Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Star Wars Jedi The Dark Side #2Star Wars Jedi: The Dark Side #2
Dark Horse Comics
Allie, Asrar & Mounts

The second issue of Jedi: The Dark Side is a tension filled issue as master and learner, father and son and culture to culture all seem to come to some level of a boil. The issue is a good set up to further along the plot on multiple levels and it even serves up a bit of action to keep the issue moving along. The focus of the issue does seem to shift further away from Qui-Gon, which may not be a bad thing as I am underwhelmed with his characterization so far. Overall this is a good issue and gives me enough to keep me interested in this series.

For the most part, the issue focuses on the returning padawan, Xanatos, and his rocky relationship with his father, Crion, the ruler of the planet. The strains of the relationship can be seen on both sides as Crion appears bitter that his son is a Jedi or that his son seems more loyal to the Jedi than his own people. While Xanatos appears to be upset that his parents gave him up to the Jedi to begin with. The confrontations are subtle enough that a reader can probably find similarity to their interactions with adults or parents when they were teenagers. The oddity here is that it seems like both party's struggles stem from the fact that Xanatos is a Jedi. Thus, the question: why would Xanatos continue down the path of becoming a Jedi?

The other side of the issue is the murder investigation which is headed up by Qui-Gon on one front and by Tahl on more covert front. These scenes are complete opposite in their execution from my perspective. Qui-Gon seems to be completely out of character from the variation of him in the films. He's yelling at other characters, barking out commands like "Stand Down!" which just seems so bizarre to me. On the other hand, Tahl, and her scenes, are excellent. She comes across as a graceful Jedi and an intriguing character, not dissimilar to that of Quinlan Vos from The Star Wars Republic series.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe artwork has its ups and downs as much as the character presentation. The scenes with Tahl are excellent. She finds herself in a fight and these panels are the highlight of the issue. The flipside is the coldness that Crion and Xanatos show each other. The art simply doesn't display the reactions visually enough. In some cases the facial expressions appear non-responsive. Overall, the issue's art has a good enough visual story but it needs to be more in order to keep pace with the heavy emotions of the story.

I like this series. I like the story as well as the characters. The elements to tell an excellent story are all here, but the issue just isn't quite hitting the stride I expect it to be hitting. Perhaps as the arc unfolds more we will get more greatness instead of just "goodness". I think Star Wars fans will be pleased with this issue. There is a lot to like in here.

3.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles