Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir pt. 4

Review

Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir #4

Script Jeremy Barlow

Pencils Juan Frigeri

Inks Mauro Vargas

Colors Wes Dzioba

Cover art Chris Scalf

Published by Dark Horse Comics

This is it, the last issue, the one to bring the conclusion to Maul's story. At the end of the issue #3 review I wrote the following:

"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."

These were my hopes for the ending of this comic. After a a quick glance through the comic, it looks like there are no Jedi this time around. So that option can be ruled over. Now let's see how the actual ending plays out.....

Spoiler warning!

The cover. Darth Sidious is hurling force lightning towards Darth Maul and Mother Talzin, Maul is deflecting it with a double-bladed saber that has green blades constructed by Nightsister magics. Behind Maul stands Mother Talzin casting her equivalent of force lightning towards Sidious. This certainly looks epic, but does the comic live up to it's awesome cover?

This issue starts on board Maul's ship with a conversation between Maul, Ziton Moj and an unnamed Pyke leader via hologram. Seems like the Black Sun and the Pykes are getting tired of Maul and his "personal crusade" as Ziton Moj puts it. The two respective groups want the "greater profits" they were promised upon joining his cause. Ziton Moj continues by covering the losses of the Shadow Collective; Zanbar, Ord Mantell and the hidden asteroid outpost. That's funny, considering who owned these three named bases, it is clear that the Pykes have not lost as much as the others. Their only loss has been an X amount of soldiers (and all that goes with it) at the battle of Ord Mantell. To be fair, Ord Mantell was a Black Sun base, so loosing it and their soldiers must have been a fairly big blow on their group. But Zanbar and the asteroid base were Mandalorians' and not a single Pyke or Falleen were seen on the scene of these battles. So the biggest looser here by the count of bases and soldiers lost is the Mandalorians. I don't see them complaining, they still stand by Maul's side. Arguably though they are in it for the battles themselves and not for the credits. Still, you got to admire their devotion.
Understandably Maul gets irritated by their complaints but nonetheless promises they will be paid for their efforts, if its only credits they want, that's what they'll get. Maul then orders them to return to their respective sectors and prepare for their next move. Since no specifics were given about their current locations or their next destination I'm going to assume that Maul basically told them to go home and wait for him to tell them otherwise. Finally, before Maul ends the transmission he tells a Mandalorian, who I am assuming to be Commander Saxon to "Keep them in line." That's all fine and dandy, but how is poor Saxon supposed to be at two places at once? Like a trooper, Saxon complies and this is the last time we see him which is a complete waste of his character. Now Dooku, who has been keeping it quiet in the background mocks Maul about him loosing control over his own forces. However, Maul isn't falling for it and instead, Dooku gets gun aimed to the head by non other than Kast, who, thank goodness is still around. Not much to anyone's surprise, Maul points out that Dooku isn't fooling anyone, it is obvious that Sidious has ordered Dooku to play along with this so called alliance between them. Failing with his charade the unhappy count is presumably escorted to a nice, cozy cell by Kast and a random Mandalorian.

Fast forwarding, they arrive on Dathomir. This is only nitpicking but one can't help but to notice there is something off with how the planet of Dathomir looks like in this comic compared to TV- series. Observe:

They land close to the Nightbrother village, where they are greeted by three Nightbrothers and one of them is Brother Viscus! He survived! Maul asks if they are ready with the preparations and Viscus says that they are good to go. He also tells that Dooku is in for an experience that is going to be very different from the last time they met. At this point if not earlier, you have to wonder why are they keeping Dooku alive anyway? Okay, Maul and Dooku worked together to escape the Jedi and that's pretty much it. So now the Jedi think they are the master and the apprentice, but why bother to do that when this resolution doesn't lead anywhere? They both knew that their "alliance" was not going to hold, so what was the point of faking one? And for crying out loud Dooku is always just standing there! You could at least put some damn handcuffs on him so it would at least look like you're not letting him walk around freely! Maul has the Count's lightsaber, so Dooku is unarmed, outnumbered and has a blaster pointed at him all the time. Since when have those odds stopped any Jedi in the SW universe? Dooku, use the Force! Or is it that important to find Talzin? And why is Maul bringing him to Dathomir anyway? So that Talzin can personally kill Dooku, instead of, you know, letting Maul do it? I find these lack of answers disturbing.

Turning the page, the Zabraks and Dooku have entered a temple which Viscus describes as "the heart of Mother Talzin's power" and that Dooku will now "answer for his master's crimes against the Nightsisters". Yes, yes, we all know by now Dooku is completely innocent to everything that has happened. This is all the evil Sidious' fault.
Meanwhile Maul is standing in front of a big block of carved stone, places his hand on it and says a prayer, thus summoning Mother Talzin or at least her reflection appears on the stone and masses of green mist/energy starts oozing out of the rock.  The mist surrounds Dooku and latches on to him, causing seemingly great pain.

Let's just pause for a moment, because I'm (yet again) confused by the following exchange of lines;
Brother Viscus speaks first, directly to Dooku "...you are about to answer for your master's crimes against the Nightsisters."
Then Maul mumbles his prayer to Talzin, facing the rock monument "Diviner of truth, Deliverer of justice..."
After that Mother Talzin tells Dooku "My son is right, Count...."
Wait, so who is right? Viscus telling Dooku he is going to pay or Maul calling her deliverer of justice? Which one is it!? Maybe it just me, but it makes more sense that Talzin would refer to something that was spoken directly to Dooku than to something that was directed at her. Sooo....does this make Viscus Talzin's son too? Most likely I'm just reading this wrong, but what if...? Because why not, this comic has already thrown unnecessary connections between certain characters in our faces just because it can.

"You all are my children!"

Meanwhile, in orbit a Sith Infiltrator is closing in on Dathomir, and the ship's passengers are non other than Darth Sidious and General Grievous. Some idle words are exchanged until Sidious gives an order to cloak the ship and continue their approach.
Back at the temple, Dooku is now on the ground squirming in agony while Maul gives us the exposition about what the heck is happening to our Count. (Confusion is about to rein) Apparently Talzin is draining Dooku's life force so that she may fully take form. Umm.....okay. Up til this point in this comic series she has only appeared as a mist version chestbursting out of Maul and a moment ago as a reflection on the stone pillar. Not sure at what point she has managed to loose her physical body as weird as it sounds, I'll follow for now.
Viscus is sure Dooku won't live through the process and leaves with the two random Nightbrothers to ready Mother Talzin's chambers, leaving Maul alone with the downed Tyranus. "Mother will be whole soon, but the process could weaken her." is about the last thing Viscus say before leaving. I'm no expert for whatever is going on right now, but if she is draining Dooku shouldn't that make her stronger while Dooku is weakened? She's spending more energy than she gains? Okay, maybe I don't need to know how this works. What happens next?
Maul kneels down beside twitching Tyranus and further explains Mother Talzin's exploits.
"Mother sacrificed much of her own form to resurrect me. This is why you've been unable to detect her. For her, a complete and permanent return to the physical realm requires great sacrifice.Through your blood a new power will rise from the roots of Dathomir!"

I'm sorry but I have to call it bullsh*t right here. The first time Mother Talzin "dissolved" into the mist was the day the Nightsisters were wiped out by the droid army, which happened before was Maul even brought to Dathomir. When Savage Opress is looking for Maul she is briefly seen guiding him (telepathically?) from afar in her physical form. When Savage brings Spidey-Maul to Dathomir, she reappears to heal Maul and right after that disappears without saying a word to him. (Surely you would have something to say to your son you haven't seen in 10 years?) All this in season 4 of the Clone Wars. And then there is the Lost Missions episodes. Where she is fighting against Mace motherf*ckin' (no pun intended) Windu! She lost that pretty badly, which makes that the most likely moment when she could have lost her physical form. I'm ready to believe Maul's resurrection weakened her, but to be the sole reason why she is reduced to the spirit form we see her in. This, if nothing else is a proof that someone has been lying to Maul. The Clone Wars timeline has been shown to be not so straightforward from time to time, but The lost missions episodes had to take place before all of this (comic), for an obvious upcoming reason. Unless the key word here is permanent, and all those previously mentioned moments were just her being able to manifest herself temporarily, despite the variations in time and power usage. Or maybe she wasn't even there to begin with?

And does it really have to bee Dooku she's draining the life out of though? Wouldn't it have been easier to take someone other strong in the Force, like a few random Jedi, who wouldn't have an evil, revenge-hungry master coming after them? And you're doing this now, when your enemy is practically standing at your doorsteps!? This isn't like some anime, where your opponent is just going to wait for you to power up before they attack you. I guess it has to be Dooku because of REVENGE. It's always the goddamn revenge.

Anyway....back to the story.

Maul's monologue comes to an abrupt end when the wall behind him suddenly explodes. There is now a huge hole where the wall used to be, and in enters General Grievous with badassery-mode activated. Beside him stands a seriously pissed off Sidious.

And then the scene shifts to Maul's ship, where the female Mandalorian Kast, finally unmasked, has been left to deal with the complaining Pyke and Black Sun leaders. Their complaints are about an Armada of Droid ships that they are facing in their respective locations, and they want Maul to deal with it. As Maul is dealing with other issues elsewhere, Kast just tells them to fight off the droids themselves. Ziton Moj doesn't take kindly to this and demands that Maul sends his fleet to defend them or else their partnership will end. While the Pyke leader makes a point that Black Sun can take care of itself, the Pykes are the ones that need help against the droids.

Are these guys kept out of the loop? Surely, they should know that probably by now, Maul has run out of Mandalorians to spare. Who knows how many of them have died in the various battles and rest was captured by the Jedi, save for the 3-4 Mandalorians that were on Maul's ship that escaped. Sorry guys, but you are his fleet now. Deal with it.

Shifting back to the temple. All the lightsabers are drawn, but before any actual fighting ensues, we see Dooku rise from the ground, emitting green glow from his eyes. As Maul explains it, Dooku's body is now controlled by Mother Talzin and she ignites the Count's lightsaber.

And the battle begins! Maul armed with his darksaber goes after Grievous, who has two Jedi ligthsabers, while Talzin in Dooku's body takes on Darth Sidious. And in like two seconds is disarmed of her weapon by Sidious who truthfully claims that she may control his apprentice's body but she doesn't possess any of his skills to wield a saber. Sidious then unleashes a storm of Force lightning on his possessed apprentice, must have been a view to behold since even Maul and Grievous stop their duel to watch Dooku sizzle. ;D

Dooku's body hits the floor and Talzin exclaims she's had enough. Enough of lightning or Dooku's life juice, I don't know. Regardless, she is finally able to leave Dooku and manifest herself in all her glorious physical form, bringing the battle briefly to a halt. Maul watches her in amazement, his eyes starting to tear up. He forgets all about the situation they are in and runs over to her and gives her a hug. Okay, fine, that didn't really happen, but it might as well have.... >_>

What actually happens is that Sidious and Talzin are facing each other with a few feet between them. Darth Sidious puts away his lightsaber and bluntly tells her she is going to die (but she just came back!). Talzin responds to this only with her long fingers twitching with the light-green Force lightning of her own. 

And the we are taken back to follow Kast deal with the Dumb and Dumber, who have had enough of this sh*t. "Tell Maul he's on on his own!" The Pyke says and the Black Sun agrees to this. What a tragedy, that only leaves Maul to keep doing what he has been doing up to this point, surviving without your help. The only time you engaged was when the battle was brought to your backyard. I love how Kast reacts to this, she promises she will hunt them down and kill them if they abandon them now. Ziton Moj doesn't believe in her chances of survival on this day, and with that their transmission end. In walks a random Mandalorian, who I'm going to call trooper X (because of the big x on his helmet) for now, he informs Kast that a whole fleet of Separatist's Droid ships are approaching Dathomir. This day just keep getting better and better.

Meanwhile back at the temple,  Maul's Force push sends General Grievous out through the hole in the wall and off a cliff (that I'm not sure was there earlier (the idea of Darth Sidious climbing a cliff wall together with Grievous is just hilarious)), leaving Maul in the belief that Grievous is finished for now. Elsewhere in the room the Witch and the Sith Master are locked in a battle of Force lightning in a very DragoBall Z-ish way. Darth Sidious adds a little more 'oomph' to his lightning that forces Talzin to fall back, but now Maul is standing right behind her, supporting her and even offering her to take some of his strength (again, very DBZ-ish). Count Dooku who has been blacked out for a while now finally awakes. Seemingly still in pain and weakened he still manages to stand up beside his master and unleash some lightning of his own, targeting Maul and Talzin. This causes Mother Talzin to drop her offensive stance and go all defensive as she casts a magic barrier to shield herself and Maul from the incoming lightning, while Maul encourages her to fight back. 

Like the cockroach he is, Grievous has made it back up to the temple and is lurking closer and closer to his enemies. At the same time Kast and trooper X arrive in Maul's ship, Kast's pleads that they retreat before the Droid army arrives, while standing on the lowered loading ramp. Mother Talzin encourages Maul to go while he still has the chance, but Maul wants them to escape together! Talzin explains that they can't, if she lowers the shield they will both die. Grievous has almost reached them. Maul still refusing to budge, forces Talzin to resort to the little energy she has left and use magic to grab Maul and throw him out of the barrier towards his ship where the Mandalorians are waiting. Kast and X try to hold Maul down, who's struggling to get free from them. Inside the temple, Mother Talzin finally collapses on her knees, what's left of the barrier is weak enough to let Grievous walk right through it. Grievous ignites his two lightsabers while the last of Talzin shield vanishes. The Mandalorians are still unable to get Maul on board the ship, which leaves Maul to witness how General Grievous puts both of his lightsabers through Talzin's chest. As she is dying, the green spirit ichor (i.e. magics) escapes her body and leaves her dead body in a strange mummified state. Perhaps shocked by the sheer sight, Maul doesn't fight back as much and so X and Kast are finally able to drag the still screaming Maul on board so that the ship can take off, and make their escape leaving Dathomir behind them. And that is the last we see of Maul.

Within the temple three figures stand around Talzin's body and Darth Sidious makes one last mocking statement about the Witch's life. Darth Tyranus drops down on his knees before his master and asks for forgiveness, he is the one to blame that Maul escaped again. Strangely enough, Sidious isn't even mad at him, everything went more or less according to the plans, he says. "Maul's future has been erased... while ours is more certain than it has ever been." are the last words spoken by the Sith Lord  while the last panel shows us how the droid army is destroying the rest of what remains of the Nightbrother village. The End.

Now, that's what I call a happy ending! NOT.

I have to admit it was heartbreaking to watch the Mandalorians holding Maul back as he is forced to watch his mother being killed right in front of him and he is powerless to do anything, but that feeling is quickly being countered by the fact that I still reject the whole idea of Talzin being his mother. Another thing that bothers me in the same scene is trooper X. It should have been Saxon in that scene. Saxon and Kast are the ones that broke Maul out of prison in the beginning, it would only have been fitting that the two would drag him away in the final scene. I see no good reason why Saxon was dropped out. 

I have a huge problem with how the final fight played out. Just look at what the cover promised us, and what we actually got: 

I think that my problem with the final fight is rather obvious. The cover gives you the idea that Maul is the one who would be fighting Sidious and Talzin would be there only to support him or hell, they are both fighting him. But in reality Maul is reduced to the supporting role while Talzin is the one going against Sidious. Oh yes, the thrill of this epic battle is so exciting with them both just standing there with their hands extended while Maul is hiding behind Talzin. And nowhere to be seen is that cool looking double-bladed saber. :C Maul and Sidious exchange maybe 2-3 sentences and they never actually fight each other. What a disappointment or if I dare say, the mother of all disappointments. This panel from the first issue pretty much sums it up how I feel about this comic right now.

What I liked:

+ The art.

+ KAST!

What I didn't like:

- The cover is a lie!

- Ditching Saxon

- THE ENDING.

Let's recap my little checklist on how I wanted this comic to end:

- Maul is killed. X Nope, he is still alive.

 -He is killed by a) Sidious b) Dooku c) Grievous d) Kenobi X Overruled by the previous.

- Talzin dies with Maul or - Talzin is left alive. X She dies, not Maul. Doesn't fit the requirements.

- Maul throws a fit about Talzin's death. // The comic ran out of pages before he could do that properly.

-Maul and Sidious talk. + Not nearly enough as much I hoped for.

 -Maul and Sidious fight.  X Nope. Maul fights Grievous instead.

- Not a straight up fight X That was pretty much exactly what we got.

I'd really love to like this comic, but I just can't. The way they ended Maul's story, it feels like they took the easiest way out. I wanted a conclusion for Darth Maul, but the only one we got was for a character I did not particularly care of. What happened to Maul after this? He lived miserably ever after?

My brother is also a big Star Wars fan, but unlike me, he doesn't like Darth Maul that much (or at all). Appropriately, this was my brother's response when I told him how the comic ended: "So now what? He going to be sitting alone in a cave and cry for the rest of his life?" The way they made Maul such a momma's boy in this comic, ironically I don't see my brother's prediction being too far fetched, as much as I hate to say it. This is what we got and this is what we have to live with. This is just so damn sad.

What the plot feels like pt.4

Pokémon Fusions

I haven't made a single post about Pokémon yet, but that is about to change right now!
My recent discovery of  Pokémon fusion art and this page http://pokemon.alexonsager.net/
That stuff is amazing~!
I haven't really drawn that much Pokémon since I was a kid. I think I can count my Poké-drawings within recent years with one hand! ;D That too is about to change right now! Obviously they aren't in the right scale, because of reasons.

The order I drew them was Dewlax-Snorgong-Kofflax-Snorfing-Primelax-Snorape-Gasish-Oddtly. The fusion between Snorlax and Dewgong was the first one that caught my eye while randomizing fusions. Dewgong's face is so freaking adorable and there was just something totally hilarious in switching Snorlax's sleepy face with other Pokémon's. So Snorlax became a theme of some sort. I threw an Oddish and Gastly fusions in there because there was still room on the paper and I had drawn enough Snorlaxes(?) for one day. I kept pressing the random-button until it gave me a smaller Pokémon and that happened to be Oddish, then I picked the roundest Pokémon I could think of, that wasn't a Pokéball look alike. My favorite out of these has to be Kofflax and Gasish (maybe because they are purple?). Oddish is already cute and I've always liked Gastly. What is there not to like in a ghost radish with stubby legs? Koffing's gas are poisonous, but I would imaging Kofflax to be a Pokémon who just likes to fart a lot and he would chuckle every time he lets out some wind. XD There is something about the creepy smile Kofflax makes and those smelly clouds that surround him. Imagine what the Pokédex would say Kofflax: the Passing Gas Pokémon! <_< maybe I wouldn't want a Kofflax on my team after all. 

To be continued....?

Star Wars reading

I've been hauling and reading some Star Wars stories for the past few weeks.

Christmas is coming, are you ready? This calendar was just too adorable to pass by.

Strange Allies comic by Ryder Windham (story) and Ben Dewey (art).

I've read parts of the comic before, but I totally missed out the beginning. The main reason I bought it was because Savage Opress appears briefly in it. Man, was I disappointed. There were some imagery I could have lived without. -Cannot unsee- O_O

The Phantom Menace novel by Terry Brooks that also includes a Darth Maul short story End Game by James Luceno. The main reason I bought this paperback version was for the short story about Darth Maul. I'm still only halfway through reading the Phantom Menace story, although I've read it before in Finnish. I didn't remember how tough it is to read an entire book in English.

The Phantom Menace Manga vol. 1 and 2 by Kia Asamiya. Manga makes everything better right? Sadly, not even the Japanese can help making SW Episode 1 that awesome it should have been.

The Wrath of Darth Maul and The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader by Ryder Windham. Absolutely love the covers (and the cover's cover!). No surprises here, I liked Maul's book better than Vader's. I had higher expectations for the Darth Vader book, but it was a little bit of a letdown. 

Empty Darth Maul shampoo bottle, bought online. Right about now, I'm starting to regret that I wasn't interested in Star Wars back when Episode 1 was new. It might just be a bottle,but it still has some gorgeous details.

Miscellaneous Star Wars comics (in Finnish) from -85,-86,-87,-97. Found at a flea market. Haven't read them all yet, but there definitely are a few translation gems here that made me laugh. It's interesting to see how the prices have been yanked up over the years. From -85 to -97 the price has been doubled! Comics nowadays, I don't think the number of pages have changed much, however the number of advertisement has increased to ridiculous levels compared to how it used to be. Isn't that awesome? We're paying more for less actual content!

"Ginga custom" pt.4

Okay, the title is a total lie because this has nothing to do with the Ginga-series whatsoever, except for the fact that it holds the same nostalgia value for me. I can't remember if I saw Call of the wild before I saw any GNG episodes, but it doesn't really matter, nevertheless I have fond memories watching both of these animations on VHS. I almost didn't believe my eyes when I found a brand new DVD copy of tCotW at a flea market! Sadly tough it only has the Swedish dub version on it, I'd have loved to see it with the original Japanese voices, or even the English dub would have been good. I still don't understand how a mix between a St. Bernard and a Collie ends up looking like a German Shepherd, what went wrong Toei Animation? XD

A new lesson that I learned while painting  Buck was that always paint in natural light. I made the mistake of painting in the evening when it was already dark outside. Naturally, I turned the lights on in my room and merrily finished painting the tan base color on my soon to be Buck figure. Or so I thought. Next morning when I was about to continue on with the black markings on the dog, with plenty of natural light coming in from the windows, I noticed something. The dog is too damn yellow! and so I had to paint it all over again. Never trust the light from a light bulb, it will mess with you.

What caused a little hesitation during the paint job was the lack of consistency with Buck's black markings, particularly around the ears and shoulder area. (In fact, the very first shot of Buck in the animation has his colors reversed.) I checked out different reference pictures and in the end I  just had to choose which image of Buck to follow.

Please right click and open in a new tab for a larger view!

Out if the customs I've done so far, I think Buck is my favorite.

Self-made Fluttershy

This was actually done a couple years back so it isn't actually new. I just went through a pile of memory cards to find these pictures.
I probably should have taken a few newer pictures and from different angles, but the thing is that I don't know where the darn thing is! No, I haven't lost it I just can't find it! Long story short, I moved some time ago so it's probably in some still unpacked moving box.  >_>
The wood material that I used probably has a fancy name, I unfortunately just can't give it to you. I found the material while I was doing a little dumpster diving in a recycling bin in our school's wood shop. I used a big and scary band saw to cut most of the shape but when it came to the twirl of the tail and mane I switched to figure saw in order to not cut my own fingers off and not to risk the mane/tail twirl splitting off  by the sheer force of the band saw. Acrylic paint and some regular markers were used for the coloring. The height of this particular Fluttershy is about 8 cm, the depth is 1,7 cm and the width from mane to tail about 11 cm.


***Update!

Found it!

Ginga custom pt.3

I didn't mean to take this long time to get it done ^.^'

Without further ado, since Wilson is pretty much the only Collie in the series, he was the obvious choice for the Collie figures I bought. And since had I two figures, that kinda doubles the work amount. I painted them both, because I thought it would be a good opportunity to demonstrate the difference between matte varnish and glossy varnish. Painting Wilson has been by far much harder that the previous two (Bill & Ron), mainly because Wilson doesn't have any black fur, but these yellowish-orangish-brownish colors which all had to be blended. If you want to go all "technical" these are the colors I used to blend colors needed for the different body parts; titanium white, yellow ochre, cadmium yellow, cadmium orange and burnt sienna. I tried my best to get the colors right, but I suppose they could be a little darker. Additional colors were crimson red mixed with white to get pink for the mouth/tongue and burnt umber mixed with black for the eyes/nose.

Those damn eyes were killing me, no matter how many times I tried to get them straight they always turned out so damn DeRpY! oh well...

I didn't bother to take the Wilson twins outside for some nature shots, because the lousy weather. So instead here is the comparison between matte and glossy varnish. I think I've complained before how the acrylic paint has some natural glossiness to it (or at least the ones I am using), so I was happily surprised to notice that matte varnish actually damped some of the natural "shininess" of the paint. I personally prefer the finishing touch of the matte varnish, so that's what I'm going to be using in the future.