At the risk of repeating myself, damn is this some deliciously dark stuff! Star Wars: Legacy #17 is nothing if not a guilty pleasure, chock full of scheming, sex, and scintillating violence that may make you stop and examine the cover to be sure you are, in fact, reading something with the LucasBooks logo attached.

Cade Skywalker has been captured by the Sith Emperor Darth Krayt, and has agreed to learn the ways of the dark side in exchange for the life of his friends and former shipmates Jariah Syn and Deliah Blue. The last in the venerable Skywalker bloodline, Cade has strayed from the path of his elders and wantonly flirts with the dark path via his unique healing abilities as well as his devil-may-care attitude towards good, evil, and morality in general.

Part four of the six-issue 'Claws of the Dragon' arc, #17 takes us deep into the bowels of Cade's new home, the repurposed Jedi temple on Coruscant, now a Sith stronghold and littered with the remnants of the failed Yuuzhan Vong terraforming efforts of a generation past. In what is by now old news, Legacy's stunning panels are penned by the renowned Jan Duursema, who is clearly one of the top talents in contemporary comics. She shows us a Coruscant that is equal parts decaying bio-tech and big city sci-fi spectacle, dripping with detail and a curious mixture of old-school appeal and fresh charm. Similarly, her characters are so stunningly rendered that they almost seem three dimensional, particularly the sinewy Darth Talon (serving as the prototypical fan boy wet dream) and the roguish Cade who embodies the anti-Skywalker: a grinning ghoul, pierced, tattooed, and gleefully breaking with the nice guy tradition established by his forefathers.

Duursema also gets a story credit, while the bulk of the scripting chores are in the capable hands of Star Wars veteran John Ostrander. Its hard to offer any real insight into the plot without giving too much away, but suffice to say that Legacy devotees won't be disappointed, particularly when the master/apprentice relationship between Cade and Talon takes on a heretofore unseen level of intimacy. New readers may be in a bit over their heads, as the issue is definitely a bridge through the middle of a story arc, and thus has no real beginning or end. That said, the art alone makes it a must-buy for serious fans.

In addition to Skywalker and Talon, a veritable rogue's gallery of new heroes and villains takes center stage in Legacy. Chief among them is Morrigan Corde, a svelte assassin for hire with a mysterious past and an intense interest in Cade Skywalker's fate. New for this issue is Xoxaan, an ancient Sith Lord glimpsed in flashback and revealed to be Krayt's master. These and many other memorable characters will whet your appetite for future installments, as well as any back issues you may have missed.

There is so much going on in Legacy #17 that you'll likely read it a couple of times. If the first four parts are any indication, the 'Claws of the Dragon' arc is well on its way toward reaching the rarified air occupied by the very best Star Wars comics, on par with the original Dark Empire and Tales of the Jedi series. Run, don't walk, to your local comics outlet and grab a copy. You won't be disappointed.