Legacy #35 Storms Part 2 Story: John Ostrander, Jan Duursema Script: John Ostrander Pencilling: Jan Duursema Inking: Dan Parsons Coloring: Brad Anderson Lettering: Michael Heisler Cover: Jan Duursema, Brad Anderson Released: 04/29/2009 Reviewed by: JF Boivin (10/02/2009) SUMMARY: When Roan Fel learns about Krayt's downfall, he prepares to attack the Sith while they are vulnerable without their leader. Meanwhile, Cade is thrown out of his uncle's compound after making his aunt Droo heal Azlyn Rae despite her unwillingness to live. The Imperial Knight is now encased in a life-sustaining armor and curses Cade for it. The crew of the Mynock leave Kiffex without looking back.

[final cover] [preview cover]

THE STORY

The first two pages updates us on the status of the two major Imperial worlds in the wake of the Battle of Had Abaddon. On Coruscant, Darth Wyyrlock returns with Krayt's four closest Darths (Stryfe, Talon, Maladi and Nihl). Their arrival is witnessed by Moffs Morlish Veed and Nyna Calixte, whose contacts revealed that Darth Krayt is in recovering stasis on Korriban. Veed then orders Calixte to find out more. On Bastion, Emperor Roan Fel learns the same thing from a debriefing by Imperial Knights Antares Draco and Banner Krieg (who witnessed Krayt's defeat first hand in issue #31). Master Sigel Dare is also there, and Fel sends her to retrieve Master Treis Sinde from Dac (last seen in issues #32-33 "Fight Another Day"), while Krieg is to go find Azlyn Rae and Draco to get intel about the situation on Corsucant. Later Fel receives a holo communication from a mysterious figure who seems to know a lot. Fel suspects that Wyyrlock might be hiding Krayt's death for his own ends, but either way now is a good time to attack the Sith from within while they are vulnerable. Fel also confides that he dares not risk the lives of his people by sending them to Korriban and make sure of Krayt's fate.

Last issue, Cade decided to go out on the town Jariah Syn while Azlyn was being healed on Kiffex. Now we find them in a full-blown brawl against a gang called the Uggli Brothers who don't like that Cade cheated at Sabacc. A trio of Kiffu Guardians, including Cade's own young cousin Ahnah Rawk who is now a Provisional, attempt to stop the fight but Cade takes them on as well. When it comes to a showdown between Ahnah, who is doing her duty, and Cade, who's not backing down, Jariah has to intercede and convince Cade to avoid doing something stupid he might regret later. Jariah then kisses Ahnah and uses the distraction to inject her with some sedative. The pair hope to make it back to Bantha Rawk's compound and leave the planet before she wakes up.

When they get there, the inevitable confrontation between Cade and bionic Azlyn happens. She is quite upset that she now has to live her life encased in a mechanical suit while she would have preferred to die in peace. Aunt Droo is also unhappy that Cade lied to her about Azlyn's willingness to be healed and made her break a sacred healer rule. Bantha gives Cade and his crew two days to finish repairs on the Mynock and leave, never to come back. At that time, Cade regrets that he keeps putting his aunt and uncle in trouble and hurt, and maybe it's better if he doesn't care for anybody. They leave without saying goodbye. Meanwhile, Banner Krieg finds Azlyn at the Sheyf Zharia's palace on Kiffex and tells her she is to come back to Bastion with him.

I like this second part better than the first one. A few issues are resolved, and we see some of the background machinations of Roan Fel. I think that some of the scenes are stretched to lenghten the story (as in the last issue), mostly with the cantina brawl but then it spotlights Duursema's amazing talent for action scenes. Overall, this two-part story mostly feels like a transition story between two main stories, with all the healings, repairs and debriefings. But we need some of those once in a while to learn more about the main players, and Ostrander does a good job of consistantly developping the characters' personalities.

THE ART

The new feature, amidst Duursema's usual goodness, is certainly Azlyn's bio-armor. Strangely, the body armor looks almost exactly like an Imperial Knight armor (while it was designed for Kiffu Guardians), and the helmet is not really inspired in my opinion. It looks like a nanny droid face framed by a Classic Battlestar Galactica helmet. I hope this retro-look is intentional and they are planning to surprise us with even more changes to Azlyn's appearance in the future, but she certainly doesn't look as cool as other similarly-encased Humans such as Lumyia and Darth Vader. But she does look pretty nice on the cover. Aside from that, the Uggli Brothers gang members look pretty mean. There are various alien species such as Devaronian, Zabrak, Aqualish and Feeorin, with tons of scars, broken horns and disheveled looks and Duursema does a great job of making them look tough even though they act stupidly. Duursema's artwork is what appeals to me in this series, more so than most of the storylines.

CONCLUSIONS

Cade discovers what happenned to Azlyn, the plot thickens.

Rating: 7.5 / 10