Customer Reviews

Commencement (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Vol. 1)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just recently started playing KOTOR again, and saw this book at my local comic shop and decided to pick it up. I got home that same evening and was going to browse through it while I waited for the game to load. Instead, I ended up reading it cover to cover and forgot all about the game! It's great! I became so totally immersed in the story that the next day, I went out and picked up issues 7-12. I recommend it even if you've never played the games.

It's nearly 4,000 years before the birth of Luke Skywalker. Zayne Carrick is a Jedi initiate with some minor abilities in the Force and a ton of bad luck. Stationed with a team of Jedi masters and four peers in training on a planet on the outskirts of a war-torn region of space, Zayne is expecting to fail when the other initiates are knighted into the Jedi order. But when he arrives at the ceremony, he finds his friends dead at the hands of their masters. He escapes before he too can be murdered, and he soon finds himself on the run along with a handful of fellow fugitives.

This is the first chapter of what looks to be a fascinating story by John Jackson Miller. Brian Ching and Travel Foreman provide bold, colorful art to tell the tale. Zayne is an interesting character who, like the future Luke, is forced by circumstances to rise to the occasion. The question is, will he seek justice -- or revenge?

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(n e t) editor

It seems no one is able to come up with a fresh angle on Star Wars.

Here we have a new series set four millennia prior to the Anakin/Luke saga, a wonderful opportunity to do something different, to try on some new clothes, to even do an extensive makeover. What we get is a rearrangement of the essential elements: a Jedi-centric story featuring a white teenage boy set in the midst of a galaxy-wide war populated with the same old species playing the same tired roles.

The story is the film prequel in reverse. Our "hero," Zayne Carrick, is the evil chosen one, a padawan feared by a secret group of Jedi seers to be the next Sith Lord. Framing Carrick for murder, the Jedi cabal intends to arrest and then liquidate him - and all on a very flimsy pretense. In a seance-like trance, the seers have a joint vision of a Sith in a red suit. And, by gosh, Garrick has a red environment suit that looks eerily similar, in a trance induced dream-like way. Even George Bush had more credible evidence for his adventure in Iraq.

Zayne turns the tables by escaping and promising to hunt down every last one of the seers in order to clear his name. So rather than a chosen one who turns out to be the Jedi's nemesis, we have a supposed Sith Lord who appears set to save the Jedi - and the universe.

Admittedly, this is a clever plotting twist and not the only surprise writer John Jackson Miller has up his sleeve. In fact, given the warmed-over flavor of the concept, it's Miller's scripting and plotting chops that rescue the series from utter mediocrity. Besides a sharp wit and deft sense of comic timing, his writing is crisp and cinematic, with no exposition to slow the pace of events. He's aided and abetted by Brian Ching's pencils, some very sharp art that is sorely missed in Travel Forman's anime-style fifth chapter.

To be fair, Dark Horse and Miller may not be entirely to blame for the repackaged characters and plot devices. With two best-selling video games built around this era, Lucas Arts no doubt also had a say. While you need not have played the games to enjoy these comics, it might help if you haven't read or watched too much Star Wars. For those that have, you can play spot-the-retread:

+ Jedi obsessed with the reappearance, after a long period of inactivity, of the Sith
+ A Jedi council that despite its collection of big brains doesn't have a collective idea of what goes on among its members
+ Yoda leading the Jedi academy (actually, he has another name and a little more hair, but otherwise he's Yoda)
+ The Jedi council chamber looking the same as 1000 years later
+ A junk heap of a ship that breaks down at inopportune moments
+ Spaceships escaping pursuit in asteroid fields
+ Self-absorbed drifters and shady merchants who abandon the hero, only to return to rescue him from certain death

While Star Wars fans have come to expect this kind of patchwork storytelling in the EU, it would be of great service to the Star Wars universe as a whole if writers didn't borrow every latest addition and shoe-horn it into stories set in the far past. It makes for a static universe. In Commencement, for example, we have a Jedi talking about the "Living Force," a concept first introduced through Qui Gon Jinn. By the time it appears now in The Phantom Menace it is a tired and perhaps even trite conception. The same goes for "Shatterpoint," from the Clone Wars novel of the same name. Mace Windu's ability to perceive the universe as a woven object with points of stress, weakness, vulnerabilities - shatterpoints - is as a result of the millennial retrofit now stripped of any special associations with Windu or the Clone Wars. This same process of over-drawing from the idea-bank applies as well to species. One of Commencement's minor characters, a restaurant manager, is a Besalisk, who fans know most commonly as the four-armed biped Dex, the diner proprietor from Attack of the Clones. Besides robbing this species of a history that might have involved being discovered in the four thousand years between KOTOR and the Clone Wars, the Besalisk are now under threat for the next four millennia of being relegated to service in the food and beverage industry.

Miller and Dark Horse aren't the only ones guilty of this kind of clumsy universe crafting and I mention it here only because this volume offers a few choice examples. Despite its flaws, though, Commencement is a better than average comic and a lot more entertaining than the current novel series, Legacy of the Force. I'm looking forward to the next chapter - and hoping to see a little more originality.

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It's nearly 3,900 years before Episode IV. On the city-planet Taris, Jedi padawan Zayne Carrick is about as big a bumbler as one can get - in fact, he's so inept that he's become a running joke not only with his fellow padawan, but with their masters as well. However, the laughter's over once Zayne's classmates are found murdered on the night they are to be promoted to Jedi Knights - and Zayne is the prime suspect. What ensues is a chase through the many urban levels of Taris and the surrounding solar system as Zayne tries to figure out how he became framed for the crime and discover the true killers. Along the way he befriends the wily smuggler Gryph and a pair of offbeat scofflaws as the evidence mounts - and points to a solution no one expected.

I have to be honest - I didn't expect very much out of this volume; I picked it up on a whim. What drew me to it was Brian Ching's pencil work (those of you familiar with his art on the Clone Wars series know what I'm talking about - it is dramatic and reminiscent of the conceptual work of Ian McCaig; Ching pencils most of this volume), but I also found myself interested in the story. Certainly, it is not an original plot by any means - this kind of tale is about as standard as any you'll find. Additionally, none of the characters are too relatable or innovative. However, the dark thoroughfares that this Star Wars yarn takes you down are surprisingly compelling, and the ending quite unexpected, and none too tidy. I'll be interested to take a look at Vol. 2. Recommended for the Star Wars fan and those looking for some great artwork.

As a fan of Star Wars I was not disappointed by this book. Without giving much away, it really captured the feel of Star Wars for me with high action, comedy, some drama, and the occasional serious overtones. It both entertained me and made me think a little. It has some interesting plot points which make you think and creates a mystery type feel to the book. I'd highly recommend this to anyone: casual fans and hardcore addicts will find plenty to enjoy here. (Also, if you've ever been disappointed with other Star Wars books which seem a little too serious or sad (Tales of the Jedi), this one does a good job of not being too sad while still being true to the 'realistic' (bad things happen sometimes) feel of Star Wars.

P.S. It collects issues 1-6 of the series.

I played both KOTOR and KOTOR II and reading this comic reminds me of all the things that are familiar in the game. To me, this is similar to the comic book version of the Star Wars Episodes. What's more, it gives more depth to the story than the linear plot the game gives. this is like watching another game set in the same story play out. I love the games and i enjoy this comic.

I have played the games and I believe the story is what it claims to be: "Knights of the Old Republic". For those want something more original than the video game, then maybe you should look for something with a different name than a movie, game, or novel. The comic's title alone conveys that this is a retread of the video game series in a comic book format. Looking at the release date alone suggests it is obviously a retread.

I read a popular but extremely biased and negative view that used a new term {to me} of "retread". The premise was that this was somehow a bad thing. After half a decade I applaud and love a retread of a very popular video game into a new format. So, I embrace this term and use it in a positive premise. If you have never played the video games then I believe you may love the story as much as anyone else. If you do then I suggest purchasing the video games as the story is different and the storytelling format makes it even moreso.

BioWare is currently working on Star Wars: The Old Republic an online videogame, a Massively Multi-Player Role-Playing Game.{MMRPG} This is where they will be continuing the world of Knights of the Old Republic through video games.

I loved the game; And, when I saw this on the shelf I had to get it. After I finished reading it I immediately went onto Amazon.com and put all the volumes currently out, and even preordered volume 9, in my shopping cart. The first volume does a very good job of giving you an idea of where the story is headed in the future volumes without making it too predictable. The story is rich with emotion and the artwork is excellent. I think that almost anyone who takes the time to read Volume 1 will enjoy it; This is why I give it 5/5 stars.

Remember when you played the 1st KOTOR game? You felt like this was as good as the original movies. You'll feel the same way when you read this comic. Now its not quite as good as the movies or the games... but, its got potential, and it still does deserves a 5/5. My only issue is further along with the series the "art" does get strange.

This series is worth a look buy this comic.

I played the KOTOR game and loved it, So when I heard they were making a comic book that was going to take place during the mandalorian wars I was very excited. This comic is different enough from the game to be a separate story, but still have that KOTOR feeling. I really enjoyed reading it and will probably start collecting the comics.

The twists are predictable, adn the action is... iffy. But the characters are a lot of fun. Recommended to any star wars fan, especially as the new game has launched!