Force Matters: ‘Star Wars: Shadows Of Maul’ #1 Is A Strong — If Maul-less — Start
by Austin Gorton
No word yet on a relaunched Star Wars title or any kind of general direction for the Marvel line, but Dark Horse is still doing its thing, and there’s a new series to tie into, so we’ve still got comics!
Star Wars: Shadows of Maul #1
By Benjamin Percy & Madibek Musabekov
- This is the first appearance of the planet Janix, which will also serve as the main setting of the Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord animated series.
- This is also the first appearance of Brander Lawson and his partner Two Boots, who will also feature in the animated series.
- Two Boots official designation is “2B0T.”
- The bartender is a female Dowutin.
- To Musabekov’s credit, you can see Hendrix’ red hands in the bar earlier in the issue before it becomes a plot point.
A solid start, with Percy and Musabekov both nailing the Blade Runner/sci-fi noir vibe. It’s also nice to have a tie-in featuring actual characters from the upcoming series and not just ancillary ones who will only appear in this story. That said, this does feel a little like Jeff Goldblum saying “eventually, you do plan to have dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour, right?” when it comes to the presence — or rather, lack thereof — of Darth Maul.
Star Wars The Bad Batch: Rogue Agents #2
By Michael Moreci & Reese Hannigan
The Bad Batch teams up with an old pirate acquaintance.
- Perhaps because I am an Old with a fading memory, but I really miss the recap pages that Marvel has in their comics when reading one of the Dark Horse books — especially given this issue got pushed back a couple weeks.
- Likely due to the changes in medium, Wrecker is not nearly as comically large here as in the animated series.
- While this story references past dealings between the Bad Batch and Laruche, this is Laurche’s first appearance.
- Frankly, I’m impressed Moreci introduced a new pirate character instead of just trotting out Hondo.
- Aurra Sing pops up again, continuing her role as “default Prequel Era bounty hunter.”
The titular rogue agents are still kind of a faceless conglomeration rather than distinct antagonists, but I appreciate that Moreci doesn’t draw out the Bad Batch/Rogue Agents rematch.
Tales From The Toybox
Tony’s got a trio of new Star Wars Black Series figure reviews, including Luke, Han and Chewbacca!
