Here's another gem from my pre-Lucasfilm days.

The time was mythic, arguably prophesied. Yes, 1999. Star Wars returned to theaters with The Phantom Menace, ushering in the Silver Age of Star Wars, and the pop cultural invasion was on like Pong one more time. Star Wars licensees were churning out toys, books, games, and even soda pop like they wuz going outta style.

Among those products was Dark Horse Comics' ongoing Star Wars series. Now moving past the events of the first Star Wars prequel and into uncharted territory, the comics focused on the adventures of members of the Jedi Council, especially that cone-headed Quixotic Jedi Ki-Adi-Mundi and that bad mamba jamba Mace Windu. Among the other minor characters the series was developing were several that followers of the expanded universe are now familiar with: A'Sharad Hett (Tusken Raider son of a Jedi), Aurra Sing (pale, tough bounty huntress), and the Dark Woman (mysterious Jedi Master).

Based on a letter I'd sent to Dark Horse praising the first issue of their new Star Wars Tales series, then-editor Peet Janes sent me an advance copy of Star Wars #13, "Emissaries to Malastare," beginning a new storyline in which several members of the Jedi Council head to the podracing capital of the galaxy to handle some aggressive negotiations.

The letter below was my zealous response. Predating most of my earliest published fan works, you can see how my mind was already deeply rooted in a particular approach to Star Wars. It's also amusing to see that some elements of the prequels were still up for grabs, such as the relationship between horned-headed Jedi Eeth Koth and Darth Maul.

Sadly, the letter was neither published by Dark Horse nor did I ever get sent another advance copy of a Star Wars comic. Do you think it was something I said? ~ Abel G. Peņa

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November 12, 1999

Dear Peet Janes,

First of all, thanks for sending a preview copy of Star Wars #13 "Emissaries to Malastare." I was overwhelmed with joy at receiving it, and was even happier to see what a solid story it was. Unfortunately, one of the pitfalls of being a first-time preview reader for an ongoing series is knowing how the previous story arc ends, especially one that I was enjoying as much as "Outlander" ... argh. Still, I decided the cause was worth it.

The highlight of #13 was definitely the sequence focusing on the Jedi Council, and in particular the insight into their rituals: the opening collective speech, and the "concordance of fealty" ceremony were great sequences, demonstrating how little is still known about the Jedi and their practices. It was also interesting to note that Mace Windu's spread-fingers-type gesture from The Phantom Menace appears to be in fact some kind of universal Jedi sign of departure; all very intriguing.

My hat goes off to [writer] Tim Truman for resolving the problem of what exactly Mace's lightsaber looks like, Darth Maul-esque or otherwise. It's also interesting to note who Truman chose to be Mace's partner in the exchange of sabers, Eeth Koth the Zabrak. As well, the implications of this choice are worth pointing out: in the SW fan community, there are two theories about Darth Maul that surrounds both of these Jedi Council members. The first concerns Eeth Koth and that he and Maul are of the same race of people, this coming from David West Reynolds nixed backstory for Maul; having the Darth Maul-like saber actually belong to Eeth Koth would strengthen the similarities between him and Maul. The other theory stems from the deliberate change of Mace's lightsaber in the Episode I Visual Dictionary from a more non-descript version to the Sith one Maul wielded, as well as the lore printed on Mace's Pepsi can [Sweet Jesus--ed., 2007] that states that he "sees darkness where others see only light," and the packaging of the Hasbro toy that states that he is well aware of the threat the Sith represent -- while the latter two statements don't amount to too much on their own, when coupled with his Sith-like lightsaber, the impression is that he may be much more closely associated with the Sith than anyone suspects. Thus, Mace retaining this saber in the comic will likely perpetuate this idea. (Incidentally, the Mace Windu action figure offers a third version of what his saber looks like, different from either of those seen in the comic).

The "Dark Woman" is once again written beautifully, with only enough information conveyed about her to make her even more enticing. I mean, by the Colossal head of T'unto, what's her name even?! (By the way, these Cerean jokes are killing me). Her "unorthodox" teaching methods were a welcome departure from what I expected. I was shocked at her becoming so aggressive and downright nasty ("Ignorant savage!") with A'sharad. And is that her walking through walls in the story? I'm not sure how I feel about what that says about how the Force can be used, but it seems appropriate for the character.

I have to admit that I wasn't particularly big on the idea of Aurra Sing becoming the so-called Boba Fett of the prequel era, but Truman has really made her distinct from the average, chump bounty hunter, and after reading the exchange between Ki-Adi-Mundi and the Dark Woman concerning Aurra, I think I may have changed my tune. That she defeated Sharad Hett is particularly impressive, though I'll have to wait until SW #12 comes out before I know if she's deserving of this admiration due to her actions, or if it's just an effect of simply hearing about the event second-hand and thus taking on a sort of distant -- and unwarranted -- grandeur. That the Dark Woman is her teacher is absolutely fitting, however, and for now all these factors are shaping Aurra up as a force to be reckoned with. There was something about Aurra and that encounter with [A'Sharad's father] Sharad on Tatooine that wasn't quite clear, though, in Ki-Adi's relation of the event to the Dark Woman; Ki is talking about how Aurra kills Jedi, and then he states: "But she didn't get Sharad Hett's! . . . And I pity her if she comes to claim it a second time!" Aurra Sing didn't get Sharad's what, exactly? His lightsaber? I'm sure SW #12 will clear up that question, but this line of dialogue is regardless rather non-sequitur and incoherent in its current form.

Also, the Jedi Council's gung-ho attitude leaves me with some questions. First, is it typical for half the council to go on missions like this? It seems a bit extreme to send six of the most capable Jedi in the galaxy to oversee a peace conference. And what happens to the council in the absence of these Masters? Are there back-ups that fill-in during the intermission? This is all of course of secondary relevance, especially since I'm so excited to see the Jedi Council members in action, whatever the pretext.

Something that did bother me a bit, however, was Yoda's backward-talk; it really isn't necessary to reverse the structure of every sentence Yoda speaks. In the films, Yoda has several undistorted lines of dialogue ("I cannot teach him," "The boy has no patience," "Remember your failure at the cave," just to name a few). Part of what makes Yoda sound wise as opposed to just silly, are the syntactically familiar lines of dialogue mixed in with those altered phrases. [This has really always been a pet peeve of mine when it comes to depictions of Yoda outside the films, and something I've been meaning to blog about. Believe that it took every fiber in my body to remain calm while I wrote the following sentence here--ed., 2007] At the very least, I would like to see "With you, may the Force be" changed to the familiar version, since Yoda did after all say it normally in TPM. [They didn't change it. --ed., 2007].

The Anakin cameo was a nice touch, though more than anything I would like to see him and Obi-Wan get a much larger slice of the action in this on-going series. I can only assume Dark Horse is restricted from doing so at this time. Still, if that can't be done, I would really like to see Dark Horse make an effort to bring in characters and objects established in other Expanded Universe sources as being around during this era. I'm talking about characters like Jedi Masters Ranik Solusar (Dark Empire II), Rahn (Dark Forces graphic albums and Jedi Knight PC game), and Jorus C'baoth, Dreadnaughts and holocrons. [To Dark Horse's credit, those last two actually ended up making prominent appearances in their Clone Wars comics coverage--ed., 2007]. Back to Anakin's cameo, though, I noticed that Ki calls him as "Padawan" at one point. Is this then a term used by all Jedi to refer to any Knight-in-training? I thought it was a strictly relative term (i.e. "Padawan" is used only between a Jedi teacher and his or her student in the same sense that only a parent generally uses the term "son" or "daughter" with their children. I wouldn't say to my friend's child, "How are you, daughter?")

In the cover letter to the preview, I was very happy and impressed to hear that DH had worked very closely with the LucasArts Racer [video game] team to get all the particulars of Malastare correct. In my Racer guide [D'oh!--ed., 2007], Malastare is described as "an arid dustbowl" and by Ki's comment to A'sharad ("I hear it's quite warm [on Malastare].") I assume it will [be] depicted as such in the next issue. However, note that the Episode I Visual Dictionary, pg. 52 [D'oh! D'oh!--ed., 2007], states that Dugs like Sebulba hail from Malastare, which is described as a "high-gravity planet," and that Dugs are "arboreal," implying that there have to at least be trees somewhere on the world, and enough that an entire indigenous species such as the Dugs could evolve to look the way they do.

I'm not really an art critic, so what I can say about that subject is limited. Suffice to say that the characters are depicted faithfully to their film counterparts. Also, the heavy use of black for the Dark Woman was appropriate, and I loved little details like the dewback or Krayt teeth hanging from strands at the bottom of A'sharad's lightsaber on the first page. And speaking of lightsabers, just for future reference, the colors of Mace's and Adi Gallia's sabers in the Hasbro line-up are blue and red, respectively. [I debated saying this one folks. I really, really did...--ed., 2007].

Overall, and even down to the nitty-grit, "Emissaries to Malastare" is starting off fantastic. While there are a few details to hash out, this pales by comparison to what has been done correctly. The work succeeds at being highly entertaining and enticing, and I highly anticipate its release at comic stores, not to mention its subsequent issues. I'm glad I had this opportunity to comment on an early copy of a Star Wars comic, and I hope to be able to do so again in the future.

Sincerely,

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Abel G. Pena
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ATHAxPRIME@aol.com


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