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Post by Duragizer on Aug 2, 2024 3:04:06 GMT -5
The Naddist ship and their big scary warrior are all black and pointy, to make sure we know they are the bad guys. (its a little better on the cover, but honestly not all that much). I'm starting to remember why I dropped these not too long from now. Yeah, the Naddist leader looks ridiculous in his battle armour – like a reject from the Micronauts or something! And worse still, his name is Warb Null! I mean, seriously….Warb Null?!! That's such a cruddy name. On a related point, Freedon Nadd himself doesn't look much better when his Force Ghost appears. He looks like he's wearing a budget costume from Tron! Part of me wants to like Warb Null — I really like that Dave Dorman painting of him — but nope, can't be done. The goofy name and armour could be forgiven if he had any presence or personality, but he may as well be a battle droid. I think Nadd's design's fine, though. It takes influence from samurai without being derivative of Vader's armour. |
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Post by lordyam on Aug 2, 2024 12:26:00 GMT -5
Great idea for a thread. Many younger Star Wars fans (of this century's flood of Star Wars material) cannot imagine the early 1990s, when there was no official announcement of new movies (or the Special Editions), and Lucas seemingly content with ancillary products (e.g. novels, TV movies and cartoons, etc.) filling that great void in the wake of Return of the Jedi coming to and going from theaters in 1983. Dark Empire (along with its sequel series and eventually 1996's Shadows of the Empire) was the major shot in the arm the franchise needed, in the attempt to bring to light the post-ROTJ time period long theorized about by fans for a decade (in a satisfactory, creatively stimulating way, unlike Marvel's dreary, often-lackluster post-ROTJ stories in their monthly). Dark Empire was not a perfect series, but Veitch's story felt like a logical, likely outcome of the original trilogy. Looking forward to your exploration of this series. I felt that certain things (Palpatine coming back) were rather cheap. The Thrawn Trilogy was somewhat better but there needed to be better coordination. That said I think that some of the plot points could have been changed (Sedriss could have been the main antagonist rather than Palpatine) |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 4, 2024 17:27:02 GMT -5
I think it also would have worked if Dark Empire used Zahn's Joruus C'Baoth instead of the Emperor... this would make Dark Empire happen AFTER the Zahn books, but I don't think that would be a big thing at all.. and would make a bit more sense plot wise. Imagining C'Baoth hit capital himself and (temporarily) took it over after Thrawn's demise seems pretty reasonable.... he wanted to do it while Thrawn was alive. Having him succeed temporarily, then fail seems pretty plausible, and I don't think the plot for Dark Empire would have to change much at all to accomodate. He would of course have to have miraculously survived his final encounter with Luke and Co... but that's not so hard to believe.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 4, 2024 21:49:55 GMT -5
Tales of the Jedi 2 #2  script:: Tom Veitch Art: : Tony Akins and Denis Rodier Letters: Willie Schubert Colors: Suzanne Bourdages Cover Art : Dave Dorman Title: Initiates of the Sith Date: September 1994 Rating: 7 of 10 Plot Summary : We get right to the action on this one. Apparently the Galactic Senate decides to send help.. the first page give us 'Rocket-Jumpers' from the Republic joining the Jedi re-inforcements to take by Iziz from the Naddists.  Among them are Satal and Aleema, our rich Dark Side dilletantes. Despite a really bad looking crash landing they walk away and go off to find Freedon Nadd to present him with their stolen gifts. The Jedi group with Nomi in it sufference a casualty or two (its not clear if the two panels are depicting the same Jedi or two different ones), but eventually they hook with with Ulic and company and the two groups decent on the Naddists. Back at camp... Satal shows the amulets and book they stole to King Ommin. He seems pretty amused, and advised that if they wear the amulets they can read the book. Ommin sends a minion off to copy said book and shows off his prize to the tourist.. Master Arca being tortured with the Dark Side. Apparently, they want to turn him to be a Sith lord, but Arca is resisting. The Cavalry arrives, and after some monologuing Ulic several King Ommin's exo-skeleton thing and he melts like the Wicked Witch of the West. The ghost of Freedon Nadd has already discarded him... handing his hopes on Satal and Aleema, whom his gives cool swords and their artifacts back and they go back home ready to do Sith things. The Jedi end up cleaning of the Naddists and win the day, but Master Arca is still concerned... to be continued in the next series! My Thoughts: : This was a pretty fun romp with almost all action. The artists seem to do better with that then quiet moments, so the art bugged me less. Those why Oss Willum turns into the Grinch at the end of the story I can't say.  Nomi really doesn't do anything much... she's there in the battles, gets knocked out by Dark Force vibes, then comes around to be in the final fight, but she has no particularly big role, which seems odd...maybe she's more important in the next series, or maybe I just remember her because she's got a cool name. There are some fun Jedi in the group... one from a race that is blind and one that's sort of horse-ish looking. Just keep these two away from humans and they are pretty good. Continuity Notes: : Last issue the Republic Council seemed to be voting on NOT helping, guess they changed their mind off panel (to be correct, the last panel did say they were still deliberating. While the overall story was pretty good, there are a couple wonky things here. I don't love all the light sabers being the same (even though the Dave Dorman gives us some different ones on the cover). The biggest thing that bugged me is Satal and Aleema's ship... it gets pretty much completely destroyed when they land. (It's also a different color than last issue). But somehow it's just fine when they are ready to leave and none the worse for ware. Did someone else have an identical custom Yacht just laying around? Or are we to believe that some Onderonian master mechanic fixed it in what feels like a couple hours?  Then there's the whole 'the Dark side of the force turns your skin gray' think that Ulic seems to have going on... some of the other cults are that color too.. as is Satal.. is this a thing or not? I really can't tell, but I want to know! Not text piece or letters here, but LOTS of House ads, including one for the trades of both the first Tales of the Jedi series and Dark Empire. They even have an ad for the Droids series (the first mention of a non-Tom Veitch book in his pages). There's also several ads for other Dark Horse books, which seems like a good idea.
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Post by Duragizer on Aug 5, 2024 20:17:28 GMT -5
While the overall story was pretty good, there are a couple wonky things here. I don't love all the light sabers being the same (even though the Dave Dorman gives us some different ones on the cover). This is one of my biggest gripes with TOTJ's art. I'm generally opposed to recoloured comics, but I wouldn't mind seeing TOTJ receive a wholesale recolouring. Chris Gossett handled the colours on Redemption, and I'd argue it's the best-looking arc in the series, so I'd give him the job. Despite being a visual medium, there isn't a whole lot of lightsaber colour variety in Dark Horse's comics until late into the '90s. The Bantam novels, on the other hand, really gave you a taste of the rainbow. Kevin J. Anderson in particular seemed to love wild and crazy colour combinations: smokey gray with gold sparks; electric blue with indigo core; violet with shimmering rainbow colours. It's absurd, and I'm amused by it. It's not really a thing, no. Ulic, Aleema, and Satal are depicted throughout the rest of the series with average white flesh tones. We do get a glimpse of the Sith Lords from the original Sith Empire at the end of Dark Lords of the Sith, and it appears that they have light gray skin (or maybe they're just supposed to be real pale; it's hard to tell), but this gets retconned later. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 6, 2024 9:08:11 GMT -5
This was in my long suffering 'to read' pile (Which I am making some progress on, yay me!)... I thought I'd toss it in as a 'bonus'
Star Wars Adventures: The Will of Darth Vader
Written by Tom Taylor
Art by Brian Koschak
Plot: Set after the Battle of Yavin but before Endor (I think maybe a bit after Empire Strikes Back), we see 'Wolf Squadron' terrorizing Imperial shipping from an asteroid field near Corellia, and the Emperor sends his best pilot, Darth Vader to fix it.
Vader arrives on the scene and captures a smuggler trying to deliver supplies, and uses him (partially against his will, partially not) to break down the Rebel defenses. The smuggler betrays him as they reach the secret planet at the center of the asteroid field, leading to everyone else in the Imperial force getting wiped out. He chooses not to kill Vader while he's unconscious after the crash, and Vader then destroys the Rebels and the smuggler on his own... fufilling his role as the Emperor's 'Toy Solider'
My thoughts: For a fun little not really in continuity story this was really good! I had no idea it was written by Tom Taylor (I picked this up on clearance at some point in the past... one of 3 faux manga Star Wars books I had... the other two are not Dark Horse) The is a bit wonky by passable. Definitely glad I read it, and I might get the others if I come across them (The back of the book indicates 3 others, as well as a few clone wars era ones, though the internet tells me they are a series of 6).
Continuity Notes: Wolf Squadron is lead by a Zabrak named Captain Mase.. not terribly innovative, but a pretty good generic bad ass Rebel. Looks like the only mention of any of this outside this book (besides Vader, of course) is that Wolf Squadron is mentioned in the original Tie Fighter video game... Mase was created by Tom Taylor, as was the smuggler, Luca, that is sort of the main character. Too bad.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Aug 6, 2024 9:37:53 GMT -5
This was a pretty satisfying conclusion to the Freedon Nadd Uprising and to the whole Tales of the Jedi storyline so far. Here in the UK, Titan Books collected the first "Beast Wars of Onderon" mini-series with the two-part "The Freedon Nadd Uprising" togther in one TPB volume. Re-reading them both for this thread, that really makes a whole lot of sense; this really feels like the same 7-part storyline. As previously noted, these would be the only Tales of the Jedi comics I ever bought or read. We get right to the action on this one. Apparently the Galactic Senate decides to send help.. the first page give us 'Rocket-Jumpers' from the Republic joining the Jedi re-inforcements to take by Iziz from the Naddists. Among them are Satal and Aleema, our rich Dark Side dilletantes. Despite a really bad looking crash landing they walk away and go off to find Freedon Nadd to present him with their stolen gifts. It's interesting to me that Veitch decides to open this issue by immediately focusing on Satal and Aleema Keto, the young aristocrat cousins he introduced late last issue. It's clearly Aleema who is the brains of their partnership and she is also by far the most driven and brave. Having them managing to flee with their Sith tome and medallions at the end, pretty much proves that I was right in my suspicion last issue that we will be seeing more of these two in later mini-series. The Jedi group with Nomi in it sufference a casualty or two (its not clear if the two panels are depicting the same Jedi or two different ones)… I found these panels to be really confusing and unclear. To be honest, it's not great artwork from by Tony Atkins here. In fact, the art looks messier and less polished overall than it did last issue, although maybe that's my imagination. Nomi really doesn't do anything much... she's there in the battles, gets knocked out by Dark Force vibes, then comes around to be in the final fight, but she has no particularly big role, which seems odd...maybe she's more important in the next series, or maybe I just remember her because she's got a cool name. Yeah, I was thinking much the same thing. There are also a load of other Jedi Knights that are hastily introduced in this issue that kind of clutter up the comic and take the focus off of the central cast of Nomi Sunrider, Ulic Qel-Droma etc. The biggest thing that bugged me is Satal and Aleema's ship... it gets pretty much completely destroyed when they land. (It's also a different color than last issue). But somehow it's just fine when they are ready to leave and none the worse for ware. Did someone else have an identical custom Yacht just laying around? Or are we to believe that some Onderonian master mechanic fixed it in what feels like a couple hours? Isn't it a different ship? The grey ship that Satal and Aleema leave Onderon in looks very different from the yellow yacht they arrived in to me. I'm sure it's not meant to be the same craft. Then there's the whole 'the Dark side of the force turns your skin gray' think that Ulic seems to have going on... some of the other cults are that color too.. as is Satal.. is this a thing or not? I really can't tell, but I want to know! I mentioned this last time, but I don't recall if you responded to it or not. Here's what I wrote on the subject of the Jedi's haggard, grey look in my comments for last issue… "All four of the Jedi on Onderon – Ulic, Cay, Tott and Master Arca – are drawn as looking haggard and unwell.
It's stated that Master Arca in particular is suffering from the effects of having been in close proximity to the Dark Side of the Force for an extended period on Onderon. That very much ties in with what I always assumed about why the Emperor looked the way he did when I was a kid – the Dark Side psychically harms and ages its practitioners. Thinking about it, I wonder if that was something my pals and I picked up from the Return of the Jedi novelisation? I'm not sure now why we thought that, but that's definitely how we understood the Dark Side to work back in the '80s.
Of course, Veitch ran with that idea in Dark Empire with Emperor Palpatine requiring new cloned bodies every so often, so this at least fits in with the earlier Dark Horse comics. Clearly though, the implication here is that even if a Jedi is just being bathed in Dark Side energy for a reasonable amount of time, their body will start to show signs of aging and decay." |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 6, 2024 9:54:29 GMT -5
Yeah, maybe that's what they are going for... but there's no sign of 'decay' with Ulic.. he's just the wrong color. Of course the action hero can't have muscle weakness this early on! But perhaps the skin color is just the opening stages.
The Emperor is definitely effected by his power, that's very clear, but I assumed that it was because he was SO powerful his body couldn't handle it, and he's not shy about using his power for frilolous things. I never really thought of the Dark Side as life sapping as it appears here, just... troubling.. like making the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I think your idea is what is happening here.
On the other hand, it's clear the Dark Side is keeping King Ommin alive despite his body being a mess, so maybe once it claims you, you NEED it? They did mention early on that the Queen looked older than she should as well.
As far as the ship... I felt like its definitely meant to be the same one that they leave with in issue one and arrive (and get trashed) in issue 2...its just gold in issue one and green in issue two, but very clearly the same (very unique) design. It is named the 'Krath Enchanter' in the 2nd issue, but just referred to as a 'royal yacht' in the first.
What maybe the case as I look back.. the ship shown at the end of the 2nd issue is a very different one, and they show Katal and Aleema just sitting near a window, so perhaps they are simply passengers on the Star Wars equivalent of a Boeing 747? When I read it to do the review I didn't think that was the ship they were on, I thought the were showing two different things, but now that I look back I think this is it.
Definitely goes back to your point of the art being not very clear in alot of places for sure!
My vague recollection is that Aleema is the big bad guy in the next series, but its been a while, we shall see!
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Aug 6, 2024 10:23:20 GMT -5
What maybe the case as I look back.. the ship shown at the end of the 2nd issue is a very different one, and they show Katal and Aleema just sitting near a window, so perhaps they are simply passengers on the Star Wars equivalent of a Boeing 747? When I read it to do the review I didn't think that was the ship they were on, I thought the were showing two different things, but now that I look back I think this is it. Yeah, that's what I mean -- Kato and Aleema are onboard the ship shown at the end of issue #2. And that definitely isn't the royal yatch they crashed in earlier in the issue. Definitely goes back to your point of the art being not very clear in alot of places for sure! Yeah, for sure! |
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 6, 2024 13:04:29 GMT -5
This was in my long suffering 'to read' pile (Which I am making some progress on, yay me!)... I thought I'd toss it in as a 'bonus' Star Wars Adventures: The Will of Darth Vader Written by Tom Taylor Art by Brian Koschak Plot: Set after the Battle of Yavin but before Endor (I think maybe a bit after Empire Strikes Back), we see 'Wolf Squadron' terrorizing Imperial shipping from an asteroid field near Corellia, and the Emperor sends his best pilot, Darth Vader to fix it. Vader arrives on the scene and captures a smuggler trying to deliver supplies, and uses him (partially against his will, partially not) to break down the Rebel defenses. The smuggler betrays him as they reach the secret planet at the center of the asteroid field, leading to everyone else in the Imperial force getting wiped out. He chooses not to kill Vader while he's unconscious after the crash, and Vader then destroys the Rebels and the smuggler on his own... fufilling his role as the Emperor's 'Toy Solider' My thoughts: For a fun little not really in continuity story this was really good! I had no idea it was written by Tom Taylor (I picked this up on clearance at some point in the past... one of 3 faux manga Star Wars books I had... the other two are not Dark Horse) The is a bit wonky by passable. Definitely glad I read it, and I might get the others if I come across them (The back of the book indicates 3 others, as well as a few clone wars era ones, though the internet tells me they are a series of 6). Continuity Notes: Wolf Squadron is lead by a Zabrak named Captain Mase.. not terribly innovative, but a pretty good generic bad ass Rebel. Looks like the only mention of any of this outside this book (besides Vader, of course) is that Wolf Squadron is mentioned in the original Tie Fighter video game... Mase was created by Tom Taylor, as was the smuggler, Luca, that is sort of the main character. Too bad. Wolf Squadron might be a reference to Edmond Hamilton's Star Wolf trilogy, made infamous in the MSTK-savaged film, Fugitive Alien...... The film is edited together from episodes of Starwolf, which adapts the Hamilton stories, but done to more closely emulate Star Wars (even though the novels predate Star Wars) |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 7, 2024 23:30:14 GMT -5
Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith #1  script:: Tom Veitch and Kevin J Anderson Pencils: : Chris Gossett Inks: : Mike Barreiro Letters: Willie Schubert Colors: Pamela Rambo Cover Art : Hugh Fleming Title: Masters and Students of the Force Date: October 1994 Rating: 7 of 10 Plot summary: There are quite a few plot threads in this one. It starts with a tale from the holocron... Sith Lord Naga Sadow and how he destroyed an entire system to escape his Republic pursuers. We also learn that this is generally only one Dark Lord of the Sith at a time, and the other Dark Jedi who follow him are lesser. Freedon Nadd was one of those under Naga Sadow, and fled to Onderon to be in control. We then learn that a young Jedi named Exur Kun is the one hearing this story... apprentice to Vodo Baas on Dantooine. Master Vodo takes the holocron away and scolds his apprentice for overreaching. The then head over to lightsaber practice. Meanwhile, in the Empress Teta system, Aleema and Satal use their new Sith power to take over from their father, in most cruel ways. They seem to have acquired a blond friend that revels in their torturing of former friends and family but he is not named. The put their father in Carbonite (the system is famous for its mines), and discuss which worlds are still resisting them.  On Onderon, Master Arca gets wind of this and makes the connection... He sends the rest of the jedi (who all get a little 1 panel bio) to Ossus for a strategy session.. except for Ulic and Nomi. The 'heroes' of Onderon stay behind.. Nomi to get additional training before heading to the Empress Teta system, and Ulic because...reasons. At Cay's suggestion, they root around in King Ommin's artifacts and Ulic finds one that has Freedon Nadd still attached, who promises he will be a great, but not as great as another. Finally, we go back to Dantooine, where Kun is demolishing one of his fellow apprentices, a Cathar named Crado. Upset that Crado acknowledges him as superior and is sure he will lose, he mocks their race and the other of Master Vodo's students Sylvar tries her hand, and scratches Kun in the face during the sparring. He's furious and Master Vodo steps in... at first humbling his student, but then, with a 2nd light saber, the duel resumes and Kun managers to sever his Master's walking stick. Master Vodo seems concerned... to be continued!  My thoughts: : It seems a new day for Tales of the Jedi, even though this follows immediately after the Freedon Nadd Uprising, we have a new cover artist, new interior artist, and new co-writer. It definitely FEELS different. Gossett is decent, though there are some overly muscled figures and extra square jobs, I like him better than the last couple. There are a few inconsistencies in the art from the last issue, but nothing too crazy. The light sabers themselves are much better... they don't look like flashlights and they have different colors. This issue was clearly set up for what is to come with a fair amount of info dumping. There is some recapping too for people that are new to the series. It feels like some time has passed (perhaps a couple months) as the main Jedi cast still on Onderon, but everything if fine there, and it states that Aleema and Satal had to do a lot of planning to take over. And while is seems like someone should have told Cay and Ulic NOT to go fooling around with Sith artifacts, still A good start to the next phase of the story! Continuity Notes : First of all, Dave Dorman is missed. They stick with a painted cover, but its definitely not as good, and why Nomi looks like Little Orphan Annie is anyone's guess. She's pretty normal on the inside... they seem to have settle on her looking mostly human with a bit of a weird hair thing. Vodo Bass is drawn much more human-like, and without his hair he had last issue. Oss Willum has totally different head bumps and looks like he went to the same training facility Luke did in the last issue of the Marvel series when we got Rambo-Luke. Qrrrl Toq is grayish-brown instead of Black (he's the horse-like Jedi). The flying beasts on Onderon are pretty different, too. Much of that you could chalk up to style though.. this one feels much more 90s.  Master Arca is still the sick yellow color (maybe they've just decided that's what he looks like), but Ulic and the bad guys all seem back to normal skin tones. The story states Satal invented encasing people in Carbonite, though based on the destruction of they caused, I'm not sure they intended for them to live. I think Exur Kun is the first time someone dual wields two light sabers? Wookiepedia says the new Jedi here where created by Kevin Anderson, so perhaps Veitch is just sort of supervising? Hard to say when the story is chopped in vignettes like this. Once again no letters, but lots of house ads, including trades of the previous series and Dark Empire II (Which is coming out at this time too). There's also an advertisment for a Dark Empire audio drama.. which is intriguing. Anyone every heard it?
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Aug 8, 2024 8:29:14 GMT -5
Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith #1 As previously mentioned, I didn't read this mini-series, but it's interesting finding out what happens to the characters introduced earlier in the series from reading your synopsis. That artwork does look painfully '90s though, and really isn't at all to my tastes. ...and Dark Empire II (Which is coming out at this time too). Will you be reviewing Dark Empire II next then? There's also an advertisment for a Dark Empire audio drama.. which is intriguing. Anyone every heard it? Nope. This is the first I've ever heard about it. |
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Post by chaykinstevens on Aug 8, 2024 10:53:43 GMT -5
Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith #1 script:: Tom Veitch and Kevin J Anderson Is it known how the work was divided between Veitch and Anderson? |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 8, 2024 20:16:29 GMT -5
yeah, after this series I'm doing to do Dark Empire II.
I am curious too... Anderson does take over eventually (sadly), but I don't know exactly where.
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Post by Duragizer on Aug 9, 2024 16:45:46 GMT -5
First of all, Dave Dorman is missed. They stick with a painted cover, but its definitely not as good, and why Nomi looks like Little Orphan Annie is anyone's guess. She's pretty normal on the inside... they seem to have settle on her looking mostly human with a bit of a weird hair thing. While his paintings aren't as atmospheric as Dorman's, Hugh Fleming's still a good artist overall. Prior to the release of the prequels, he made a painting of a young Obi-Wan based on Alec Guinness, and I absolutely love it.  Luke fought Lumiya with two lightsabers in the Marvel comic.  I haven't listened to it in its entirety. SpikeyTortoise, an animator on YouTube, has been making an animated adaptation of DE using the audio from the audio drama, though. It's pretty neat, even if I'd prefer something closer in style to Kennedy's art than the Nelvana style they went with. (At 2:03 in the third episode's a certain alien creature I'm sure Confessor would get a kick out seeing.  ) |
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