The Awful Adventures of Zayne Carrick continue and, well, we actually get a really neat mixture of stories and character backstories. I might be doing this whole thing backwards though because I’m pretty sure I wrote the most about the shortest arc this time around. Oh well?
On with the KOTOR!
Homecoming
Script by John Jackson Miller, Art by Brian Ching, Colors by Michael Atiyeh, Lettering by Michael Heisler
Homecoming is really the only thing that this standalone issue could have been called. Lucien and the other Masters return to Coruscant to report back to both the Jedi Council and their manipulators: Lucien’s own mother (Krynda) and Haazen (a failed padawan.) We get a hell of a lot of backstory and our very first encounter with the person who will become Revan!
Given how much I love Revan, we’ll start with her even though I should probably use the pronoun they. Wisely, Miller and Ching don’t show us any defining physical traits of Revan so it could be literally anyone under that brown cloak and I LOVE IT. While I’m a strong supporter of Lady Revan, I love that the creators kept it purposely ambiguous so that you can easily imagine your own Revan in this scene. Just like with Malak in the previous arc, we’re getting the first hints of how they’ll soon lose all patience with the Jedi Council and just run off to war.
This issue does a ton to humanize Lucien as a character and expand on how different this version of the Jedi Order is. It seems as if that pesky attachment clause wasn’t so enforced back in the day and neither was the insistence on strict training rules. Krynda seems to have stepped away from the Jedi Order in the wake of her husband’s (?) death and after she failed to See the rise of Exar Kun. The Jedi sent a group of young Seers to her for training and Lucien appears to have never properly been trained by the Order. It’s definitely something that would never have happened under Yoda’s watch. It’s also a little clearer why Lucien is so intent on doing everything (in his mind) right because it’s like he always has to prove himself. This definitely goes a ways towards making him feel like a more complete person and not just some crazy guy who killed padawans.
Honestly, every thing about this issue is cool and I think it may be one of the strongest thus far. I wasn’t very interested in the murder happy masters before but now I’m definitely more intrigued.
Reunion
Script by John Jackson Miller, Art by Brian Ching and Harvey Tolibao, Colors by Michael Atiyeh, Lettering by Michael Heisler
Okay, so I probably should have seen that one coming. Zayne and his gang of misfits travel to the most amazing banking world ever in order to try and get Gryph’s account unlocked. It turns out that their assigned banker is actually Zayne’s dad and… oh yeah. He gets kidnapped by the most inept Ithorians ever. Zayne, buddy? Please don’t ever give me your luck. It kinda sucks.
As bounty hunters, the Moomo brothers are pretty terrible. They argue about how only one of them is smart but honestly, they’re both pretty dumb. Y’all had ONE JOB. Watch Arvan Carrick but noooo they had to go for the snatch and grab. It’s no wonder there’s an entire page of Master Raana screaming at them.
It’s so incredibly sweet that Zayne’s family has so much faith in him. I audibly awwwed when Arvan said he didn’t need to ask Zayne if he’d really murdered those padawans and that he must’ve had a good reason if he had. The Carricks are Such Good People and I love them. I’m glad that Zayne sent them to Dantooine. Hopefully they’ll be safe there up until… wait, I’m getting ahead of myself here. #SaveTheGoodEggs
Days of Fear
Script by John Jackson Miller, Art by Dustin Weaver and Brian Ching, Colors by Michael Atiyeh, Lettering by Michael Heisler
Why helloooooo what have we here? It’s my boyfriend, Carth Onasi. *swoons*
Look, when it comes KOTOR, I know what I’m about and what I’m most definitely about is Carth Onasi. And also Revan. And HK-47. But a heck of a lot of Carth. Carth is written pretty much perfectly here which makes me endlessly happy. I love how committed he is to doing the right thing especially in contrast to Saul Karath who is just the biggest jerk to ever jerk. Ugh. (Karath Sucks, pass it on.) But back to Carth: I love that while he plays by the rules, he’s okay with bending them a little when he thinks it’s for the best. Carth Onasi, you are too good for this galaxy and also too pure. I can’t handle it. This is just such the perfect introduction to younger Carth.
I adore the artwork in this arc mostly because of how Dustin Weaver can lay out a page. There’s a sequence early on where Zayne and Jarael are fighting and the panel structure is just fantastic and incredibly dynamic. It helps really elevate the entire bit. Speaking of that fight, I haven’t given Jarael and Camper nearly enough love. They’re awesome characters and I love the bracers that Camper made for Zayne.
The one thing in this arc that made me tilt my head a little was when Alek referred to Revan as his Master. The Wook tells me that Alek just thinks of Revan as his honorary master when they’re both still Jedi but it just comes off as being so weird here in context. I always loved the vague backstory of them being best friends as padawans together so to see them already in this sort of mindset prior to their fall to the dark side just feels off. In the grand scheme of things, that’s a relatively minor issue.
Nights of Anger
Script by John Jackson Miller, Art by Brian Ching and Harvey Tolibao, Colors by Michael Atiyeh, Lettering by Michael Heisler
It’s rather weird that these two arcs are differentiated into, well, two arcs. Days of Fear focuses more on Zayne and Nights of Anger focuses more on Jarael but they appear in both and it’s all really just one big story. That’s probably why they have matching arc names.
In other news, I’m just realizing that there is a planet called Arkanis and a planet called Arkania in the Star Wars universe. This seems mildly silly.
Admittedly, this part of the story wasn’t quite as engaging to me as the previous part but that uhhh might have a lot to do with Carth not being in it as much. I do rather like what they do here though. Not only does Rohlan finally get a chance to reemerge but we learn more about Camper and Jarael. It’s the first time that we really get to focus on them and I’m really interested to learn more about their backstories. I’m also interested to see if we get to learn more about Arkania and its divided people. Honestly, who doesn’t love a good old fashion racist alien species??? (Okay so yes obviously they are terrible but it’s such a classic trope that works.)
Zayne has a fun moment or two in this arc and the cliffhanger with the giant worm things? Yeah, that’s not going to go well for anyone. I can just tell. And I don’t have nearly as much to say about this arc. Sorry?
Hey, that was fast! We’re already at the end of the very first omnibus! You can follow my progress on Twitter at @chaosbria or via the hashtag #HKExcursion. I’m working on actually tweeting more. I promise.
