomplice Xesh, but Lok isn’t going to surrender easily in this conclusion – he’ll use his combat skills and his wits to try to come out on top. Spoilers ahead!
Summary:
With the stunned Je’daii Shae Koda as a prisoner, Xesh and Daegan Lok meet with crimelord Ox Ryo on Shikaakwa. Lok shares his plan of raising an army, using the former despot Hadiya’s loyal forces that still survive. The baron reminds Lok that the Je’daii is still seen as traitorous killer of Queen Hadiya, but Lok points out the Twilek’s own role in the assassination of the queen. Outside the stronghold, the Je’daii team forms up and sneaks in via the sewers: Hawk Ryo, Rori Fenn, Sek’nos Rath, and Sek’nos’ new ally, Trill. After Ox tries to kill Lok and Xesh (and berating Xesh for serving Lok), the Je’daii arrive, forcing Lok and Xesh to flee to the roof.
Rath confronts Xesh and questions why the former Force Hound serves Lok if he really seeks freedom, but is felled by Xesh’s Force lightning. Losing her metal blade to Lok’s Forcesaber, Fenn is knocked out before Hawk Ryo can intervene with his Forcesaber. While dueling, Lok tries to convince his former friend of the rightness of his cause – sprung from a vision they both shared of the threat of a saber wielding army, a vision Hawk Ryo has denied. Ryo gains the upper hand in battle, but when his opponent distracted by the arrival of Xesh, Daegan Lok slices off Ranger Ryo’s leg. Shae Koda awakens from Lok’s induced stupor and springs to Ryo’s defense, and manages to plant more doubt in Xesh’s mind in his service to a dark side-wielding madman. As Lok knocks Koda aside, Xesh turns on his ally and bests him in his mind. Koda stays Xesh’s killing move, and is gleefully reunited with Sek’nos.
A week later on Tython, Ryo (now with a robotic limb) reveals to the Je’daii the truth of his vision, different from Lok’s, as they have become aware of the threat of the Rakata and begin preparing for war, forging Forcesabers, and taking Xesh to be trained as a Je’daii. (spoiler: highlight to read:) In Ryo’s vision, Xesh, and not Daegan Lok, leads the Je’daii army against the dark army. But the Rakata themselves are preparing for invasion as well… and Trill sends a message that their plan to plant Xesh as a sleeper agent, unknown even to himself, has succeeded.(end spoiler)
Review: A strong ending to the ‘Prisoner of Bogan’ storyline – we get a big confrontation, and lots of revelations. Plus tons of great art by Jan Duursema, with inks by Dan Parsons, colors by Wes Dzioba, and lettering by Michael Heisler! There are a ton of great combat scenes, though it feels like way too many people get ‘knocked out’ conveniently as their dialogue finishes in the final battle – perhaps with so many participants, it was hard to figure out how to keep them all separate. While the climax has a lot of saber fight, we also get Trill and Sek’nos facing a dianoga in the moat, and Ox Ryo’s droid taking on Xesh and Lok, and Lok’s flashback to when he served with, and eventually killed Hadiya. I also liked the reversal of the common Twi’lek trope: instead of a bikini-wearing Twi’lek serving a non-Twi’lek master, we have a scantily clad human female in the chambers of the Twi’lek Baron Ryo (Hawk’s brother).
My favorite panel is probably the one of Lok trying and failing to get into Xesh’s mind, with the dialogue: “You have made a terrible mistake, Lok. My mind is a place that you do not want to go.”
Another great one is Xesh turning the tables on Ox Ryo inside the stronghold.
Overall, a good wrap-up to a terrific story arc. This arc really feels like classic John Ostrander and Jan Duursema storytelling – and a great hook to the next story.