How to make yourself finally commit to going through all the omnibuses of a comic you’ve really wanted to read: do a project! I’m glad that I finally went through these because it was definitely a treat! But hey… there are two more story arcs to talk about!

Demon
Script by John Jackson Miller, Art by Brian Ching, Colors by Michael Atiyeh, Lettering by Michael Heisler

A lot happens in this arc. Like… A LOT. Or rather… maybe it would be more appropriate to say that we learn about a hell of a lot in this arc. Demon, despite not being the actual last arc in these omnibuses, was the last arc in the original KOTOR comic run which lasted 50 issues. If you know comics, you know that’s a solidly respectable run especially for something that’s not creator owned.

All of this, however, is beside the point. It turns out that Rohlan has actually been Demagol since Flashpoint and Demagol is actually Antos Wyrick (aka one of the teachers at the school Jarael attended before she was captured) and the REAL Rohlan has been in a coma in the custody of the Republic who believe that he’s Demagol. Everyone still with me? Good because there were a few minutes while reading where even I got lost. I knew there wasn’t something quite right about Rohlan though! I just knew it. He was too creepy even amongst the other creepy men in Jarael’s life. (I’M LOOKING AT YOU, DARTH SQUIGGLYPANTS.)

This arc does highlight one of the problems I’ve had with this comic though and, to be fair, it’s a problem that I’ve had with a lot of Star Wars from the older years. It needed more women. The major female characters have all been important because who they’re related to and while I still really enjoyed the book, it did bum me out a little. I still really liked Jarael though and I LOVE that it turns out that she’s a badass entirely in her own right and not because of the Force. The Capable Ladies are the actual best in the Galaxy Far, Far Away.

The best part of this arc is that Gryph ends up getting his restaurant. It’s just such a perfect ending for him and it makes me happy. (They got statues, folks. THEY GOT STATUES.)

I’d be bummed that this was the last arc (although certainly a very good ending to the overarching story) but wait there’s more!

War
Script by John Jackson Miller, Pencils by Andrea Mutti, Inks by Pierluigi, Colors by Michael Atiyeh, Lettering by Michael Heisler

War is basically exactly what you’d expect from a follow up limited series set after the main story has concluded. It’s not great but it’s not bad. It’s fine. JJM gets to play with Mandalorian culture a heck of a lot more and he actually deals with one of the things I love the most about them: adopted family. I always loved how the Mandalorians don’t care about who you are or where you come from. Everyone can become a part of the mando’ade. It’s all just so good. This is why I love the Mandalorians, by the way. Not because of Boba Fett but because of the sweet armor and the culture.

We also get to see some Jedi Mandalorians and it’s honestly a very disturbing concept. You’d think I’d be fine with it since I’m such a fan of Clan Skiarta but nope. This is unsettling. Kace is completely off his rocker and I’m glad he got his comeuppance at the end.

It’s nice to see that some things never change with Zayne… aka he has the worst luck of all time. That poor boy. He quit the Jedi Order but still managed to get drafted to fight the war. It’s a bummer that we don’t get the rest of the book’s supporting cast in this series. Gryph and Jarael were such integral parts of the story and only seeing them for a few moments is such a bummer. That said, I can imagine that this story was well received by those who were really missing the comic in the months since they’d last gotten a taste of KOTOR.

Despite what I said about being just okay with the War arc, I definitely recommend Knights of the Old Republic for Star Wars fans who want to enjoy a good story outside of the film arena…but you already knew that, didn’t you?

And that’s it for the comics! It’s definitely been a really fun ride and I’ve enjoyed getting to experience and re-experience these comics by John Jackson Miller. Next up… the games! We’ll be taking a little break though and posts will resume in January. I’ll be looking into a Twitch channel to livestream my gameplay. You can follow my progress on Twitter at @chaosbria or via the hashtag #HKExcursion and I’ll definitely tweet any Twitch links there. Until 2017!