Customer Reviews

Star Wars: Vector Volume 1

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

 

 

Apparently I'mthe only one who enjoyed this book. I started this volume where KOTOR at the time ended. I don't think it would have been confusing for someone starting off at this point either. I f you were totally lost, you must also have been lost the first time you watched Star Wars episode four. What kind a name is Darth and why is he in this suit? For that matter why are these people rebels, and why are they rebelling?
There are more stories and movies that start in the middle of an ongoing plot to name, but you can figure it out as you go, or read the intro to the story. The stories taken from KOTOR I do not think were made to be the driving force. Just the back story to where and when plot concepts and people came from. I'm not sure why the other reviewers didn't like it. I didn't experiance the same gripes that they did.

STAR WARS: VECTOR, by Dark Horse Comics head honcho Randy Stradley's own admission, was born out of financial concerns: If Marvel & DC were making so much money crossing over their characters, why shouldn't Dark Horse be able to get on board that gravy train themselves? Enter VECTOR, an interesting idea gone horribly, horribly wrong.

The concept of VECTOR is simple enough: A story that crosses over between all four of Dark Horse's STAR WARS books. The problem is, the books take place in different eras, sometimes THOUSANDS of years apart......So how to accomplish the goal without resorting to the dreaded time-travel chestnut....?

I'll give them this much: The maguffin they use to drive the plot is certainly an original one. The execution of the plot, well....that's another story. The bulk of STAR WARS: VECTOR VOL. 1 is comprised of four issues of the STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC SERIES, and as someone who has never read an issue of that series, I was totally lost for the majority of this book. Without revealing the hook upon which VECTOR is hung, there's a massive sub-plot involving "Rakghouls", the outer-space equivalent of Werewolves, and it's just a ridiculously bad device to use in a STAR WARS story. The book picks up considerably in the final two chapters, which are taken from the STAR WARS: DARK TIMES series. The art, by Douglas Wheatley, is staggeringly good, and seeing a familiar face (Darth Vader) certainly didn't hurt any, either. The final two chapters had me intrigued enough that I may return for the finale in Volume 2, but all that went before was just a sloppy, incomprehensible mess.

For all the relentless promotion Vector got in the months preceding its release, it turned out to be a spectacular disappointment. The story is anchored by four issue arcs in both Knights of the Old Republic and Legacy, which dismayed me tremendously, because the story was so bad I feared it would drag down two of the strongest Dark Horse Star Wars titles (as for Dark Times and Rebellion, they were uninteresting even before Vector). Fortunately, KOTOR has moved well beyond this travesty and hopefully we'll hear no more of it in those pages. As for Legacy, we'll have to see.

If Vector was your first exposure to KOTOR or Legacy, I'd urge you to give them another chance. Find issues of each preceding Vector and you'll see the strengths of these two titles.

Got it cuz I needed to complete the SW: Legacy set. Great story. Artwork is ok. I feel the artwork of the later stories are better. Overall, great book.

Chapter 1 takes over half of the book, and the artwork is terrible. The story is okay, but Celeste's face is really messed up looking and I couldn't stand looking at it at all. Here's a pic of it: [...]

Chapter 2 is a good story and the artwork is much better, but it's about half as long as Chapter 1.

Buyer's remorse. Skip this one.

I only purchased this volume because it had Part 3 of the Dark Times volume within it, but the overall vector storyline (that begins in the Old Republic, continues during the Dark Times era, returns in the classic trilogy era, and then completes in the New Republic era) is pretty good as well. The Dark Times series picks up immediately after the Republic series comics by Dark Horse where the Jedi are exterminated and hunted after Order 66. I really loved that gritty and dark comic series based on my favorite part of Star Wars takes: the Clone Wars. That series far surpasses both of the cartoon series' and movie's attempts at visualizing the Clone Wars.

This volume only contains the first 2 parts of the Vector storyline (so 1 volume of Old Republic comics and 1 volume of Dark Times comics- #3).

I was confused, at first, as to why there was no Dark Times volume 3; I found out before I ordered this one, so I hope that helps answer some confusion about the series.

God bless.

I liked the story, and I was able to read it in sequence while doing both the KotoR and Dark Times series together. Overall good read to me. But the KotoR portion of the book looked like it was drawn in a massive hurry. The characters do not seem to look like themselves from the first KotoR books. But the Dark Times portion looks really well drawn and very similar to the Dark Times books.

If you loved the KOTOR game, you love this comic series. If you like star wars, you will love them also.

Great story, and well done.

I would really like to give this 3 1/2 stars because I did like it, but there are a few issues. Even though I haven't read much of KOTOR and none of Dark Times, I followed what was happening just fine. I actually liked the idea of a story that crosses all the SW timelines and I think they pulled it off pretty well. I didn't like the graphic style of the first chapter, which is the Knights of the Old Republic part of the story. It looks too cartoonish for me and doesn't go with the style of the rest of the Vector tale. It occationally looks like the talisman is going to make her eyes pop out of her head, but it looks goofy!
I have been following the Legacy series and had to get Vector to continue that plot and still understand what is going on. This story is good, but that artwork at the begining made me worried. Part 2 is better.

. . . the execution leaves a little to be desired. This volume has chapters one and two of a four part story and contains the storylines from "Knights of the Old Republic" (KOTOR) and "Dark Times."

If you haven't tried KOTOR, you're going to be somewhat lost since the events in Vector take place about 4,000 years before Luke Skywalker is born and none of the characters are familiar. Yes, there is a brief synopsis -- something about a secret Jedi conspiracy who frame a young Jedi for murder (although why they would do that isn't clear) and a planetary invasion not by Sith but "Mandalorians." While you're coming to grips with all that, there's an epidemic that turns non-Jedi into beasts, a strike force lead by Cassus Fett (Boba's ancestor, I presume), mysterious "Shadow Agents" and a talisman of weird power. With all that, the least they could do is provide a character list ("This is Zayne, a Jedi apprentice on the run for murder; this is his greedy sidekick.")

The second chapter is much better. Taking place a couple of years before the events of "A New Hope," the reader is already familiar with some of the main characters. It's also much shorter than the first chapter, therefore less convoluted. It's basically a fight between Darth Vader and the power of the magic talisman.

Although the INTENTION was to introduce new readers to the four series, the result is really for regular readers of the books. Although I enjoyed the KOTOR computer game, nothing here made me want to pick up either of these titles.