Force Matters: All In The Maul

It’s a special Force Matters: All Maul Edition, as the first two episodes of Maul: Shadow Lord drop the same week as the second issue of the miniseries tying into it!

Star Wars: Shadow of Maul #2

By Benjamin Percy & Madibek Musabekov

Lawson’s investigation draws him ever closer to Maul.

• Chronologically speaking, this issue is the first appearance of Janix crime lords Nico Deemis and Vario (who also appear in the first two episodes of Shadow Lord, set after this story).
• Deemis is a Gran, the three-eyed species made famous by Ree-Yees in Jabba’s palace. Vario is an Aleena, the same species as podracer Ratts Tyrell.
• The idea that Deemis and Vario maintain a sort of “the devil you know” balance in the crime situation on Janix that is threatened by Maul’s machinations in this series is a smart way of establishing the stakes for both this book and Shadow Lord.
• The droid Lawson follows into the subway is creepy as hell.
• Botekin, the preferred sport of Lawson’s son, is mentioned. It’s basically Space LaCrosse.
• Maul’s Zabrak henchmen, Scorn and Icaraus, pop up at the end of the issue; they are new characters (and I don’t yet know which is which).

I do wonder if this series would have been better served if it fired up a couple months earlier – as is, it feels like it’s doing stuff like introducing Deemis and Vario at the same time as the animated series instead in advance of it (or even after it, if you watched the episodes before reading the comic).

On the other hand, the arrival of the animated series, and the relationship between Lawson and Maul there (ie not much of one) makes it clear they’re likely not going to interact directly in this book, which is at least helpful in recalibrating expectations (especially since this is the second issue in which the title character only appears briefly, at the very end). It’s now clear the “Shadow Of” in the title is meant to be doing a lot of work.

Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord “The Dark Revenge”

Written by Matt Michnovetz & directed by Steward Lee

Maul begins his revenge plot against his former Shadow Collective associates.

• The series is set broadly in 18 BBY, that is, eighteen years before Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and the Battle of Yavin. That places it shortly after the rise of the Empire in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, generally contemporaneous with the Bad Batch animated series, about eight years before Maul’s cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story and sixteen years before his appearances in Star Wars Rebels.
• The Shadow Collective mentioned here and in the second episode is the name of the organization Maul formed in The Clone Wars, composed of various criminal syndicates (Black Sun, the Pyke Syndicate, the Hutts) he brought to heel, along with the Mandalorian Death Watch and Dathomirian Nightbrothers. Operating out of the neutral world of Mandalore, Maul’s goal was to create a galactic power to challenge both the Republic and the Separatists (while also serving as a vehicle for his revenge, of course). He quasi-disbanded it in the final season of Clone Wars due to the imminent rise of the Empire, but presumably something bad went down between then and now to prompt Maul’s efforts here to get revenge on its previous members.
• The creators have described Janix as a second tier urban planet, a Chicago or Kansas City to Coruscant’s New York City.
• Rook Kast, Maul’s Mandalorian second-in-command, appeared with him in The Clone Wars.
• Both Jedi Master Eeko-Dio Daki and his Padawan, Devon Izara, are new characters. Devon is a Twi’lek, one of the more common Star Wars species, while Daki is a Mosyk, a new species introduced here.
• I really like the almost raggedy edge Maul’s lightsaber has here; the traditional 3D animation style is embellished with watercolor finishes for this series, which results in stuff like that.
• The series has already been renewed for a second season.

This episode is mostly plot setup and exposition, bookended by a couple of fun action sequences (you don’t see enough Star Wars bank robberies). More importantly, it does an effective job of establishing the tone of the series, which is “Film Noir Star Wars,” with Maul as Little Caesar, Lawson as a Sam Spade/Rick Deckard type, and Janix balanced on the precipice between provincial planet and a bustling, booming metropolis a la Los Angeles in Chinatown, primed for a chaos agent like Maul to upend that delicate balance. That’s enough for a first episode.

Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord “Sinister Schemes”

Written by Matt Michnovetz and directed by Saul Ruiz

Lawson investigates the Shadow Collective while Maul advances both his “revenge” and “apprentice” goals.

• The opening action sequence, where Lawson and the TDF are pursuing Maul out of the prison section through a vertical shaft so the action is oriented up/down vs. the usual left/right, is pretty cool.
• Marg Krim is the leader of the Pyke Syndicate who worked with Maul when it was part of the Shadow Collective (the Pykes, in addition to The Clone Wars, also appeared in Solo – they are the group running the spice mines of Kessel – and in The Book of Boba Fett – they’re the organization Fett is trying to oust from Tatooine).
• Chief Klyce, Lawson’s boss, debuted in the first issue of Shadow of Maul.
• Rheena Sul is a new character, of an unknown/unclear species. She is voiced by Pamela Adlon (aka Bobby Hill), whose daughter Gideon voices Devon.
• Speaking of Devon, the closing bit where she figures out how to escape from her cell is clever. Always fun to see Jedi figure out ways to use the Force counterintuitively (ie push instead of pull), even if that is exactly what Maul wanted her to do.

In terms of Star Wars animated series, this is a much quieter, more character focused episode. We get a sense of Lawson’s home life (ie it sucks and he’s a shitty dad, even if it’s in service of a good cause) and some more insight into Maul’s deep-seated need for both revenge and partnership. Both are pretty ham-fisted in their expression (Maul more or less just states “I WANT REVENGE!”), but again, we’re grading on a curve. Maul’s seduction of Devon, meanwhile, is pleasantly subtle, at least at this point, which is appreciated.