Comic Review: Jedi Knights #5

Four issues in and this is becoming one of my favourite series to read each month. As a child of the nineties, growing up watching The X-Files, Batman: The Animated Series, Star Trek, to name a few, the format that this series has taken is perfect. There is an underlying story that pops up every so often, but the main focus is on the Jedi. These different characters, taking on different tasks, that has seemingly nothing to do with the overarching story – and a good thing too. For years, fans have wanted to see the Jedi at their peak, just see what it is they do from day to day. This isn’t the end of the word stuff, this is the mundane lives of the Jedi, and it is exactly what we need to read. Marc Guggenheim has created The Clone Wars for before Episode One. These are tales with a message in them, but for the most part, it’s just sit back and enjoy the ride. The ride gets even more fun when the art of Madibek Musabekov is there to fill your eyes. Issue three – and yes, I’m still talking about it – was a showcase for just how amazing this artist is. He keeps making the expectations higher for himself and always, always surpasses them. It is a pleasure to have these two working together. Last issue was more focused on bounty hunters; with the Jedi sidelined to give us a different point of view. Does it matter for this comic? Probably not, and that’s the beauty of this series, new readers can drop in at any point and get just as much out of it as established fans. So, let’s see what crazy journey we are going to get taken on today…

And we begin with part of the Tales of the Jedi scene, where Dooku kills Yaddle. Guggenheim quickly sums it up in case you haven’t seen it but simple the simple fact: Yaddle is destroyed by Dooku. We then go back in time and this issue is centred around a dispute, one that is being mediated by a Jedi called Serra Longa and Yaddle. I love that we get to see more of Yaddle. She is only scene in a few stories, and this is a way to get to know the character better. In fact, it’s exactly what this series is doing so well at, shining a light on different Jedi. I love her sense of humour that Guggenheim so clearly displays. There is a sense of fun to her words – most of the time – that reminds me very much of Yoda. The fact these two are of the same species might indicate that their species as a whole can take a light-hearted approach to situations.

For the dispute, we see the Trade Federation involved, again. Having a problem with a planet for not settling their end of a bargain. I’ll be truthful here, as mundane as this might seem, I’d have happily had the whole story centre around this. Guggenheim does an amazing job of fleshing out these characters, whether they be Jedi or not. It’s not galaxy shattering, the events (at least by themselves) are not going to set the galaxy blazing, but that’s not the point. It’s about us as readers getting to know the characters, to seeing far more of them and who they are than we ever have in the films or television shows.

Before I move onto the gem in all of this, let me just say the artwork by Musabekov is – as always – gorgeous. The opening darkness of the death of Yaddle are superb. The surprise attack on the Jedi in the freighter, superb, just everything about the artwork screams quality. For some of this, the story is centred around a table, Musabekov focused each panel carefully, very reminiscent of the angles and shots that George Lucas uses in the movies. It what really draws you into these stories, that sense of the prequels, not just in the writing, but the artwork.

So, what is the gem? Dooku. Guggenheim plays with his use of works wonderfully here. He is helping a ‘friend’ of the Trade Federation. Of course this could only be Darth Sidious. When Dooku says oh it’s nothing too ‘Insidious’, it’s almost like he’s giving a wink to the reader, the humour that goes over the Jedi’s head, but we as the reader, we know. It is done later again with Yaddle saying that a shroud surrounds Dooku, invoking memories of Yoda saying, ‘The shroud of the dark side has fallen’. It’s a wonderful little play with the English language but one that is subtle yet also in keeping with Dooku’s style and elegance. But words don’t make a gem. Dooku needs saving in the story, and it is Yaddle who has to do it. It’s the lesson behind it that really sets the story apart. Yaddle saves Dooku, yet we know, thanks to the opening of the story, that in doing so, Yaddle has sealed her own fate. Yaddle and Longa meditate and Yaddle can see with the force that some destiny is at play. The problem is, she doesn’t know who’s. Yet as a master, she knows not to question the force and lets it guide her. The comic ends with Longa saying to Yaddle about regretting saving Dooku, to which she replies, no. We know the outcome, we know this could have been the moment to change everything. Yet Yaddle did what was right, she stayed true to her principles, even though, eventually, it will cost her life. It’s an interesting dilemma, one that gets considered so often: if you could kill someone before, they became evil, would you, do it? While most of us I think would say yes, Yaddle’s approach is to keep to the course you’re on, stay true to yourself and everything will sort itself. I can’t help but think of The Lord of the Rings, when several characters acknowledge that if they take the ring, they become the thing they are trying to stop. Is that not what Yaddle is almost alluding to? If she doesn’t act how she believes she should, to follow the will of the force, does she not become the problem, not the solution?

On that question I shall bring my final thoughts together, because that is the question that I think I will be thinking about just as long as the artwork from issue three! It’s a wonderful dilemma that will make me come back to the issue repeatedly. This is the perfect example of what this series, a series only five issues in, has already established itself as doing so well. It’s a one-shot that provides us insight to characters that never got enough onscreen time. It shows us more of their character and the actions that they take. The events in this story aren’t crucial, they are the catalyst to see the interactions between Yaddle and Dooku, to pose those important questions that stay with us for days, if not weeks. Add into seeing the subtle approaches Dooku starts making and this just elevates this comic even further. This series is fast becoming a pleasurable cake to devour each month, the stories are like the cream on top, and somehow, Guggenheim and Musabekov seemed to have already added five cherries to the top with all the detail in these issues! This is a series that just keeps getting better.