Dark Force Rising #4 (of 6)

Story: Mike Baron (adapted from Timothy Zahn)
Pencils: Terry Dodson
Inks: Kevin Nowlan
Color: Pamela Rambo

Mara Jade offers the Katana fleet to Thrawn, who follows her to Karrde. Mara goes to Luke for help. Reviewed 09/10/97 Story Two words: Mara Jade. She's my favorite SW character (movie or not) and here she's front and centre for the entire issue. We are now officially into the "good stuff" from the Zahn trilogy. As a Jade fanatic, I give Dark Horse credit for doing a good job of writing this complex character. There are a lot of characters (most not from the film) who come into play in this issue and the ability to keep the many threads straight is admirable. There's a comment in the lettercol implying that an adaptation is less effort than an original comic since "the writer is more of an editor". This statement bothered me because I know the opposite is true having done a few adaptation comics myself. I hope no one out there believes this. Art I complained about the depiction of Mara after issue #1. If felt she looked far more American than in HTTE. Overall, she's handled much more to my liking in this issue. There's nothing spectacular about the art, but I have no complaints either. The cover is cool! Request Dark Horse, when can I expect a Mara Jade series? They can be set as the 'Emperor's Hand' (the TIE Fighter game shows that the Imps can be the stars every now and again) or post-ROTJ. You could adapt the Zahn story of her meeting with Karrde or her roles in 'Tales from Jabba's Palace'... just for starters. Summary Continued improvement as we go along. Mara alone is worth the price of admission. 8.5/10. Recommended.
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