Story: John Ostrander & Jan Duursema
Script: John Ostrander
Pencils: Jan Duursema
Inks: Dan Parsons
Colors: Wes Dzioba
Lettering: Michael Heisler
Cover: Jan Duursema
The Dark Side of the Force has descended on the Je’daii Order and the planet Tython. A Force Storm is building. One with a strength that has not been seen in 10,000 years, fueled by the dark side energies of the crashed Rakatan Empire ship and its lone survivor; the Force Hound Xesh.
Written by John Jackson Miller
Pencils by Andrea Mutti
Inks by Pierluigi Baldassini
Colors by Michael Atiyeh
Lettering by Michael Heisler
Cover Art by Benjamin Carré
From my experience, writing a good ending to a comic story arc is difficult, and I found the ending to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: War #5 to have this difficulty. John Jackson Miller and team wrap up all the loose ends, even slipping in commentary on why these comics are told in miniseries instead of ongoings, but it comes across anticlimactically.
Welcome to another installment of EUCantina’s opinion column, EU Action/Reaction! Twice per month, I tackle a specific Star Wars EU event that has garnered a significant reaction from Star Wars fans and offer my own view to further the discussion. Once you read the article, feel free to leave a comment and offer your own thoughts!
This week, I’ll discuss the resurrection of Darth Maul for The Clone Wars and why it was a cool idea.
Original Air Date: 3, 10, and 17 October 2008
Written by: Steven Melching
Directed by: Dave Filoni (Rising Malevolence); Brian Kalin O’Connell (Shadow of Malevolence and Destroy Malevolence).
Special Guests: Gwendoline Yeo (Nala Se), Olivia d’Abo (Luminara Unduli)
The first multi-episode arc of The Clone Wars was the Malevolence trilogy. It consisted of three episodes: Rising Malevolence (airing on 3 October 2008), Shadow of Malevolence (airing on 10 October 2008), and Destroy Malevolence (airing on 17 October 2008). In Rising Malevolence, a Republic battle group, led by Master Plo Koon, locates the new Separatist superweapon, the Malevolence. Grievous and Dooku use their weapon to destroy Plo’s fleet, and begin hunting the survivors, to ensure that the weapon’s location is not revealed. Anakin and Ahsoka take the Twilight to search for survivors, and they are able to recover Plo Koon and his troopers, obtain data on the Malevolence, and escape back to the Republic. It is revealed that the Malevolence is a massive ion cannon, which disables all systems aboard any enemy ships, allowing conventional weapons to destroy those ships much more easily. In Shadow of Malevolence, Anakin leads Shadow Squadron, a group of Y-Wing bombers, to destroy the Malevolence and kill General Grievous before it destroys a Republic medical station. They take a shortcut through a nebula infested with Neebrays; everyone makes it out alive, but it was a close call, and Anakin’s judgment is called into question. They arrive at the medical station moments before the Malevolence shows up. Anakin’s squadron takes heavy losses, and it appears that his mission will fail. At the last minute, Anakin orders the squadron to destroy the ion cannon instead of the bridge, saving the medical station and disabling the ship, but leaving Grievous alive. In Destroy Malevolence, Republic cruisers are hammering away at the Malevolence, and it looks like Grievous will lose the ship. Dooku arranges for Padmé and C-3PO to get captured by the Malevolence, for use as hostages so Grievous and the Malevolence can escape safely. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and R2 board the Separatist warship using the Twilight; Obi-Wan duels Grievous while Anakin rescues Padmé and sabotages the ship’s hyperdrive. As our heroes escape, the Malevolence flies directly into a moon, completely destroying it (though Grievous manages to escape).
