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

Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir pt. 3

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

Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir pt. 2

Review

Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir #2

Script Jeremy Barlow

Pencils Juan Frigeri

Inks Mauro Vargas

Colors Wes Dzioba

Cover art Chris Scalf

Published by Dark Horse Comics

It occurred to me the other day what I thought was a little bit odd in the previous issue of this comic. In the beginning where Maul is still captive, I can't help but to wonder why the heck was his shirt taken off? We've seen other characters in these force cages before, Eeth Koth and Obi-Wan for example, but I don't see them being stripped of any clothing! What's the difference? that Maul was (probably) being tortured? Gotta have bare skin to absorb those lightnings as much as possible? But wait, Eeth Koth was tortured too, right? He got to keep his clothing. Oh well, I suppose I shouldn't really complain. After all if we end up with a shirtless Maul, I guess any reason is good.

Spoiler warning!

The Cover. I see what you did there. If you look closely, you can see both Feral and Savage Opress on the cover fighting Dooku, even though they're both long dead.

On a side note, it really begins to show that this comic is based on the script of the unaired episodes(?) of the Clone Wars. My problem with the TV-series was that at some moments it was too fast paced and skipped a lot of things. I realize of course there is only so much you can do with 20 minutes. But taking some more time for the characters to reflect on things that have happened would have been really welcomed idea instead of jumping from action to more action.

This issue opens up with......wait wait wait! What the F did I just read? In the story so far- section: "Darth Sidious captured and interrogated his former apprentice Maul -and learned that the witch Mother Talzin is was behind his resurrection." What? So you're telling me Maul told him everything!? But you just showed us in the first issue that Maul told him nothing! He just spat out some old teaching of Sidious and refused to answer their questions! Sidious and Dooku actually got some information out of him and that Maul knows and remembers who Talzin is? Didn't anyone think this was vital information for the reader to make sense of the story? ARGH.

This issue opens up with the first panel showing Maul's fleet flying off to.....somewhere. Alone in his quarters Maul is trying to reach Mother Talzin by mumbling to himself. (Since when has he known he can do that?) Talzin answers and some green mist bursts out from Maul's chest and takes Mother Talzin's form. The two have a conversation. Maul tells her he has been successful in luring her enemy, Sidious after him. Also about his capture and escape from the prison. Talzin replies that he was probably allowed to escape. "With Sidious nothing is ever as is seems. We must be this way, as well." Figured out as much, if they really wanted to prevent Maul from escaping removing his legs should do the trick. He also tells her about the loss against Grievous and asks what their next move should be. She guides him not to seek her out, because that is exactly what Darth Sidious expects. Instead, she orders him to go to a Black Sun's stronghold in Ord Mantell and prepare for battle. Still, Maul asks if she will meet him in Ord Mantell, she declines, but promises that help from Dathomir is on it's way.

.....So, for this entire time, Maul was working for Talzin? WHAT!? THE ENTIRE TIME!? Was it her idea that Maul and Savage should rob and murder people for their credits? Her idea that they should build an army of criminals? To take over Mandalore? Savage's death and Maul's capture? Everything so that she could have revenge on Sidious for an unknown reason? Since when? When was anything of this sort at any time implied in the series? All this time I thought this was about Maul getting revenge on Kenobi and in his twisted way showing off to everybody that forgotten him that he still is a menace. All you had to do is have one scene in any of the episodes that would show Talzin and Maul talking to each other. There was none. This is completely out of the woods. I want an answer, when did all of this happen? Why would Maul help her? Why the hell he is suddenly so damn loyal to her!? 

Furthermore, It kinda creeps me out how Maul only calls her "Mother" (or mother, impossible to tell since everything is written with upper case letters) the entire time and she refer to him as "Son" (my child, my beloved son). Granted, Savage and even Obi-Wan has called her "Mother" but they at least start by calling her "Mother Talzin" before moving on using her title only. I get the vibe that Maul might actually believe she is his mother. No doubt, Maul is bound to have all sorts of mommy/daddy/younameit-issues but come on! Either this turns out that Maul is her actual son or she is just being as manipulative as Darth Sidious. Moving on....

Maul briefs the leaders of each of the groups that make his army about their next move. Maybe a stupid question, but is it commonly known that Count Dooku, the leader of the Separatist's is also a Sith? For the folks that are not involved in fighting the war itself I mean? Maul only mentions a battle between them and the Sith which the Black Sun leader immediately recognizes as Dooku. Of course it makes sense why Ziton Moj would know, but this just got me wondering. "Take out their leadership and they all fall down." Maul says. How's that gonna work? Wasn't the need of destroying a signal ship removed, that the droids would still be operational with out it? Or do they need to find someone who knows how to shut the droids down? 

Meanwhile Dooku and General Grievous' fleet flying off to.....somewhere. Grievous questions again why Talzin is so important that she needs to be destroyed. Dooku tells him that Talzin and Sidious were once allies. Darth Sidious sought after her teachings and magics. "Now her meddling could compromise all of our designs." Well, she wouldn't be meddling if a certain Sith master hadn't ordered a certain someone to get rid of Ventress, then she wouldn't have any reason to go back to Dathomir and get this whole cycle of revenge started. *cough* Maul had nothing to do with this, until Ventress and Opress crossed swords. Mother Talzin seemed pretty content in leaving Maul on the garbage planet and didn't seem too bothered to go find him herself even tough she knew he was alive (this whole time?).

Anyway, Separatist's spies have found The Shadow Collective on planet Ord Mantell easily enough, but Dooku refuses to attack the place before they know for certain that Talzin will be there too. And wouldn't you know, a report comes in that informs a shuttle has left Dathomir and is headed to Ord Mantell. This seems to be all the proof Dooku needs to determine that Talzin is making her way to meet Maul. He orders the fleet into hyperspace with the coordinates to the planet where Maul's army is waiting and commands Grievous to start bombarding the planet immediately after they jump out of hyperspace.

The scene switches back to Maul's base were they continue strategizing about the incoming battle and we learn that Commander Saxon is alive! Huh, so it was just some random Mandalorian soldier Grievous killed in the previous issue. A Mandalorian trooper informs that the shuttle from Dathomir has arrived. Maul takes Saxon with him to greet the arrivals and leaves Kast to finish the briefing. It turns out that the "help" Mother Talzin promised is actually Brother Viscus and a good bunch of Nightbrothers. There is no time for a welcoming party however, because Maul senses that the droids have arrived as well. (I thought one cannot sense droids? or wait, wrong series. It's the androids from DBZ I'm confusing with) As Dooku ordered, once they jump out of hyperspace Grievous immediately opens fire at the planet. Explosions everywhere! Maul's gotta hustle off somewhere else, he leaves Saxon in charge of the ground assault and tells Viscus and the brothers to get to the command center and wait until Maul tells them otherwise. Not sure how much help they're gonna be if they're just gonna sit around and wait, but okay. Let see were this is going. 

General Grievous is done bombing the planet and sends out the infantry to meet the combined army of Mandalorians, Pykes and Black Sun members under the command of Saxon. Meanwhile Count Dooku lands on the planet, accompanied by two MagnaGuards, which he orders to go find Maul and Talzin, who he still believes will be on the planet. Back at the orbit, a Super Tactical droid, suggest that they continue bombing the planet when their fleets cannons have recharged. Grievous suspects something fishy is going on, why didn't Maul order some aerial support from those Mandalorian warships Grievous know he has? Could it be? It's a trap!! Maul's fleet of warships attack Grievous' command ship and we learn of Maul's intentions to capture the big G himself. Maul's ship is piloted by Kast and is colored black and red in contrast to the other warships that are blue and gray.

Back with Dooku and his two Guard droids. They've made their way inside a building, presumably the command center and are soon ambushed by the Nightbrothers. The MagnaGuards are disposed easily and Dooku finds himself facing the Nightbrothers all alone. Come on, we know who is going to win this fight! The ten (or more) Nightbrothers are only armed with Electrostaffs. A group of them couldn't even beat an unarmed Ventress, what chances to they got against a lightsaber wielding Dooku? Yeah, Dooku doesn't really see their chances either.

At the same time in the battle outside Commander Saxon, a Black Sun grunt (Ziton Moj?) and a Pyke are either hiding or ambushing some droids behind a collapsed wall. The Black Sun soldier expresses his dislike towards Maul's plan because all it seems to do is getting them killed, the Pyke agrees. Saxon tells them to can it and follow their orders, their conversation gets interrupted when a super battle droid that looks like its been designed to crush through walls, does precisely that and pulls the Pyke soldier towards his doom.

Meanwhile in space, Maul and Kast have finally been able to attach to the command ship and are cutting their way in. Then the scene jumps back to Dooku vs. the Nightbrothers. Oh man, if it isn't brutal!! Heads roll, arms fly, bodies hit the floor and Dooku finishes them off with some lightning. Even tough the Nightbrothers are left anonymous, with no names, no personalities and heck, not even properly drawn faces (except Viscus and Maul of course) I feel a thousand times worse looking at these guys getting slaughtered than I ever felt for the clones at any time during the TV-series. It seems Brother Viscus is the last man standing and he charges Dooku by jumping in the air and it looks like to be a bad move since Dooku already has his lightsaber raised, ready to cut Viscus in half......

Back with Maul, he and Kast have made their way to the command deck on Grievous' ship. Almost too quickly and effortlessly Maul has the darksaber pinned to Grievouses' throat and orders him to shut down the droids. 

Surprisingly, Grievous complies with this and not a moment to soon. Back on the planet's surface Maul's forces have surrendered, but the droid's don't take prisoners and so they are going to be executed. The Black Sun soldier from earlier looks very displeased with the situation when suddenly the droids shut down! Saxon and everybody take the opportunity to start scrapping the droids.

Elsewhere.... Amazingly, Brother Viscus is still alive. He has seemingly dodged Dooku's swing of the lightsaber, but this doesn't bother the Count too much, instead he force grips Viscus and slams him HARD to the ground. Ouch! that's gotta have broken some horns or bones! Not longer able to fight, this looks like the end for Viscus as Dooku closes in with the lightsaber......but then Saxon & Co. arrive to the rescue and Dooku is captured. Conveniently both Grievous' and Dooku's capture happen off screen. I'm guessing that sadly, Viscus may be the lone survivor of this Nightbrother massacre, but its not confirmed.

Later when everything has calmed down after the battle, Maul alone again, contacts Mother Talzin and tells her about their success. This pleases Talzin and she again calls him "my son", the comic ends with Talzin caressing Maul's chin and her promising that together they will have their revenge on Sidious.

What I liked:

+ The art.

+ Still no Jedi.

+ Welcome back Saxon.

+ I never took Dooku for any kind of a badass, until this comic.

+ Maul wins this battle.

(+ Savage and Feral on the cover, I guess that is the best mention of them we will get)

What I didn't like

+ Watching Maul making his own decision is more fun than watching him take orders.    Maul will forever be someone else's bitch.

- Too much jumping around from one scene to the other.

- Why are the tactical droids the most stupid droids of them all?

- So many Nightbrothers died.

Next: The Proxy War! The Jedi enter the fight.

What the plot feels like pt.2

Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir pt. 1

Review

Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir #1

Script Jeremy Barlow

Pencils Juan Frigeri

Inks Mauro Vargas

Colors Wes Dzioba

Cover art Chris Scalf

Published by Dark Horse Comics

I've been waiting to get my hands on this comic ever since it was announced.
Season 5 of the Clone Wars left me totally excited with Maul's story ending with a cliffhanger but at the same time sad (RIP Savage).
I kinda imagined what would happen to Maul would be something similar to what happens to Starkiller in the dark ending (and dlc's) of The Force Unleashed 1 (probably because I know they are voiced by the same man, Sam Witwer). Let's see how it actually goes. I'm pretty sure there won't be a happy ending for Maul.

Spoiler warning!

The cover is awesome. What kinda looks weird is the pattern that all the droids have. Are they some new droid model or maybe it's just the artist's preference? Ah! and now to finally find out why Darth Sidious left Maul alive! Like I mentioned earlier I imagined something similar to Starkiller's fate, but this is not what I was expecting. Sidious wants Maul's resources over the criminal syndicates and black markets and to use him to get revenge on Mother Talzin. Here it comes! It seems they are again changing Maul's back story. It wasn't indisputably said, but this was the impression I got. (Please don't do that.) The back story we had so far told us that Sidious got Maul as a 1-year or so old baby from Maul's mother, because she wanted to hide him from Mother Talzin. Mother Talzin had nothing to do with Maul before he was 15, when she finally found out about him and tried to "steal" him back. But when Sidious arrived at the scene, she could sense that he was too powerful to be messed with and left Maul with him. Then she probably secretly kept an eye on Maul's progress.

Now, the Clone Wars series suggested that Count Dooku and Talzin had some history between them when Mother Talzin says "The only reason I am aiding in your search for a new assassin is because, long ago, you chose to help me. After this matter is resolved, I hope our paths never cross again." So those two definitely had a beef together! If there was no bad blood before, there certainly was after Dooku ordered Grievous to kill all the Nightsisters after learning that Talzin was helping Ventress in her personal quest to kill Dooku. But now this comic suggest it is actually Sidious and Talzin who has some quarrel together. Darth Sidious says "Maul came to me as a child -- A not-so-appreciated gift from Mother Talzin. Her spite for me runs deep.....And the time has come for me to deal with her" 

WHAT!? Not only is the Dooku/Talzin feud ignored and now all you want is to use Maul for is getting back at Talzin? Starting rant....3....2....1This doesn't make any sense to me. First, Maul has only met and spoken to Talzin once, back when she tried to get him back to Dathomir. Maul has no emotional connection to Dathomir except the fact that he was born there. Second. Yes, Mother Talzin restores his memories/cures his insanity and gives him new legs to walk with. And what happens then? Talzin disappears before Maul is fully conscious and does not speak to him at all. Maul would know nothing about Mother Talzin's part in this unless Savage hadn't been there to tell him that. And even after that Maul doesn't react in any way to this information, either he doesn't care (at the moment) or he doesn't remember who she is. It makes no sense why Maul would run to Mother Talzin for help. Unless he would suddenly be like "hmm, what was the name of that person my brother talked about, who helped me before? mother Talzin? if she helped me once they'll probably help me again!" or maybe Talzin inserted some false memories in him while he was being healed? (but that is kinda unlikely.....?) Where would Maul even know to look for her? He only knows one place on the planet and it seems kinda silly why Talzin would stay at the same place, unless of course she predicts that Maul would come searching for her. (but she couldn't predict the Sidious/Dooku scheme?) End rant.
I'll just have to wait for the next issue of the comic to get the whole picture. Not sure if I like where this is going.

Let's continue, we see two Mandalorians, Commander Saxon and woman named Kast breaking into the prison where Maul is being held, meanwhile Count Dooku and Maul exchange some words in a very short but entertaining scene. Dooku leaves when Maul refuses to give him the answers he wants. Dooku learns about the break in and sends squads of  droids to meet the intruders. Which also seems kinda strange if you think about it. In the end isn't that what they want, that Maul would lead them to Talzin? Why not just let the Mandalorians take him? Because it would seem too easy and Maul would suspect some kind of a plot? Or maybe they wanted to get the answers about Maul's criminal organization before they would "let him go"? The freeing of Maul and the escape itself are rather quick. Two rockets to a couple of walls and Maul and the Mandalorians are home free! Looks like someone installed a battle droids A.I. into the commando droid.

Count Dooku orders General Grievous to attack Maul's organization, now named the Shadow Collective, and forbids him from killing Maul. I think it is rather funny how Grievous tells Dooku that they should have killed Maul because he is too dangerous to bee left alive. In one of the episodes in the TV series Dooku and Grievous were engaged in a somewhat similar conversation about Savage Opress. Grievous was almost amused how Count Dooku could even consider Savage as a threat. I guess what makes the difference in Grievous' mind is that Savage was working alone at the time and Maul has an army of Mandalorians (backed up by Black Sun and the Pykes).

Back at the Shadow Collective base we now learn that it was prime minister Almec (although it is hard to tell it actually is him, he is only shown through tiny holograms) who Maul left as a "ghost ruler" on Mandalore who is responsible for freeing Maul from the prison. Pre Vizsla's dark saber is returned to it's new owner. Maul keeps a brief speech about the incoming battle which the Mandalorians seem to be psyched about. He even calls them "my brothers" which shows he has at least a little respect for them, unlike those cat people from the previous comic Maul starred in Death Sentence, they were just cannon fodder. So Maul anticipated a battle would be inevitable, but did he know it would come so soon?
General Grievous arrives with the droid army and sends out every last one of them against the Mandalorians. He stays on a drop ship and worries if the droids even can win this battle in the end. Meanwhile Maul, equipped with the dark saber is fighting in the front lines along with his warriors. The droid army has energy shielded Destroyers in the lead. Maul uses Force Jump to get behind the Droidekas and then breaks their line with a Force Repulse.

Grievous doesn't take kindly to this and sends out his four MagnaGuards to fight Maul. And here is where it gets a little bit confusing. While Maul is fighting the Guard droids we can see this Mandalorian warrior yelling  "You cowards!" and running towards them as if he was angry that all four of them are attacking Maul all at once (although Maul handles himself just fine). Now first I thought this was Commander Saxon from the beginning, who bust Maul out from prison, but the armor doesn't match. Even though I guess there is no good reason why a Mandalorian couldn't have more than one armor. All I want to know if this is Commander Saxon or just some random dude. For whatever reason Grievous personally bothered to end the poor guys life. Perhaps it would make more sense if the guy actually was Commander Saxon, maybe then showing the guy's death would actually have some significance. Maul quickly finishes off the MagnaGuards and charges Grievous. Unfortunately we don't get to see them duke it out properly since Grievous informs Maul that he is loosing, his Mandalorian troops have been killed. But Maul still has one ace up his sleeve and that is called an airstrike. Some Mandalorian Fighters fly over and drop bombs all over the battle field. Then lady Kast (the other one of the prison break duo) arrives with a ship and hovers it above the maulgrievous standoff. Maul makes his escape à la Qui-Gon and is forced to retreat. After the battle is over Grievous speaks with Dooku via hologram and covers the losses on both sides. The Count commends the general for a job well done. Then there comes the reminder of their true intensions, Maul is only lead to believe that they are after him, while their actual target is Mother Talzin. Maul is the bait to draw her out. Our good ol' general then asks "Why would she risk herself so? What value does Maul hold for her?" An excellent question! That is precisely what I would like to know. (Just don't make Mother Talzin his actual mother, please.)We'll just have to wait and see for now.

What I liked:
+ That it was made in the first place.
+ The art, any close-up on a character is gorgeous.
+ Watching Maul making his own decision is more fun than watching him take orders.
+ No Jedi.
(+ Shirtless Maul)

What I didn't like
- Changing Maul's back story.
- Confusion about certain sequence and dialogs
- What could have been interesting dialogs between characters are always cut short.
- How Dooku gets off scot-free, even though he is in big part responsible of the whole situation.
(- No mention of Savage)

Next: Dooku vs. the Nightbrothers!

What the plot feels like.