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bedlamsbardSo I wanted to talk about my favorite Star Wars comics title, since the final omnibus (of three) comes out tomorrow. There are a lot of really excellent (and some not so excellent) Star Wars comics out there; Marvel originally had the license, then Dark Horse had it, and next year it's reverting back to Marvel/Disney, which unfortunately means that everything in progress is getting cancelled. Which is really a shame, because some of the current titles (Dark Times, Star Wars, Legacy II, and a few others) are really, really good. Fortunately, my absolute favorite Star Wars comic is finished and has been for a few years now. And the really good news: it was a 50-issue run with a 6-issue sequel series.
That would be Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, written by John Jackson Miller.
(That description also sums up Star Wars: Legacy, written by John Ostrander, but I might talk about Legacy another time.)
Knights of the Old Republic shares a title and a timeline with the video game, but you can easily read KOTOR without knowing anything about the game, which is what I did. John Jackson Miller described KOTOR's relationship with the video game as a helix; they occasionally intersect but usually occupy different parts of the universe. I'm sure the comics are richer if you're familiar with the game, but not being so, I can't say for sure.
KOTOR takes place four thousand years before the movies, in the days of the Old Republic, and the galaxy is a much wilder place than what we see in the movies. The Jedi Order hasn't yet crystallized into the institution of the prequel trilogy; there are still branches and offsets and different schools of thought and theory. It's still a time of war, though; the Mandalorian Wars are raging across the Outer Rim, disrupting peace and security.
If I had to sum up KOTOR, I'd say that it's Farscape in the Star Wars universe. The main character is Zayne Carrick, a Jedi padawan on the run after being framed for the murder of four of his fellow padawans by his own masters -- who happen to be the very people hunting him. Zayne might be a Jedi, but he's not a very good Jedi; he has a "special relationship" with the Force (the explanation panel for this in #49 is one of the best pages in the SW comics) and both his friends and his masters thought that he was going to flunk out of Jedi training. But he's smart, he's funny, he can roll with a bad situation, and he has an amazing talent for making friends at exactly the right time.
Zayne Carrick (in his classic outfit, designed and drawn by Brian Ching). He looks very solemn and Jedi-like here, but usually he looks like this (in his Jedi padawan outfit):
Or this:
That last pretty much sums up his relationship with the Force and most of his plot arcs.
For most of his career as a padawan, Zayne was trying to chase down petty criminal and con artist Marn Hierogryph ("The Gryph") on Taris, but after he's framed Zayne teams up with Gryph. Their friendship is a thing of beauty. (He's a Snivvian, by the way, in case you're looking at him and going, "What the hell?")
They're joined by Jarael, a kickass Arkanian Offshoot with a mysterious past (and it is not what you think):
And in action, along with two of the secondary characters, Dob and Del Moomo:
Jarael and Zayne's meet cute:
Zayne, Gryph, and Jarael form KOTOR's core trio. (Cover art for KOTOR #50, by Benjamin Carre.)
They're rounded out by a cast of secondary characters, including the mad inventor Camper (Arkanian Offshoot), the depressed loader droid T1-LB, the rogue Mandalorian warrior Rohlan Dyre (human), the kleptomaniac starship thief Slyssk (Trandoshan), and a handful of others, along with the various villains -- though villains might not actually be the best description, because they think they're doing what's necessary in order to save the galaxy (at least for the Jedi of the first long arc).
From left to right: Jedi Knight Alek (later Malak, which should be familiar to players of the video game), Dob Moomo, Shel Jelavan, Slyssk, Gryph, Rohlan Dyre, Del Moomo, and Jarael. (Art by Scott Hepburn)
Plot-wise, there are two long arcs -- Zayne's quest to prove his innocence while being hunted down by his former master, Jedi Knight Lucien Draay and the secret order the Covenant, which goes from #1-#35, and Jarael's backstory arc, which goes from #39-#50 and which I won't spoil by explaining because it's great. These are filled out by other, shorter arcs -- the longest is the set-up arc, "Commencement," which goes from #1-6. (There's also a #0, about twelve pages, which sets the stage but isn't necessary.) There's one crossover arc, Vector, which starts in KOTOR and goes through Dark Times and Rebellion before concluding in Legacy (three other Star Wars titles), but since it begins in KOTOR you can read the Vector issues without the necessity of getting into the other three. (But you'll probably enjoy it if you do.) The sequel series, Knights of the Old Republic - War, is six issues that take up shortly after the main series ends and focuses on Zayne on his own; I'm not as keen on it as the main series because Zayne is more fun when he's interacting with the main gang.
I love this series. It's smart, it's funny, it's tightly plotted -- it's probably one of the most tightly plotted comics I've ever read, which is impressive considering that it's spread over 50 issues. John Jackson Miller, the author, clearly loves the universe and the characters; he's a very thoughtful writer in a way that you don't always see in the EU. (He also wrote the novel Kenobi, which I recced in October, the Knight Errant series (lone female Jedi trapped in Sith space), and the Lost Tribe of the Sith short stories and tie-in comic. And some non-Star Wars stuff; right now it looks like he's moving out of Star Wars and into Star Trek, which I'm kind of sad about because Kenobi was so amazing.) The main characters are all outsiders in their own particular way -- Zayne is a very un-Jedi-like Jedi, Gryph is...Gryph, Jarael isolates herself from the rest of the galaxy until she's pulled back into it, Rohlan is on a quest for answer, Slyssk is the most timid Trandoshan ever, and so on. They've got every reason not to trust each other, and yet somehow they do. Eventually. It's not exactly a painless process.
The primary artist for KOTOR is Brian Ching (who I've talked about before; he drew some of my favorite Republic/Clone Wars comics); the other big two are Dustin Weaver (who draws Dark Times and Bong Dazo, along with a couple of other fill-in artists. KOTOR is one of those comics where you can really tell how panels affect comic timing -- look at this 2/3 page from Brian Ching (KOTOR #39):
Or here, from KOTOR #11:
Or this page from KOTOR #13 (art by Dustin Weaver):
And you know what I said earlier about JJM being a really thoughtful writer? Here are some of my favorite lines:
(KOTOR #6: "Commencement 6/6" The guy in the center is Lucien Draay, the primary antagonist for the first arc, btw. If you've read Wake the Storm, you'll recognize that last line from Anakin's conversation with Yoda.)
(KOTOR #50: "Demon 4/4")
(KOTOR #40: "Dueling Ambitions 2/3")
(KOTOR #40: "Dueling Ambitions 2/3")
(KOTOR #34: "Vindication 3/4")
I can't actually put in one of my favorite scenes because it's mildly spoilery, and my choice of scans here is heavily weighted to Brian Ching's art, mostly because he's one of my favorite Star Wars artists.
One thing I really like about KOTOR is that JJM never forgets the tragedy that forms Zayne's -- for lack of a better term -- origin story. Zayne is haunted by the loss of his friends, not just because it makes him the most wanted person in the galaxy, but because they're his friends and they're dead. They died tragically and pointlessly after being betrayed by the people they trusted most in the world.
(KOTOR #24: "Knights of Suffering 3/3")
(KOTOR #48: "Demon 2/4")
If you like Star Wars and you like Farscape (or Firefly, I guess there's a little Firefly in it too), you will probably like Knights of the Old Republic. The entire series run is out in trade paperback (ten volumes) and, as of tomorrow, in omnibus (three volumes). (Here on Tales from Another World and here on Amazon.) Individual issues are also available digitally on Dark Horse Comics. (Looks like they've got the omnibuses, too.)
As an extra treat, John Jackson Miller also does author's notes and trivia for everything he writes (the Kenobi notes are amazing), which are on his website here for KOTOR.
That would be Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, written by John Jackson Miller.
(That description also sums up Star Wars: Legacy, written by John Ostrander, but I might talk about Legacy another time.)
Knights of the Old Republic shares a title and a timeline with the video game, but you can easily read KOTOR without knowing anything about the game, which is what I did. John Jackson Miller described KOTOR's relationship with the video game as a helix; they occasionally intersect but usually occupy different parts of the universe. I'm sure the comics are richer if you're familiar with the game, but not being so, I can't say for sure.
KOTOR takes place four thousand years before the movies, in the days of the Old Republic, and the galaxy is a much wilder place than what we see in the movies. The Jedi Order hasn't yet crystallized into the institution of the prequel trilogy; there are still branches and offsets and different schools of thought and theory. It's still a time of war, though; the Mandalorian Wars are raging across the Outer Rim, disrupting peace and security.
If I had to sum up KOTOR, I'd say that it's Farscape in the Star Wars universe. The main character is Zayne Carrick, a Jedi padawan on the run after being framed for the murder of four of his fellow padawans by his own masters -- who happen to be the very people hunting him. Zayne might be a Jedi, but he's not a very good Jedi; he has a "special relationship" with the Force (the explanation panel for this in #49 is one of the best pages in the SW comics) and both his friends and his masters thought that he was going to flunk out of Jedi training. But he's smart, he's funny, he can roll with a bad situation, and he has an amazing talent for making friends at exactly the right time.
Zayne Carrick (in his classic outfit, designed and drawn by Brian Ching). He looks very solemn and Jedi-like here, but usually he looks like this (in his Jedi padawan outfit):
Or this:
That last pretty much sums up his relationship with the Force and most of his plot arcs.
For most of his career as a padawan, Zayne was trying to chase down petty criminal and con artist Marn Hierogryph ("The Gryph") on Taris, but after he's framed Zayne teams up with Gryph. Their friendship is a thing of beauty. (He's a Snivvian, by the way, in case you're looking at him and going, "What the hell?")
They're joined by Jarael, a kickass Arkanian Offshoot with a mysterious past (and it is not what you think):
And in action, along with two of the secondary characters, Dob and Del Moomo:
Jarael and Zayne's meet cute:
Zayne, Gryph, and Jarael form KOTOR's core trio. (Cover art for KOTOR #50, by Benjamin Carre.)
They're rounded out by a cast of secondary characters, including the mad inventor Camper (Arkanian Offshoot), the depressed loader droid T1-LB, the rogue Mandalorian warrior Rohlan Dyre (human), the kleptomaniac starship thief Slyssk (Trandoshan), and a handful of others, along with the various villains -- though villains might not actually be the best description, because they think they're doing what's necessary in order to save the galaxy (at least for the Jedi of the first long arc).
From left to right: Jedi Knight Alek (later Malak, which should be familiar to players of the video game), Dob Moomo, Shel Jelavan, Slyssk, Gryph, Rohlan Dyre, Del Moomo, and Jarael. (Art by Scott Hepburn)
Plot-wise, there are two long arcs -- Zayne's quest to prove his innocence while being hunted down by his former master, Jedi Knight Lucien Draay and the secret order the Covenant, which goes from #1-#35, and Jarael's backstory arc, which goes from #39-#50 and which I won't spoil by explaining because it's great. These are filled out by other, shorter arcs -- the longest is the set-up arc, "Commencement," which goes from #1-6. (There's also a #0, about twelve pages, which sets the stage but isn't necessary.) There's one crossover arc, Vector, which starts in KOTOR and goes through Dark Times and Rebellion before concluding in Legacy (three other Star Wars titles), but since it begins in KOTOR you can read the Vector issues without the necessity of getting into the other three. (But you'll probably enjoy it if you do.) The sequel series, Knights of the Old Republic - War, is six issues that take up shortly after the main series ends and focuses on Zayne on his own; I'm not as keen on it as the main series because Zayne is more fun when he's interacting with the main gang.
I love this series. It's smart, it's funny, it's tightly plotted -- it's probably one of the most tightly plotted comics I've ever read, which is impressive considering that it's spread over 50 issues. John Jackson Miller, the author, clearly loves the universe and the characters; he's a very thoughtful writer in a way that you don't always see in the EU. (He also wrote the novel Kenobi, which I recced in October, the Knight Errant series (lone female Jedi trapped in Sith space), and the Lost Tribe of the Sith short stories and tie-in comic. And some non-Star Wars stuff; right now it looks like he's moving out of Star Wars and into Star Trek, which I'm kind of sad about because Kenobi was so amazing.) The main characters are all outsiders in their own particular way -- Zayne is a very un-Jedi-like Jedi, Gryph is...Gryph, Jarael isolates herself from the rest of the galaxy until she's pulled back into it, Rohlan is on a quest for answer, Slyssk is the most timid Trandoshan ever, and so on. They've got every reason not to trust each other, and yet somehow they do. Eventually. It's not exactly a painless process.
The primary artist for KOTOR is Brian Ching (who I've talked about before; he drew some of my favorite Republic/Clone Wars comics); the other big two are Dustin Weaver (who draws Dark Times and Bong Dazo, along with a couple of other fill-in artists. KOTOR is one of those comics where you can really tell how panels affect comic timing -- look at this 2/3 page from Brian Ching (KOTOR #39):
Or here, from KOTOR #11:
Or this page from KOTOR #13 (art by Dustin Weaver):
And you know what I said earlier about JJM being a really thoughtful writer? Here are some of my favorite lines:
(KOTOR #6: "Commencement 6/6" The guy in the center is Lucien Draay, the primary antagonist for the first arc, btw. If you've read Wake the Storm, you'll recognize that last line from Anakin's conversation with Yoda.)
(KOTOR #50: "Demon 4/4")
(KOTOR #40: "Dueling Ambitions 2/3")
(KOTOR #40: "Dueling Ambitions 2/3")
(KOTOR #34: "Vindication 3/4")
I can't actually put in one of my favorite scenes because it's mildly spoilery, and my choice of scans here is heavily weighted to Brian Ching's art, mostly because he's one of my favorite Star Wars artists.
One thing I really like about KOTOR is that JJM never forgets the tragedy that forms Zayne's -- for lack of a better term -- origin story. Zayne is haunted by the loss of his friends, not just because it makes him the most wanted person in the galaxy, but because they're his friends and they're dead. They died tragically and pointlessly after being betrayed by the people they trusted most in the world.
(KOTOR #24: "Knights of Suffering 3/3")
(KOTOR #48: "Demon 2/4")
If you like Star Wars and you like Farscape (or Firefly, I guess there's a little Firefly in it too), you will probably like Knights of the Old Republic. The entire series run is out in trade paperback (ten volumes) and, as of tomorrow, in omnibus (three volumes). (Here on Tales from Another World and here on Amazon.) Individual issues are also available digitally on Dark Horse Comics. (Looks like they've got the omnibuses, too.)
As an extra treat, John Jackson Miller also does author's notes and trivia for everything he writes (the Kenobi notes are amazing), which are on his website here for KOTOR.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-04-23 12:12 pm (UTC)How many omnibuses have come out for it?
(no subject)
Date: 2014-04-23 09:49 pm (UTC)The third and final omnibus released today, and as far as I'm aware, between the three omnibuses that collects all 56 issues plus the 12-page prequel. (I have the first omnibus, but have all the rest in trade paperback since the second and third omnibuses hadn't come out yet when I started reading. It's actually the first non-Clone Wars Star Wars comic I read.)