Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Knights of the Old Republic #22
Dark Horse Comics
Miller, Weaver & Atiyeh
Full disclosure: I picked up this issue solely because I want to read the Star Wars Vector crossover in 2008 which touches all the Star Wars titles and I hadn’t read this one yet. So this review will test out what I always rant about which is that someone cant come into a comic without having read the previous issues. Although, this issue is the start of a new arc, so the test isn’t a perfect litmus test.
I understand that much of this title centers on the video game, which I have no insight into and that the story is set thousands of years before the original movie trilogy. I got a snapshot of the time period as well as a synopsis of the title’s previous events all from the back of the cover. I felt confident I wouldn’t be lost. And I wasn’t.
We have a padawan, named Zayne, returning to his home world of Taris. Zayne has been on the run since being accused of killing his fellow padawans, when in fact his Jedi Masters killed them and then pinned it on Zayne.
Zayne meets up with his old friend Gryph, who obviously cant be trusted from the moment he walks onto the page. Gryph is a snaggletooth character – the short, shoeless one, not the blue one if you are familiar with the figures. Gryph, also accused of the same crimes as Zayne, has been camped out with some local resistance to the Mandolorian invaders.
Among the resistance are a cast of characters that include, Del (aka hammerhead type), Gadon, who is human and seems to lead up the resistance and a few others including Brejik and Griff.
Gryph and Zayne have a lot of catching up to do with each other. The short of it is that Gryph is being pardoned for the padawan murders and other matters by helping out the constable, whose family is missing. Gryph needs Zayne to help and he claims that Zayne will receive the same pardon.
After some more question dodging about what Gryph has been doing since he last separated from Zayne we come to find the constable’s children are actually being held within the resistance group by Griff and Brejik. Well, that wasn’t too hard finding them, was it?
After this discovery the resistance mount up on the swoop bikes to rendezvous with more of their own. This, I found, to be confusing. The issue of the constable’s children is left a little unresolved. Are they meeting up with a group that is or is not aware that they have them? Did they take the kids with them on the swoop bikes?
The ending sees Zayne re-united with a girl whom he has missed, named Shel, who promptly shoots Zayne while one of the murderous Jedi Masters watches over her shoulder.
For the most part I liked the issue. The story was a little dull, but I did like the cliffhanger and the interaction between Zayne and Gryph. However, it was the artwork that made this story so much better. Not only the wide usage of aliens, but also the outfits, weapons and vehicles were all very impressive. I like expanded universe aliens, but I also like using the familiar faces from the movies like Hammerhead or Snaggletooth.
As I mentioned, the issue dragged a little bit, but I did like it. I am interested in seeing what happens to Zayne, but more than that I want to see more of the aliens and their involvement in this arc. Terrific artwork can make any story a little better, or at least, more entertaining.
3 out of 5 geek goggles.
 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #22--Knights of Suffering part 2 Dark Horse AUG070131D |
