Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic #36
Dark Horse Comics
Miller, Dazo & Atiyeh

This is your story to “jump on” to alright. A new arc and a completely new direction for Zayne and company. Since it is a new arc and a new direction you might expect a bit of a build up, which is what this issue does. The important factor for this comic that I found was that the new direction seems to be getting away from the Jedi roots of Star Wars and embracing the pirating, Han Solo type, roots. It’s an interesting direction and good story set up to start things off.

The comic begins with Gryph pulling a con. He’s pretending to be a law professor who is checking out an interesting new kind of market that has sprung up. The market he is checking into is a scam itself. Basically, it’s a futures market that sells off airspace and planet claims to the highest bidder. Even in areas that are currently a war zone are auctioned off for when there is peace. As Gryph’s guide points out, they are selling the possibilities to people.

Gryph’s plan unfolds as two of his cohorts, Jarael and Rohlan, show up pretending to have a beef with the auction of a planet. Jarael claims she purchased the claim only to find people (including Rohlan) living there. People are mad and refunds are demanded. The solution is to have a re-auction.

However, the guy behind the curtain, Nunk, isn’t buying this song and dance and recognizes Gryph for the conman that he is. Nunk sicks the dogs on them only to have help arrive at the very end. You can take a guess as to who busts in.

It’s a cool little plot. I like the idea of auctioning off trade franchises and space lanes. It seems like a natural arena for the scum to deal in. I even liked that one of the ones up for auction was a gas planet in the Anoat Sector that has high quantities of Tibanna Gas. Sound familiar to anyone?

The artwork has pulls incredible feats here. First of, page after page has dozens of aliens in the background. It’s just amazing the amount of details that are found in here. Second, the panel set up of pages five and six are amazing. What has been done is the merging of four panel’s backgrounds into one view while the central characters in the forefront move through the four panels. It’s very unique and it really puts the stamp on this issue. The battle sequence at the end reminds of the old Marvel series with a lot of action and full body shots jumping through the air all on one page.

As I said the arc and direction needs some time to warm up, but this is a good start. I liked the plot and art a lot and I am eager to see how this all plays out. If you are new and are thinking about dipping your toe into the pool then this is your issue to do so.

3.5 out of 5 geek goggles