Customer Reviews

Star Wars: Darkness

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

 

 

Another outstanding graphic novel by John Ostrander. Again, the theme is Quinlan Vos and his Padawan, Aayla Secura. As with Twilight, which introduced Vos, an excellent story of how he tries to remember himself and regain control after his memory was wiped by a drug called Glitteryll (I believe it's a form of Spice). Vos is dispatched by the Jedi Council to Kiffex, a prison world near Kiffu, Vos's homeworld. On Kiffex a prison compound is mysteriously destroyed, which was what the Council wanted Vos to investigate. There, he meets his former master, Tholme, and finds Villie the Devaronian again. Without Villie, Darkness would have been a 3 or 4, but he always manages to do something funny. Darkness was a great story about the Anzati, which are essentially a Star Wars version of vampires. The art was even superb in Darkness, as are most TPB's by Jan Duursema.

The one problem with this book was the binding. TERRIBLE! After reading it once, it fell apart in my hands. The pages stayed together, but they fell out of the cover. When reading this, always keep super glue handy. Still, this graphic novel is easily worth the $12.95 retail price because of the story and art.

Darkness is another success by the Ostrander-Duursema team that Dark Horse better keep around longer. With them in town, SW comics have never been better.

Though Darkness was published next, Infinity's End, a one-shot something called Starcrash, The Stark Hyperspace War and then Darkness actually follow after Twilight. Publishing chronology, it seems, was disrupted after Twilight; Darkness briefly mentions events of Infinity's End that would have readers curious. Myths whisper due to poor sales, but Vos's adventure on Dathomir still sounds interesting . . .

Like Twilight, solid art quality is of course delivered when you see Duursema and the Parson/Kryssing colourists. This is actually due to new computer inking techniques, which is shockingly superior to the "old comics" before it. With most of the scenery a Dagobah-like locale there on the prison world Kiffex, you can expect dank swamps, lawless inmates and more of Sheif Tinte's egyptian-like visage.

Dialogue felt a bit better here than Twilight, that's because more characters are featured. Effort was taken to give each new Jedi a different style of speech and persona voice, and it shows. Quinlin Vos's sidekick Villie returns . . . but he's not the same without his continual grinning. More of Vos's childhood is revealed, who actually would have missed Jedi training had his master Tholme not talked the Council into accepting him. Too old at 4yrs, eh?

As for the storyline, Aayla Secura---the blue-skinned Twi'lek of AOTC and Vos's amnesiac apprentice---has gone to Vos's homeworld to exact revenge against him . . . but finds its deadliest prisoner: Volffe Karkko, a Dark Jedi the Council imprisoned centuries ago for capital crimes. Now freed from his stasis cell, Karkko unleashes hordes of his fellow vampiric Anzati against the terrified population.

Dispatched to investigate, Vos and his master Tholme will need all the help they can get sans Villie's sarcasm. Zao and T'ra Saa provide interesting new Jedi: one a bunny rabbit, like that Podracer contestant, the other a humanoid tree Neti like Ood Bnar from TOTJ. Cool and creative, nothing is offered bland. Vos must overcome his Anzati childhood fear while freeing Secura's memories and confronting Karkko.

Once again, Darkness delivers the goods with style, expanding depth to known favourites and adding exotic new characters, it's well worth acquiring. The forthcoming Rite of Passage by the same team is late in publishing but eagerly anticipated.

Embracing the "Darkness"

Aayla Secura, memory wiped Jedi Padawan of Quinlan Vos, arrives on Kiffex to release Volfe Karkko, a Jedi Anzati, from his long slumber. Meanwhile, the Jedi Council send Quinlan Vos to Kiffex for an entirely different matter: apparently, the Guardians on Kiffex were brutally killed by unknown assailants. Vos teams up with his former master, Tholmes; a sprightly Jedi chef (of sorts), Zoa; and Jedi Watchman of the sector, T'ra Saa.

I had just about given up hope that I liked any graphic novels. Seemed like all the ones I got my hands on were mediocre: mediocre to bad art, sloppy plotting, boring story, unremarkable characters. I got so many in fact, that I was thinking it was just me; I just wasn't a graphic novel person.

And then I found this one.

I bought "Darkness" during a Star Wars comic binge, and after a slew of meh graphic novels, I was beginning to regret that purchase. I really didn't expect to like this graphic novel much. Sure it stars Quinlan Vos and Aalya Secura, two characters I really like, but it had the potential to go South really quickly.

Fortunately, it didn't.

The part where I knew I was going to like this graphic novel was during the introduction of Villie, a wily Devaronian (I think I've read something about him before, but I can't remember which comic that was). He is asked why the Jedi should trust him, and his answer is, "I know. Terrible moral dilemma. Trust Villie and maybe live or go by selves and most certainly die! How to choose?" That line made me laugh out loud--something that a lot of novels don't get me to do!

In fact, that very scene showcases a lot of what I liked about this graphic novel:

The story: Quinlan Vos meets up with his former master, Tholmes, on Kiffex, investigates a compound filled with the dead, and meets up with Villie. Then the story takes a new twist--we learn about Vos' tangle with the Dark Side, his hatred for the Anzati, and how he became a Jedi (and no, it didn't involve the Jedi stealing him as a baby! I can't tell you how I wish that horrible bit had never been included into Star Wars canon!). This story, even with its great action, is ultimately a personal story of Quinlan Vos overcoming the Dark Side.

The characters: Villie is the comic relief of this graphic novel--and yet, he doesn't resort to being stupid or slapsticky in the slightest. All of the characters were awesome--Quinlan Vos, Tholmes, Zoa, T'sa (loved the hint at a romance between her and Tholmes!), Aalya, Karkko--each one of these characters were real and important to the story, not thrown in as a special cameo or just because.

The art: Good action scenes. Clear transition between panels. Characters who stay the same in appearance from panel to panel. Not too much verbiage cluttering the panels (the beginning gets a bit crazy with a weird narration that sounds like something you would see in a comic from the 70's, though). Not too overdone with colors, and yet enough colors to see what is happening. Sure, I wasn't fond of the cover art included at the end (there is one that makes it look like Aayla has a runny nose!), but overall, the art was clean and helped tell the story, instead of distracting from it.

This sort of quality ran throughout the novel. It was obvious that a lot of effort and care had been put into this. I had such a good time reading this graphic novel, I was almost upset to reach the end. This graphic novel has restored my faith in graphic novels and I am no longer as scared to open one up.

Brought to you by:
*C.S. Light*

Quinlan Vos and Vilmarh Grarhk (Villie) are united again on a mission to the twin planets (and home world of Quin) of Kiffu and Kiffex and the poodoo hits the fan. This comic follows the comic Twilight and I place it on the timeline at -32.11 (BNH).

Quinlan has been retrained by Windu but his Padawan (Aayla Secura) is still missing and her memories are still lost. Quinlan is helped by his master Tholme as they seek to discover what happened to the Guardians on Quin's home world, all the while Quin is learning to face his greatest fear.

While Twilight has brilliant writing and character presentation, Darkness is a small dropoff, but only slightly. Darkness is obviously a darker story, but Quin and Villie play off each other beautifully. The art and inks are spectacular because Duursema did the pencils. The cover art is very mediocre.

The Twilight and Darkness Comic's are Dark Horse at their best.

The binding on this comic is absolutely terrible. Without any rough handling, the pages separate from the binding just because the page was turned. I hope Dark Horse does something about this in the future, especially considering that they are binding together anywhere from 90 to 150 pages when they produce a TPB.