Star Wars #25 Infinity's End 3 (of 4) Scripting: Pat Mills Pencilling: Ram?n F. Bachs Inking: Raul Fernandez Coloring: Dave McCaig Lettering: Vickie Williams Cover: Andrew Robinson, Matt Hollingsworth Released: 12/27/2000 Reviewed by: JF Boivin (12/23/2009) SUMMARY: Quinlan Vos was attacked by Zalem's daughter Ros Lai, but their confrontation is interrupted by witches Vonya, Leela and Yani who are surprised by Ros' new appearance. Ros refuses to join the witch clan, choosing instead to defy her own mother who has shown only hatred and cruelty towards her. After a confrontation with Vonya, Ros is then approached by Quin who needs her as an ally to stop Zalem but Ros wants to take her own personal revenge. Quin is now revealed to be a Jedi and the witches of Zalem's clan capture and torture him by injecting artery worms in his veins. Meanwhile, Quin's friend Yag Shushin infiltrates the subterine hangar and gets inside his old star cruiser, only to find Ros Lai sitting in the cockpit. She offers to rescue Quin if Yag agrees to pilot the ship. Surfacing inside the witches' tent, Ros and Yag manage to rescue Quin and go back underground but Zalem sends Vonya after them in another ship to destroy them.

[final cover] [preview cover]

THE STORY

It's all about a struggle for control of the Infinity Gate. We see another one of those (now a regular thing) one-page Coruscant interludes where Mace Windu reveals to Saesee Tiin that the infinity wave that absorbed the planet Ova (in issue #1) is growing, preventing all navigation through that quadrant of space and thus a rescue of their fellow Jedi on Dathomir. So the clock is now ticking, and Quin doesn't even know how important his mission to stop Zalem is becoming. The cliffhanger from last issue, which left Quin being Force choked by Ros Lai, is kind of a cheat because they are immediately interrupted by the three witches and after defeating them Ros Lai doesn't continue her attack on Quin. She only refuses to join forces, but she changes her mind pretty quick because in the next scene we see her exactly where Quin wanted to take her inthe first place: inside a stolen subterine.

Quin wants to disable the Inifinty Gate, and Ros wants to take control of it and of the witch clan. They don't really see eye-to-eye but Quin doesn't really have a choice at the moment with artery worms racing to his heart. Thankfully, Ros feeds him her own blood which should get rid of the worms (!?!) For now, they have the same goal, which is to head toward the Infinity Gate and hopefully succeed where Zalem has failed and find a way inside. Quin has the advantage (as we found out last issue and are reminded here) of having become one of the temple's guardians since her slew one of them. That might give him some insight.

Side note: this month's Horsepower column (on the inside back cover of this issue) spotlights two international Star Wars artists: this series' Ramon F. Bachs from Spain, and Italy's David? Fabbri who worked on Jedi Council: Acts of War and will be the artist on this series' next story arc "The Hunt for Aurra Sing". It's nice to learn about these two talented artists' backgrounds. And the self-portraits are cool.

THE ART

Bachs is pretty good with action sequences, and this issue has a few more. First there is the fight between Ros Lai and Vonya where heavy use of the Force is involved. A more physical type of fight is when Zalem sends a patrol to hunt down Quin. But that one is pretty short as Quin is outnumbered. The rescue scene is pretty subdued, as Ros Lai only goes in, picks up Quin, and walks out without a physical fight. The artist is also equally skilled with starship fights, as proves the final scene with the ships flying underground (which I find kind of weird that there is that huge open space below the surface of Dathomir). As with previous issues, the art also helps to carry the story with characters' facial expressions and cool little details (like Vonya holding Quin's lightsaber after the witches subdue him). Pretty impressive stuff, but still not a realistic style.

CONCLUSIONS

Will Quin finally complete his mission?

Rating: 6.5 / 10