Review
Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir #3
Script Jeremy Barlow
Pencils Juan Frigeri
Inks Mauro Vargas
Colors Wes Dzioba
Cover art Chris Scalf
Published by Dark Horse Comics
I really have to question the one who thought it was a good idea to reveal important plot points in the "happened in previous issue" -section, instead you know, in the actual comic itself? This time they actually spell it out, the thing I've been fearing and suspecting they would do since this comic started. More on that later...
Spoiler warning!
The cover is awesome as always, but it doesn't top the previous ones in my opinion. Inspecting the cover image closely it would appear that Maul isn't wearing any gloves yet his hand is colored all black when he is supposed to have red markings on his hands as well. I'm kinda bummed out they've dropped the ear stud Maul had in is left ear, it is only a minor thing and it has been done before, but still...
This issue starts on Coruscant with a conversation between a holo Mace Windu and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. The Republic has done some intel regarding the battle on Ord Mantell, surviving citizens have identified Count Dooku leading the battle against a red-skinned force wielder. Whoa, citizens? I thought the city the battle was fought in was all Black Sun stronghold, no regular folks wandering about? I say, those citizens must have been very keen-eyed to witness something that didn't actually happen. Did they not just show us in the previous issue how Maul was up in orbit fighting his way to Grievous to get the droid army shut down, while Dooku was on the ground searching for Maul and Talzin, butchering Nightbrothers until Maul's army captured him? Maul and Dooku never actually fought each other. (And no, this comic does not answer if any of the Nightbrothers survived.)
From the very first page I am confused, Palpatine asks "Could this be the "rogue Sith" you've been searching for?" I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Chancellor Palpatine has been informed at least twice before on who Maul is, although as he is Darth Sidious he is fully aware even more so than the Jedi about who Maul is, but as he is playing the role of Palpatine he just has to keep acting ignorant. What kind of question is that when you already know the damn answer? More baffling is that Mace Windu replies "If he is..." What do you mean if he is? You know he is! What the hell is the problem? The Jedi know that Dooku is a Sith, they know Maul is a Sith. The only thing that is unclear for the Jedi is who is the Sith master and who is the apprentice and that there is actually a third one.
Palpatine gives Windu his go ahead, do whatever it takes to get both Maul and Dooku captured. The scene switches from Coruscant to Mace Windu on Ord Mantell. So what did we learn from the first page? The Republic knows that the Separatist droid army and the Shadow Collective clashed at each other on Ord Mantell. Windu returns indoors to the other Jedi that are Kenobi, Secura and Tiplee. The first thing Windu asks is "What do we know, master Kenobi?" and they all seem puzzled about who the droids were fighting against, even though good ol' Mace here just finished a conversation on this exact same topic and knows the damn answer. They act like they wouldn't know who the enemy is until Aayla Secura brings a Mandalorian helmet before them. Kenobi knows Maul is in league with the Death Watch why are they acting so surprised? They even know Maul's group is called "the Shadow Collective" so they should know that also includes the Pykes and the Black Sun. What was the point with these pages having these characters confusing over "new" information they already should know about. Anyway, our jolly good guy's here check out a planetary map and Kenobi finds a Mandalorian supply outpost in an asteroid field and reckons that is were Maul could be hiding. Obi-Wan decides that he and Master Tiplee should go and investigate the outpost while for some reason Secura and Windu stay behind because Windu suddenly thinks that it is more important to defend Mandalore against a (not) incoming Separatist attack than this witch-hunt for Maul.Meanwhile, at the said outpost, Maul has phoned the not-so-pleased-Sidious and is showcasing his prisoners Count Dooku and General Grievous, both hanging their heads in shame. Darth Sidious disregards all of Maul's insolence and simply asks what his demands are. Oh, but Maul himself doesn't have any demands! He is still doing all of this for his dear Mommy Talzin! Maul has a short outburst about Sidious using people like him and Talzin and then throwing them away when they are no longer useful. And how he is going to do the same with Dooku and Grievous. Aww, touching. It is almost like he cared what happens to those two. That doesn't answer though what Talzin's demands are. Revenge is my bet, its always about revenge. Having his demands question unanswered, increasingly irritated Sidious encourages Maul to kill the duo as they are useless to him now. Yes!! Do it, Maul! Do it! Change the future of the galaxy!!
Does Maul kill them? Well, no. He kinda threatens he will do so but doesn't do it in the end. What is this? Apparently reverse psychology is super effective against Maul. Or wait, let me guess, killing them would be against Mother Talzin's plan? -_- Whatever the reason Maul doesn't kill them and hangs up on Sidious. Rightfully so, Kast, the female Mandalorian asks what they should do with the prisoners. Maul orders to take the monstrosity by which he means Grievous back to his cell and leave Dooku and him alone so that they may discuss further. Grievous and Dooku, who have both been silent for the whole time during the Sidious/Maul confrontation finally speak up. As Grievous is being escorted away by Kast and Saxon he turns around and tells Dooku how unfortunate it would be if he had to add the Count's lightsaber to his collection if he were to turn sides. Dooku replies "We all have our parts to play, General...I look froward to our next encounter." Smells like a plot twist. Perhaps they allowed themselves to be captured, to get closer to Mother Talzin, who is still Sidious' primary target?
Back with Kenobi and Tiplee, who are still making their way to the outpost. Kenobi is having a sad moment reminisceing how his last meeting with Maul went, which of course ended with Duchess Satine getting killed right in front of him. Master Tiplee is concerned about the emotional turmoil he is going through, but Kenobi convinces her he has everything under control, he will not fail their mission. Commander Cody informs his Jedi generals that they've launched probes to the asteroid field and that their gunships are ready to be launched on their command.
Unknowing of the approaching Jedi, the two Sith apprentices continue their conversation. Maul believes Grievous would be of little use to him, but he is ready to make Dooku an offer (that he can't refuse). Maul wants Dooku to leave Sidious behind and serve him instead. Although I'm pretty sure serving Mother Talzin is what he actually meant. Dooku asks what hope does Maul think he has to stand against the Dark Lord. Maul answers with "Mother Talzin has shown me the real power -- I have seen the truth." and still tries to convince Dooku that by working together they can defeat Sidious. Yeah, I wonder if they're going to tell us what this "real power" and "the truth" is. Dooku is still reluctant to accept the offer and points out how Mother Talzin tried to kill him the last time they met, conveniently forgetting the fact that he sent the droid army to Dathomir first. Granted, Talzin did help Ventress who tried to kill him, but that was nothing personal and besides dude, you sent an army to massacre them all and how did Talzin fight back? With a freaking Voodoo doll! You would be dead if she hadn't been enjoying torturing you so much which bought Grievous enough time to find her. Clearly, Mother Talzin is the only one to blame for this mess!
Seemingly pointless for Maul to keep trying to convince the Count, Maul has the green mist version of Talzin chest burst out of him to do the talking. Talzin is ready to forgive Dooku because she knows he was only following Sidious' orders. Which isn't exactly true. Yes, Sidious did order the killing of Ventress, but whatever transpired from that was all Dooku's doing. Talzin speaks about her past with Sidious, how she was supposed to be Sidious' right hand (apprentice?), how he deceives, gives empty promises and then replaces you at the first opportunity. And here comes the big shocker!! Sidious stole something from her, something most dear to her, her own flesh and blood, her son!
I am shocked! Shocked! or I would be if they haven't spelled it right out on the second row in "happened in previous issue" -section at the very beginning of this comic! "Suspecting that Mother Talzin had come out of hiding to aid her son Darth Maul..." Kinda ruins the big reveal, don't you think? If this ever was planned to be one I don't know. If it was not planned it should have been. Up to this point, I think they kept it open, she could just have been bluffing with all that "my beloved son" talk throughout this time. And for the record, I still hope this would all be a lie. That Talzin would have lied to Maul about being his mother to have his loyalty because Maul could be viewed as her last hope getting back at Sidious/Dooku. Yeah, I still think a story could have been worked out about the grudge between Talzin and Dooku, we didn't necessarily need a Sidious/Talzin connection. The back story Maul had worked just fine. All this revelation does is f*ck up everything we were lead out to believe in. Enough of this, let's continue....
Count Dooku is more shocked about the reveal than the reader of this comic. Conveniently, Maul stays silent the whole time Talzin talks about his past because why not? Its not like anyone would be interested to know what going through his mind. Still Talzin keeps going on about what kind of douche bag Darth Sidious is. "When he was no longer useful, Maul was left to die." From a certain point of view perhaps, but otherwise not quite true. Maul didn't become useless to Sidious because he got cut in half, he became useless to Sidious because Sidious (and everyone else) thought Maul was DEAD. You can't leave someone to die, if you they are already DEAD. If you are believed to be DEAD you are pretty much useless to anyone. If Maul had managed to freaking crawl his way back to his master, for Sidious to witness what Kenobi did to him and what Sidious would have done with Maul after that would be another story. The only one here who left Maul to die is Mother Talzin herself, because she knew he was alive and did nothing about it. I bet her unconditional love for him only lasts as long he is useful to her. I don't buy this "beloved son" act.
Finally, Mother Talzin lays down her ultimatum to Dooku, join us or die!We don't get to hear Dooku's answer, because now were are momentarily back with Kenobi, who with his comrades are hurrying to their gunships. The probes have found the hidden base within the asteroid field. At the said base, (Talzin now gone) Commander Saxon runs up and tells Maul that the sh*t is about to hit the fan, Republic ships are approaching! While Maul is distracted by the news, Dooku takes the opportunity to use the force to mess with a nearby console, releasing General Grievous from his holding cell. Grievous doesn't waste any time escaping the base, killing any soldier that come across his path to the escape pod. Man, Grievous does not like getting caught and even less random Mandalorian troopers.
Kenobi's hopes of getting in the base unnoticed is shattered when the Gauntlet fighters are launched. Nevertheless, the gunship carrying the Jedi does manage to land inside the hangar. Kenobi senses Maul's presence and orders the clones not to let anyone escape the place (meanwhile, Grievous escapes).
Kast confirms that there are now two Jedi aboard the station. Maul asks Dooku one last time if he is going to help them or if he wishes to die? Despite how plentiful his options are Dooku agrees to go kill the Jedi together, and thus never actually promises to join them. Maul takes that as a "yes" and cuts off Dooku's handcuffs and hands Dooku his lightsaber back.
Still in the hangar, Kenobi and Tiplee are pressing on, fighting their way through Mandalorians, trying to get to the command center in search of Maul. Look no longer, because Maul and Dooku were kind enough to come to you. Not expecting Dooku to be present, Kenobi astonishingly makes the deduction that they must be working together. Maul agrees to this by saying "Of course. Only our shared hatred of you could be strong enough to unite us!". Not sure if he means by "you" Kenobi himself or the Jedi in general. I don't think Dooku has anything personal against Obi-Wan or does he? Not at least in the grand scale Maul does. Kenobi versus Maul, Tiplee versus Dooku is about to begin! But oh no! More gunships arrive and with them comes Aayla Secura and Mace Windu to ruin this party (why couldn't they come here with the others in the first place?). Mace addresses only Dooku and the Count in a very badass manner replies he is going to make sure that their deaths won't be remembered. Suddenly though, Maul forgets about Kenobi and turns to fight Secura and Windu. Proclaiming that finally he gets to have a fair fight! O_o I dunno Maul, last time you fought two Jedi alone, at the end, you kinda lost a few limbs. Be careful not loose those you have left! With Maul hogging the Twi'lek and the Jedi Grand Master to himself, that leaves Dooku dealing with Kenobi an Tiplee with some force lightning. It doesn't take too long before Darth Tyranus here force pulls master Tiplee towards him and impales her with his lightsaber, killing her. Horrified, Obi-wan yells out her name with tears in his eyes, unable to help her. Look on the bright side Kenobi, at least it wasn't Maul who killed her! Kinda sad tough, I liked the design of their species that Tiplee and her sister had. Too bad they both had to be killed so early.
Kast and Saxon arrive on the scene. Saxon orders Kast to take aim and shoot one of those nifty backpack rockets right there where Maul and the Jedi are fighting. Maul gets a warning though and is able to dodge it, but Aayla and Mace are caught in the explosion.I wonder if Maul gives these two enough of credit. Saxon seems to be the second-in-command and Kast never seems to leaves Maul's side for too long. Come on! How many times now has either of these two saved Maul skin by now? These two freed Maul from prison, Kast was there for him when they needed to retreat from the first battle with Grievous, Saxon (with the help from others) caught Dooku while Maul and Kast captured Grievous and now they are bailing him out again! I'm starting to think that maybe these two are actually his bodyguards trying to keep Maul from getting himself killed. With Secura and Windu unconscious and Kenobi tending over his now dead friend, the clones are unable to stop Maul and Dooku from escaping.
Maul didn't escape without some loss however, a big chunk of his Mandalorians got left behind, which raizes the question how big is the Death Watch anyway? These can't be just the Death Watch anymore, they must have been joined by other Mandalorians as well. It hasn't been stated how big the group was from the beginning, but he's gotta run out off those Mandalorians at some point. Maul had to retreat from the first battle with Grievous because his army was killed. Maul was loosing the second battle and his army actually surrendered until the point they got the droids shut down. Now the Republic has arrested a big number of his soldiers as well. How long will it be until Kast and Saxon are the only ones left?
Aayla and Mace finally wake up and Mace is approached by a clone who is carrying a holo message from Palpatine. Apparently the Chancellor has already learned of their failure to capture their targets. This doesn't seem to bother Mace Windu too much, he is more interested in the fact that they might have finally solved the mystery of who the Sith Master is! With Dooku and Maul working together there is only one conclusion they can draw. Palpatine points out if it were true, why would they have been fighting each other on Ord Mantell? A fact that leaves the Jedi Master puzzled. The Chancellor says he is sure the Jedi did all they could, but is still disappointed that they were unable to capture the two. Kinda funny to watch how Sidious as Palpatine has to keep this calm and friendly tone, while in truth he must be boiling up on the inside when things don't go as he planned. This issue ends with Palpatine/Sidious turning his back to Windu, gritting his teeth stating how this could prove to be a disastrous turn of events.What I liked:
+ Still the art.
+ Kast and Saxon
+ Badass Dooku
+ Angry Sidious
(+ Maul and Dooku working together, even if only temporarily)
What I didn't like
- "The big reveal"
- Confused Jedi are confusing
- The last of the wingheads died
- Maul, why u no kill anybody when u have the chance?!
To be concluded in the last issue: Darth Maul faces his former master!
What the plot feels like pt.3
P.S.
Soon it will be all over. How will it all end for Darth Maul? I'm still betting my money on his death, there is no way he is going to live through this. All I'm hoping for if he has to die is that it will be Sidious who kills him, not Dooku, not Grievous and especially not the Jedi (Kenobi). And if Talzin doesn't die along with him, I want to see her destroyed by his death, if he now supposedly is the most dear to her. Mourn him! If Talzin were to die first I do not wan't Maul to have a fit about her death. This is going to sound crazy but I'd rather have Maul going verbal on Sidious than actually fighting him, because we already know how that is going to end. Maul is going to loose no matter what. More dialog, less fighting or a good mix of those both. Not just a straight up fight. (And for the love of god, someone please mention Savage! He must have had some impact!)
Bonus: fanart inspired by this comic
