THE FORCE UNLEASHED
April 15th 2009 23:53
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
“Two there should be; no more no less. One to embody power, the other to crave it”
- Darth Bane
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Production Team: Haden Blackman – script, Brian Ching, Bong Dazo & Wayne Nichols – art, Michael Atiyeh – colours & Michael Heisler - letters
Cost: US $15.95
If you haven’t already realised I am something of a long time Star Wars aficionado, so I should come as no surprise that upon finding this particular graphic novel sitting on the shelf in my local library I swiftly snapped it up to be read and reviewed. Methinks that the will of the living force guided me to the shelf that this work sat on that precise time for that very reason. Based on the computer game of the same name, which for some reason has not had a PC release to my knowledge, the audience is taking to a time period when the Empire of Darth Sidious and his minion Darth Vader is at its peak, the zenith of its malevolent glory as it were. We also get a glimpse into the machinations of the Order of the Sith as it stands at this particular point in galactic history, a slice of life as it were of how they operate in seeking to pursue their own agenda.
For anyone who has been a big an aficionado as I am of the whole saga and its various incarnations the Rule of Two should be as familiar to you as the golden arches or the dynamic strip. Everybody else, well I shall explain the concept of this infamous maxim first given form by Darth Bane one thousand years prior to the events of the six movies. This rule was the result of Bane’s survival of the last Sith War a thousand years ago which saw the Brotherhood of Darkness destroyed by the Jedi army of light on the remote world of Ruusan, Bane as the last surviving Sith Lord believed that the rationale behind there defeat was in the fact that there were far too many Sith Lords, virtually every Tom, Jar Jar and Chewie who could use the dark side were calling themselves Sith Lords. It was downright disgraceful, messy and it had the effect of diluting the power of the dark side. So in the aftermath of the conflict Bane elected to remodel the Sith on a simple precept that became known as the Rule of Two, there would only be two, two would be all that it should take to destroy the Jedi and establish Sith dominion over the known galaxy.
Strangely though even though the Sith are noted for dealing in absolutes there is nothing absolute about this particular maxim, as there are certain times and points in the Sith history where there are more than two, granted we’re not talking about tens, hundreds or thousands here but there are key moments when there have been more than just two. So when does this occur, how does it occur, why does it occur are questions I sense you pondering…well the very nature of the Sith make these situations arise by the structure of the rule and the nature of the order. At some point the apprentice will want to become the master, it is the way of things. Often this will occur when the apprentice has in turn found there own apprentice and has begun doling out Sith techniques and teachings, thus at this point there has become more than two, there is now at least three. How is such a conundrum resolved, how do they return to the Rule of Two? Well certainly not over beer and pretzels down at the local cantina, no usually the original apprentice and his minion ruthlessly eliminating the master with the apprentice at last taking the mantel of Sith mastery and becoming the paramount Sith until his own apprentice kills him and thus continually repeating the cycle. Sometimes the newcomer kills the old apprentice and takes their place.
So why the Sith organisation 101 lesson? Well the primary protagonist in this story is the mysterious and secret apprentice of Darth Vader, this individual has been schooled and trained by the Dark Lord for the purpose of both him and his minion eventually usurping Darth Sidious and taking control over the Empire. Treachery is after all the way of the Sith, so it should come as no surprise that Vader covets the title of mastery, at the end of the day it is the only thing worth focusing on. So he trains the character Starkiller, honing him in the ways of the Dark side in order to maintain the time honoured traditions of the Sith. The name Starkiller seems to crop up quite a bit in the Star Wars universe over the last five or six years, there was a Bendak Starkiller in the original Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) game and apparently Starkiller was meant to be the name of one of the original characters in the first movie, can’t remember if it was originally Obi Wan Kenobi’s original name or Luke Skywalker. Thus the name has some history.
Thus Vader’s secret apprentice begins his life as the instrument of his master’s will, although his journey will be nothing like he expected it to be, there is a great deal that he and various others within the unfolding story are completely unaware of, although to the audience the destination is swiftly apparent. As the tale unfolds, first being narrated by the training droid PROXY then later on in the course of events are told from the point of view of Captain Juno Eclipse, an Imperial Navy pilot who is assigned to pilot Starkiller to the various destinations where he is to undertake missions for his dark master. The first intimation of where this is all going is given in the initial pages where Senator Bail Organa and Captain Eclipse make a landing in the snowy wilderness region of Corellia to retrieve a damaged PROXY from the snow nearby an old damaged fortress, they are specifically looking for the droid and once he is reactivated by Juno, Senator Organa explains that they are seeking to create a record of the founding of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, or the Rebel Alliance as it becomes more commonly known.
Interestingly there is an unusual structure to this particular graphic novel, mainly in its use of three different artists over the course of the story, indicating to me that perhaps that it was originally several separate comics but glancing around in the graphic novel itself I couldn’t find any evidence of such. Now the artwork is superlative bringing the characters and settings to a cinematic life but it is slightly disconcerting to see a sudden shift in style, or maybe I’m just getting old and not running with the cool scene. After all at one point Juno bears a resemblance to Jarael from the KOTOR comics then later on she looks a lot like Caprica Six from Battlestar Galactica, I find it slightly disconcerting, especially as there doesn’t seem to be any ‘rationale’ behind the change of artist.
Still in the grand scheme of things its not really a major flaw, where the flaw does exist in this particular work and unfortunately there is one is that it’s too short. Too much of the drama and action is effectively glossed over in various full page shots with a brief narration if at all. Perhaps I have been spoilt by having read the actual hardcover novel before I ever had a chance to see this work, but even so I still feel that they could have probably extended the length somewhat to do the story a bit more justice.
- Darth Bane
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Production Team: Haden Blackman – script, Brian Ching, Bong Dazo & Wayne Nichols – art, Michael Atiyeh – colours & Michael Heisler - letters
Cost: US $15.95
If you haven’t already realised I am something of a long time Star Wars aficionado, so I should come as no surprise that upon finding this particular graphic novel sitting on the shelf in my local library I swiftly snapped it up to be read and reviewed. Methinks that the will of the living force guided me to the shelf that this work sat on that precise time for that very reason. Based on the computer game of the same name, which for some reason has not had a PC release to my knowledge, the audience is taking to a time period when the Empire of Darth Sidious and his minion Darth Vader is at its peak, the zenith of its malevolent glory as it were. We also get a glimpse into the machinations of the Order of the Sith as it stands at this particular point in galactic history, a slice of life as it were of how they operate in seeking to pursue their own agenda.
So why the Sith organisation 101 lesson? Well the primary protagonist in this story is the mysterious and secret apprentice of Darth Vader, this individual has been schooled and trained by the Dark Lord for the purpose of both him and his minion eventually usurping Darth Sidious and taking control over the Empire. Treachery is after all the way of the Sith, so it should come as no surprise that Vader covets the title of mastery, at the end of the day it is the only thing worth focusing on. So he trains the character Starkiller, honing him in the ways of the Dark side in order to maintain the time honoured traditions of the Sith. The name Starkiller seems to crop up quite a bit in the Star Wars universe over the last five or six years, there was a Bendak Starkiller in the original Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) game and apparently Starkiller was meant to be the name of one of the original characters in the first movie, can’t remember if it was originally Obi Wan Kenobi’s original name or Luke Skywalker. Thus the name has some history.
Thus Vader’s secret apprentice begins his life as the instrument of his master’s will, although his journey will be nothing like he expected it to be, there is a great deal that he and various others within the unfolding story are completely unaware of, although to the audience the destination is swiftly apparent. As the tale unfolds, first being narrated by the training droid PROXY then later on in the course of events are told from the point of view of Captain Juno Eclipse, an Imperial Navy pilot who is assigned to pilot Starkiller to the various destinations where he is to undertake missions for his dark master. The first intimation of where this is all going is given in the initial pages where Senator Bail Organa and Captain Eclipse make a landing in the snowy wilderness region of Corellia to retrieve a damaged PROXY from the snow nearby an old damaged fortress, they are specifically looking for the droid and once he is reactivated by Juno, Senator Organa explains that they are seeking to create a record of the founding of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, or the Rebel Alliance as it becomes more commonly known.
Interestingly there is an unusual structure to this particular graphic novel, mainly in its use of three different artists over the course of the story, indicating to me that perhaps that it was originally several separate comics but glancing around in the graphic novel itself I couldn’t find any evidence of such. Now the artwork is superlative bringing the characters and settings to a cinematic life but it is slightly disconcerting to see a sudden shift in style, or maybe I’m just getting old and not running with the cool scene. After all at one point Juno bears a resemblance to Jarael from the KOTOR comics then later on she looks a lot like Caprica Six from Battlestar Galactica, I find it slightly disconcerting, especially as there doesn’t seem to be any ‘rationale’ behind the change of artist.
Still in the grand scheme of things its not really a major flaw, where the flaw does exist in this particular work and unfortunately there is one is that it’s too short. Too much of the drama and action is effectively glossed over in various full page shots with a brief narration if at all. Perhaps I have been spoilt by having read the actual hardcover novel before I ever had a chance to see this work, but even so I still feel that they could have probably extended the length somewhat to do the story a bit more justice.
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