Force Matters: ‘Shadow Of Maul’ #4 Doesn’t Need Its Title Character For This Fun Done-In-One
by Austin Gorton
In which the best issue yet of Shadow of Maul paradoxically features less Maul than ever!
Star Wars: Shadow of Maul #4
By Benjamin Percy, Madibek Musabekov, Luis Guerro & Joe Caramagna
Lawson begins to suspect a podrace on Janix is being used as cover for a significant crime.
- The opening narration notes that Janix is one of the rare mid-rim worlds not under Imperial oversight, which speaks to the concern he has about Imperial involvement that hangs over the first half of the animated series.
- Lawson saying he’s becoming a bad influence on Two-Boots is interesting in light of Two-Boots selling him out to the Empire (before ultimately helping Rylee escape, granted); I’m curious if Percy had access to the series’ scripts or anything when working on this book.
- Rheena Sul debuted in the second episode of Star Wars: Maul –Shadow Lord (which aired about two months before this issue hit the stands). If one were to read this series before watching the show for the first time, that would make Rheena’s appearance there one of those fun little moments tie-in stories generate when at their best.
- This is the first and only appearance of Tor Braxis; he is a Klatooinian, the species to which several of Jabba’s skiff guards/henchmen in Return of the Jedi belong (with the name coming from the phrase, “Klaatu barada nikto” from The Day The Earth Stood Still).
Not a bad issue considering the title character only appears in full, with no dialogue, in one panel. It’s not easy to do an entertaining & satisfying done-in-one mystery story that still serves the arc of the miniseries and is also meant to help setup other, later stories in other mediums, but Percy pulls that off here. — 7/10
Tales From The Toybox
Check out Tony Thornley’s review of the Quinlan Vos Star Wars Black Series figure, one of my most anticipated releases of late. (I appreciate that this version, while nominally being released as part of The Clone Wars subset, still looks a lot like his original Expanded Universe counterpart.)
