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Comics rec: Star Wars: Knight Errant
May. 4th, 2014 05:17 pmI wrote a rec over on Tumblr for the Star Wars: Knight Errant comics, which are by John Jackson Miller and a passel of different artists and are so good. So good. They aren't my favorite Star Wars comics, but they're up there.
Cut and pasted from my Tumblr rec:
Knight Errant takes place during the Old Republic, about a thousand years before the movies, while the Republic is involved in a decades-long war against the Sith. During a blitzkrieg raid on a Sith world, the young Jedi Knight Kerra Holt becomes trapped behind Sith lines with no way to get back to the Republic. At the point when the first arc, “Aflame”, takes place, Kerra is eighteen and has only been a Knight for about a week, and she finds herself in the unenviable position of having her entire Jedi strike team killed around her, including her friend and mentor. Now on her own, Kerra decides to do the only thing she can as a Jedi and fight the varied Sith lords in any way she can, saving civilians right and left.
Knight Errant fascinates me because of the world-building, because all the Sith lords — and there are quite a few! — are very different and very distinct, as are the worlds they rule. The big two are Daiman, who believes he’s the creator of the universe, and Odion, who wants to be its destroyer, but there are a number of other Sith, as well as non-Sith antagonists. (I bet you never expected to see a Hutt wearing a jetpack and dueling a Jedi in zero gravity! NOW YOU CAN!) John Jackson Miller, the author, has clearly done his research on everyday life under totalitarian governments; Knight Errant isn’t all lightsaber duels and space battles. There’s a lot of page space and thought that goes into the civilians who are just trying to make it by on Sith-ruled worlds.
The other thing I really like about Knight Errant is that Kerra isn’t exactly a sympathetic hero. I reblogged an article the other day about the importance of the unlikable heroine and Kerra Holt definitely fits into that mold. She’s rash, impulsive, self-righteous, equal parts selfless and selfish, idealistic, bloodthirsty, ruthless, and prone to mood swings depending on her circumstances. She can be grating at times, and is occasionally very petty and very judgmental. And she’s amazing.
Another reason Knight Errant is really interesting is because it has both a comic component and a novel component. The novel, just called Star Wars: Knight Errant (also written by John Jackson Miller), takes place between the first TPB and the second. You don’t need to start with volume one in order to read the novel, and you don’t need to read the novel in order to read volume two, but it’s very, very interesting to see how these characters and situations translate from comics to the page, and there’s some great worldbuilding in the novel.
Links to Amazon over on Tumblr, since the digital editions of the comics are only $1.99 today for Star Wars Day.
Cut and pasted from my Tumblr rec:
Knight Errant takes place during the Old Republic, about a thousand years before the movies, while the Republic is involved in a decades-long war against the Sith. During a blitzkrieg raid on a Sith world, the young Jedi Knight Kerra Holt becomes trapped behind Sith lines with no way to get back to the Republic. At the point when the first arc, “Aflame”, takes place, Kerra is eighteen and has only been a Knight for about a week, and she finds herself in the unenviable position of having her entire Jedi strike team killed around her, including her friend and mentor. Now on her own, Kerra decides to do the only thing she can as a Jedi and fight the varied Sith lords in any way she can, saving civilians right and left.
Knight Errant fascinates me because of the world-building, because all the Sith lords — and there are quite a few! — are very different and very distinct, as are the worlds they rule. The big two are Daiman, who believes he’s the creator of the universe, and Odion, who wants to be its destroyer, but there are a number of other Sith, as well as non-Sith antagonists. (I bet you never expected to see a Hutt wearing a jetpack and dueling a Jedi in zero gravity! NOW YOU CAN!) John Jackson Miller, the author, has clearly done his research on everyday life under totalitarian governments; Knight Errant isn’t all lightsaber duels and space battles. There’s a lot of page space and thought that goes into the civilians who are just trying to make it by on Sith-ruled worlds.
The other thing I really like about Knight Errant is that Kerra isn’t exactly a sympathetic hero. I reblogged an article the other day about the importance of the unlikable heroine and Kerra Holt definitely fits into that mold. She’s rash, impulsive, self-righteous, equal parts selfless and selfish, idealistic, bloodthirsty, ruthless, and prone to mood swings depending on her circumstances. She can be grating at times, and is occasionally very petty and very judgmental. And she’s amazing.
Another reason Knight Errant is really interesting is because it has both a comic component and a novel component. The novel, just called Star Wars: Knight Errant (also written by John Jackson Miller), takes place between the first TPB and the second. You don’t need to start with volume one in order to read the novel, and you don’t need to read the novel in order to read volume two, but it’s very, very interesting to see how these characters and situations translate from comics to the page, and there’s some great worldbuilding in the novel.
Links to Amazon over on Tumblr, since the digital editions of the comics are only $1.99 today for Star Wars Day.