Febuary 26th 2010:
With only two issues to comment on, my post today will be rather short. With my last entry concerning the KOTOR comic series, I want to focus on the remainder of the events of the story, and what I liked and disliked overall about the Knights of the Old Republic story arc.
At the end of the day I really enjoyed John Jackson Miller’s work on the KOTOR comic series, and I was blown away by the art of Brian Ching, but in my opinion the series should have ended at issue 35, with Zayne saving the day and clearing his good name.
The stories after issue 35 seemed, to me, like filler (albeit some of them were very entertaining). I really didn’t care too much for the character of Jarael, and issue 48 ended with a dramatic cliffhanger that pictured her wielding Exar Kun’s double bladed lightsaber; a cliffhanger that certainly grabbed my attention. But as it turned out this cliffhanger went nowhere, and Jarael, even though she is a genetic descendant ofJedi Master Arca Jeth, has no Force powers, and is just kind of a regular girl.
Issue 49 and 50 were a bit of a letdown. The story ended with the death of two characters I really didn’t care much about: Chantique and Demigol; and the coming together of Zayne and Jarael. I’m not sure how these events surpass the drama of the ‘murder of the padawans’ story that ended with issue 35. Chantique and Demigol were mildly intriguing characters, but it was hardly worth ending a series with their deaths. I guess one could argue that their deaths were a vehicle to demonstrate that Zayne is the Jedi version of Jerry Seinfeld, ‘even Steven’, or as Marn rightfully points out: “...In the end, everything balances out for you”.
With that being said, it was still nice to see Zayne and Jarael come together at the end of the series. This coupling could lend credence to my theory that Zayne could be a progenitor of the Skywalker family tree, if Vector Volume 1 is anything to go by.
As I’ve said before, I ultimately liked the KOTOR comic series. My favorite aspects were the art of Brian Ching, the character of Zayne Carrick, and the flushing out of the Malak/Revan story line, with my least favorite part being only a mild complaint about the series not ending soon enough. The storyline could have been tightened.
For my next post I’ll be moving on to the Xim material. Until then my friends, may the Force be with you.
I disagree. Demagol had been looming in the background since the 7th issue so it was kind of satisfying to see him go down. Chantique... I would normally agree but she was just so repulsive and depraved I couldn't help but think of her as a credible villian. I actually cheered when she went down. Plus demagol learning that he wasted his life was karmically satisfying.
ReplyDeleteI can see your points regarding Chantique being repulsive and Demagol wasting his life, but I still do not think their storylines surpass the drama of issue 35.
ReplyDeleteThe Zayne, Lucien, and Hazzan storylines were much more epic and interesting.
I remember in University one of my professors saying to the class something like, "never end your essays with the introduction of another idea". He went on to say that "if you do this, you are telling your reader that this idea would have been much more interesting than the one you just spent pages arguing. Then why didn't you argue this idea in the first place?"
This is the impression I was left with at the end of the KOTOR series. If these characters were so interesting, why were they not the focus of the story in the first place?
Are you aware that there is a 10th "epilogue" GN called Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic: War?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've got it, but it's going to be a while before I get to it, unfortunately.
ReplyDelete