While Grappa's pirates turn up the heat on the Rebel cargo routes,
the Interim Council sinks to unprecedented depths under the
leadership of Xandel Carivus. Mirith Sinn finds herself the victim of
the greatest deception of all when an old "comrade" finds her amidst
Grappa's thugs. Meanwhile, where has Kir Kanos gotten himself
to?
Reviewed 12/30/98
Story
The rehashed story elements that annoy me so much about this series continue.
This new Hutt not only has a little monkey-lizard sidekick theoretically
providing comic relief, but his lair in inhabited by zealots who lurk around
in the shadows performing rituals. There's yet another man in a costume trying
to seize control of the Empire. * sigh *
On the upside, when I suspend disbelief on the story premises I don't care
for, the plot of this issue is slightly better than the last issue (which was
slightly better than the first issue). It hasn't reached the point where I
find reading the book a positive experience, but the general trend is in the
right direction.
The characters themselves remain uniteresting to me, but there were a few
glimmers of hope. It was nice to see Carivus clean house on the council, thus
hinting that his master's plan might possibly be more involved than just
killing everyone like a 'B' horror movie. Carivus realizes that as a pawn he
may be sacrificed and Sinn's attempt to save her friend gives her the first
sign of reasonable motivation.
Art
Aside from Gulacy's style (his artistic style and I have agreed to disagree so
that we can both move on with our lives), the over-used SW cliche choices in
the art are getting on my nerves. This Hutt palace is like one of those Star
Trek: Deep Space Nine parallel universes to Jabba's. The species composition
and count is virtually the same as at Jabba's, though the occational being has
swapped roles with another.
This is conceivably forgivable, but then why do these beings have to be
wearing the exact same outfit as their Tatooine counterparts? Sure, we see
identically dressed Rodians in the films, but do we have to repeat that budget
limitation here? Are humans the only ones who haven't adopted a species-wide
uniform?
What's the deal on the Tuskin Raider walking by?
If you can accept the style and the subjects chosen, I'd say the art is
improving as well. Certainly the color work on this series has been great the
whole time.
Conclusions
Basically the same as last month: there is improvement here, but the fatal
flaws remain.
5.5/10. Not recommended.
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