Issue #8 of Knights of the Old Republic hit the shelves yesterday, which is as good a reason as any to dash off to your local shop. In addition to finally setting straight (more or less) the timeline for the beginning of the Mandalorian War against the Republic, it's jam-packed with cameo appearances, space action, and trivial bits (the more irritatingly trivial of which are now on the production notes page for the issue on my site).

One of the trivial notes I've saved for here, though, is one that only Star Wars fans can appreciate. A running gag has begun to take shape in the series, based on the poor luck Jedi seem to demonstrate in the movies when it comes to staying in one piece. Not counting Dooku (who loses something more important) there are quite a lot of limbs sacrificed to lightsabers -- you could almost build your own Jedi from all the spare parts!

And in our series, we'd already heard Lucien give the rationalization for the Jedi Covenant's actions in #5...

"If the hand endangers the limb, strike it off."

...and now, in #8, we have Zayne telling Elbee...

"It's just a hand, Elbee. We'll get you a new one."

I wasn't putting these things in intentionally, but looking in later issues' scripts I see I have a running gag here. I think I must have Episode VI Luke and his Michael Jackson glove (ask your parents) on the brain, or something.

It's probably an unfortunate thing to focus on, but I guess we should feel that it's a good thing that, at least in a galaxy far, far away, dismemberment isn't much of a medical emergency. (Again, unless you're Dooku...!)