Star Wars: Darth Maul collects the 5 issue mini-series of the same name written by Cullen Bunn with art by Luke Ross. It was published on September 19, 2017.
Synopsis
Darth Sidious gives Darth Maul a stern talking to.
Darth Maul has spent most of his life being trained by his master Darth Sidious. He chafes under his master’s yoke, desiring nothing more than to unleash his fury on the despised Jedi who have forced the Sith into hiding. Sidious, however preaches patience and restraint until the time is right. While on a mission for his master, Maul learns that a Jedi padawan has been captured by criminals and will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Darth Maul decides that he will have this prize at any cost, so that he might test himself against a Jedi and know the satisfaction of taking the life of a hated enemy. To aid him he hires bounty hunters, including Cad Bane and Aurra Sing. After stealing the Jedi away from the highest bidder, Maul and his team find themselves marooned on a planet and hunted by the other bidders from the auction. While Bane and Sing arrange for another mode of transportation, Maul and the padawan, Eldra Kaitis, fight side by side against their common enemy. When the time comes they face off against each other. Eldra attempts to turn Maul away from the Dark, while Maul briefly entertains the idea of turning Eldra and making her his apprentice. Ultimately, they both remain true to their respective destinies as Jedi and Sith. Darth Maul gets his kill. When he returns to Coruscant, he finds Darth Sidious knows exactly what has transpired. Sidious is pleased when Maul confesses to him that this experience has not satisfied his lust for Jedi blood.
Review
Darth Maul being inconspicuous.
Star Wars: Darth Maul gives us the Darth Maul that we all know and love before his fateful encounter with Qui-gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. He is a force of nature, nearly unstoppable; a living weapon, forged and sharpened to a razor’s edge by the malevolent will of his master. He is a being who has barely known family, only his cruel master. He has barely known love, only discipline, training, and hate. He is a creature born of fear, he fears only his master and strives to make himself fear incarnate to everyone else. Darth Maul has always been something like the embodiment of the primal, emotional aspects of the Dark Side. Even after he is resurrected in The Clone Wars and shown in his final days on Rebels he remains a thing driven by hate and vengeance. These feelings drive him through this story. We see him, at the beginning, hunting Rathtars (real ones, not CGI!) to satisfy his bloodlust, but it doesn’t because all of his anger and his hate have been directed over the course of his life toward one target: the Jedi. When we see him stalking the Jedi from the shadows on the streets of Coruscant and carrying out his plan to kidnap the padawan for the purpose of killing her, it reminded me of a serial killer. He is willing to go to great risk, even at the cost of his life, to satisfy this need. He is driven by forces he is not fully conscious of; and when the thing is done, he finds his thirst for Jedi blood still unsatisfied. Maul is, in many ways, one of the most tragic characters in Star Wars. He’s a picture of the real tragedy of the Dark Side, that it is a bottomless pit in which no amount of power or revenge can lead to any kind of real fulfillment or satisfaction. His relationship with Palpatine is depicted throughout as one of manipulation and abuse; Maul has had his identity annihilated by the Sith Lord so that he could be remade into what he wanted him to be.
Maul and Edlra Kaitis face off.
Eldra Kaitis could have been little more than a sacrificial lamb in this story; the quintessential victim cowering in fear, on the run from her merciless adversary. One of the great strengths of this story is that she is not. Even when she comes to realize that he is Sith, she is not reduced to a state of abject terror. Right up to the end, Eldra is confident that she can best Maul, she even gives him a chance to turn from the Dark Side before they fight. As much as her confidence and strength make her stand out in this story, they also point to the truth behind the fall of the Jedi Order: a blindness to the real strength of the Sith. When she meets her end at the point of Maul’s blade, we see tears streaming from her eyes. I don’t think those are tears shed for herself; I think those tears are for all the other Jedi that she now realizes will be killed. An in depth look at a fan favorite character as well as a pretty well rounded adversary make this book more than worth the time and effort. Not only that, but sizable supporting roles are given to Aurra Sing and Cad Bane. Cad Bane rings pretty true to his depiction in The Clone Wars, with his air of laid back cold-blooded confidence. Luke Ross’s art is well suited to this story, the multiple action sequences are always coherently laid out and there is an abundance of details in the auction scenes where we see the interested parties gathered. Nolan Woodard’s colors are appropriately restrained, not too dark or monochromatic, but fitting.
Notes
Maul with other potential bidders, note Grakkus in the background.
Among those appearing at the auction: Grakkus the Hutt, Lom Pyke, and Hondo Ohnaka. They are seen, but do not have any speaking parts.
The two Jedi that Maul is seen stalking on Coruscant are Khaat Qiyn and her padawan Bairdon Jace. They also appear in the Geonosis arena in AOTC.
This story takes place sometime prior to TPM. It never says exactly when, but I’m under the impression that it is relatively soon. There is no mention of Darth Plagueis, but it’s possible he is still alive at this point.
There is a flashback wherein Sidious takes a younger Maul to Malachor so that he can bear witness to the destruction of the Sith by the Jedi that took place there. Sidious throws some ashes in his face and Maul begins to experience the slaughter first hand.
Also included in this volume is a mini comic back up story called Probe Droid Problem by Chris Eliopoulos and Jordie Bellaire, originally included in issue 1. It’s about one of Maul’s probe droids that was deployed on Tatooine during The Phantom Menace. It is unrelated to the main story.
Comic Pack Wish List:
Comic pack action figure wish list: We never see Maul in anything other than his normal black outfit in this, which is a shame. Eldra Kaitis would definitely be a good choice.
Score:
A very exciting and satisfying story with art that really gets the job done: 4 Skulls.
