Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Volume 3: Days of Fear, Nights of Anger [Paperback]

John Jackson Miller (Author), Brian Ching (Drawings), Dustin Weaver (Drawings), Harvey Tolibao (Drawings)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 2008

Nearly 4,000 years before the Death Star, fugitive Padawan Zayne Carrick's quest to clear his name runs afoul of forces beyond his control-forces he and his friends have helped to unleash! Con-artist Gryph sees the Mandalorian Wars as a chance to make a quick credit, but Zayne sees a terrible tragedy on the horizon-one where only an act of self-sacrifice can save the ungrateful Republic! But the real key to the future of the galaxy may lie with none other than Zayne's fellow fugitives, the genius Camper and the beautiful Jarael, who have just fallen prey to the forces they've spent a lifetime running from! Collecting issues #13-18 of the ongoing comic book series

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Jackson Miller is the author of the national best-selling novel, Star Wars: Knight Errant, nine Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic graphic novels, and the Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith eBook series. His comics work includes writing for Iron Man, Mass Effect, Bart Simpson, and Indiana Jones. Author of several books about comic-book history, he also runs the research website, The Comics Chronicles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (January 6, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593078676
• ISBN-13: 978-1593078676
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #244,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Author John Jackson Miller has spent a lifetime immersed in the worlds of fantasy and science fiction. Miller is best known for his Star Wars work, including Star Wars: Knight Errant, his national bestselling novel from Del Rey, and his long-running Knights of the Old Republic comics series from Dark Horse. He's written for Dark Horse's Mass Effect comics, Marvel's Iron Man and Crimson Dynamo, and Bongo's Bart Simpson. He wrote the comics adaptation of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Miller is also a noted comics industry historian, specializing in studying comic-book circulation as presented on his website, The Comics Chronicles (comichron.com). In 2002, his work spawned the first of four Standard Catalog of Comic Books volumes. He's also edited magazines including Comics Buyer's Guide, Comics & Games Retailer, and Scrye: The Guide to Collectible Card Games.

In games, his work includes writing for the Star Wars Role-Playing Game and reference guides including the Scrye Collectible Card Game Checklist & Price Guide.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Third time's not the charm, March 17, 2008

By 

Daiho - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Volume 3: Days of Fear, Nights of Anger (Paperback)

This third volume of John Jackson Miller's KOTOR is not quite as satisfying as the first two. The humor's still there, as is a bit of well-scripted pathos, but the second half of the book becomes wordy, the conceptual work is a bit campy, and the story remains incomplete. If you're buying this volume as a stand alone, be aware the conclusion is in Volume 4.

Miller opens with a farewell, the Arkanian drifters Jarael and Camper saying fare-thee-well to the fugitives, padawan Zayne Carrick and Snivvian hustler Gryph. With no plan and no place to go - and no interest in paying full retail - Gryph hires a dim-witted Trandoshan to liberate private transport. Making orbit just as the authorities arrive, the trio don't realize they're piloting a provisioning ship (a mobile restaurant) until they fly right into the middle of a military convoy headed for the front. Unable to escape the armada, they follow to the planet Serroco, where Gryph sets up business and finds to everyone's surprise that while the Trandoshan may not be such a great criminal, he knows his way around the kitchen. But just as soon as things start looking up, the Mandalorians arrive and with them a Force vision of the future, a planetary inferno for the population of Serroco. To save them, Carrick has to convince the Republic forces to move off. And to do that, he has to turn himself in.

"Days of Fear" has all the elements that have made KOTOR such a remarkable series: humor, an emphasis on character over plot, cinematic storytelling, and beautiful art. It also offers one of those rare moments in comics, a scene that honestly evokes a warm feeling of sympathy and compassion. By "honest" I mean that the scene plays naturally. There is no special lighting, no large panels or exaggerated composition, no long-winded exposition - nothing to set the reader up, to say "Hey, here comes the emotional bit!" The scene is played low-key and for that it has all the more impact. Truly one of the best moments in comic books in recent memory. There is perhaps only one thing missing from this story and that is some background on the galactic political landscape. There's a war going on but we don't yet know why.

The second story here, "Nights of Anger," pales in comparison, though certainly not from lack of ambition. It finds Jarael sneaking back to her home world of Arkania in search of medical treatment for her mentor and traveling companion, Camper. Along for the ride is stowaway Mandalorian deserter Rohlan, who may yet turn out to be their savor after Arkoh Adasca, president of Arkania's planetary consortium, Adascorp, holds all three hostage. While they wait for Camper to be treated, Miller fleshes-out the history of his Arkanian drifters, genetic outcasts from a society valuing knowledge - and its application - above individual lives. Camper was himself a leading member of this society, a brilliant scientist conducting ethically suspect research for Adascorp. He has all these years been sought by the same to finish work on a project that will allow Arkania's rulers to intimidate the Republic into submission. To coerce Camper, Adasca needs Jarael. What he doesn't need is a troublesome Mandalorian, one who appears to be every bit as clever with a microscope as he is skilled with a blaster.

The plot is rather simple in summation, but what makes it work is the detail - and plenty of it, which comes to us courtesy of a panoply of talking heads. Presumably readers can look forward to a little more action in the concluding chapters, but to get there we have to put up with the set up, which includes some flinch-inducing camp. Arkania's two genetic groups are known as the Purebloods and the Offshoots, names that could have come straight from a 1970's Jack Kirby comic, as could the universe's new super-weapon, mammoth space-faring worms that eat everything in their paths.

The art in this volume is anything but Kirby-like, even Kirby-esque, though the work in the final two chapters may remind anyone familiar with 70's-era comics of Neal Adams. Harvey Tolibao is an incredible talent and I hope to see him doing more Star Wars in the future. The same is true of Dustin Weaver, who brings a clean Japanese anime influenced style and a great talent for depicting facial expression. Weaver covers two chapters in this volume, and the other third is provided by Brian Ching, a fellow who started out as the regular penciler for this book but whose work is looking more irrelevant with each passing volume. Not that Brian's work is bad, just that it suffers by comparison. At least to these eyes.

This volume not the best place to start reading this series. But with only two previous volumes, and both of them far better efforts than this third, you really should start at the beginning. You'll have fun reading your way here.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun read, February 22, 2008

By 

Jay D. Lohuis (Boulder, Co USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Volume 3: Days of Fear, Nights of Anger (Paperback)

As a person who had never read these comics before, I thought they were great. Especially since they lumped them all together like this. I'm sure it will be a while before they make an Omnibus out of them, but all in all the storyline was good and the artwork was enjoyable as well.

Set back in the Mandalorian Wars, really right at the beginning, it has all new characters and races and is quite entertaining. It'll take a couple of hours to read it, but is thoroughly enjoyable. I recommend it.

Also, get Volumes 1 & 2, however I don't know when 4 is coming out... but, as Qui Gon said... "Patience my young padawan..."

If you like the Knights of the Old Republic games, you get to see the characters Malak and Revan before they went bad...

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining....., February 4, 2011

By 

Star Wars Enthusiast (MO USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Volume 3: Days of Fear, Nights of Anger (Paperback)

I am a big Star Wars fan from way back. And I had never read much of the Pre-quel-esque mythology before. I like that they no make the Jedi a bunch of namby-pamby choir boys, but real characters trying to do the right thing is a tough environment. The story is entertaining, and it is what it is.