Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Luke Ross
Colors: Nolan Woodard
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Darth Maul is the latest of the Star Wars titles from Marvel. They’ve had a solid run with the other titles and this one looks like it’s no exception. Cullen Bunn doesn’t overdo it on the writing. He keeps good chunks of it sparse and let’s the art tell the story. The issue starts on Twon Ketee with men looking to flush out some prey as they were paid to do. Rathtars appear and Darth Maul does, too. He single-handily takes care of the pack and the story moves on to Coruscant.
Before we dig deeper, this comic does start with an opening crawl, which obviously can’t do much crawling. This is something that the Star Wars comics show in each issue of each of the new series. It’s a good jumping on point and let’s you know what it going on. Darth Maul is one of the most powerful members of the Sith order. He’s less than thrilled to take orders from Sidious, though. This leads to the main struggle in this issue. Maul is growing impatient and wants to go after the Jedi, while Sidious continues to order him to stay away.
Luke Ross and Nolan Woodard do an excellent job with displaying how much rage Darth Maul contains. The fight scenes are also good and show off Maul’s skill with or without a lightsaber. The art is solid and I look forward to what this creative team does with the character moving forward.
The story is well thought out and it shows in this first issue. It will only run as a five-issue miniseries, but there’s so much to work with when talking about Darth Maul. This issue easily grabs my attention and I can’t wait to see what this team does over the next four issues.
There’s a mini story at the end of this issue, in which Chris Elipoulos and Jordie Bellaire take over. They team up for a droid story that takes place during The Phantom Menace. It’s an instant break from the Darth Maul story and provides some comedic relief despite there being very few words. It’s a story of two droids becoming friends who aren’t R2-D2 and C-3PO.
Verdict: Buy. While I would recommend most (if not all) of the Star Wars titles, this is one you should definitely buy. You don’t need any of the previous titles for it and it’s a good jumping on point for Darth Maul as a character.
