Comic Review: Star Wars: Darth Maul Son of Dathomir

Star Wars: Darth Maul Son of Dathomir by Jeremy Barlow and Juan Frigeri, Star Wars Expanded Universe


Getting cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi and being rejected by his former Sith master Darth Sidious isn't going to defeat Darth Maul. In fact, it only makes him mad enough to take on the galaxy--with an army of Mandalorians!

After forming the Shadow Collective--a criminal organization composed of the Hutts, Black Sun, the Mandalorians, and the fearsome Nightbrothers--Maul wages war against Darth Sidious and his generals, Count Dooku and General Grievous! 

Adapted from unproduced screenplays for Season 6 of The Clone Wars television show, this is the final chapter planned for Darth Maul's saga!

I have been really getting into the Star Wars mood lately and I was lucky enough to be send my first Star Wars comic. Even though there are lots of comments that Episode 1, 2 and 3 don't live up to 4,5 and 6 I do have to say that Darth Maul is just bad ass and really a piece of work, he is nasty and truly evil, and one of the memorable characters of the series. Earlier this year I read Lockdown by Joe Schreiber which was an highly entertaining read featuring Darth Maul, which took place prior to the events of Episode I The Phantom Menace. Darth Maul Son of Dathomir  takes place after the events of the Clone Wars and features all new material never shown before. 

The story picks up after Darth Sidious killing Darth Maul's brother, this left Maul hanging

captured and being subjected to torture. Before being captured Maul was tightly involved in a criminal network and hereby made several friends, that have set their mind of freeing him from the clutches of Sideous, Dooku and general Grievous. Getting freed again is just the start of Maul's plan to bring his erstwhile captors down. Maul regroups with the Shadow Collective and sets out but with Maul escape, Sideous, Dooku and Grievous also set aain a new chase and they send a droid army to deal with Maul. After an heated battle that was more succesfull for Sideous, Maul narrowly escapes into space... In the end Maul does make it aboard their ship and this is where the real definitive action takes place. Also Plots are being revealed here and the dangerous players take to the scene, Sideous enters the fray against Maul and led to a heated battle. In the end there was one other player that made itself noted, Mother Talzin, Maul's mother who had similar plans as that of Maul. Now Ill stop elaborating the story. There is a lot happening and you are never offered a moment to catch your breath. An intense action packed and highly eventful story. 


What I really liked about the story was how the different sides were shown, I know many of the characters only through the movies or the tv series but on paper they some how do feel more whole as you can pour all your other experiences about them in their characters. Added this is that you don't have an heavy influence of the Jedi Knights, granted they do make an appearance but not one that draws away focus. Instead the focus is on showing the battle between several very powerful Sith and troubles within their organization. I was impressed with Maul character and that of count Dooku, falling a bit in between and shown as a traitor, there are some nice comments surrounding this by both sides. 

The narration of the Darth Maul Son of Dathomir combined with the illustration have produced a fast read. The art work is not one drawn in overly detail and is far from boasting bright and joyful colors, instead the world is painted with darkers pastel colors giving a true dark and Sithlike feeling to the story. I have added some pictures of how the comic looks like from the inside. 

Darth Maul Son of Dathomir is a comic book and unfortunately it's only 120ish page long so once your in the story of it all it's sadly over. I read some of the Expanded Universe books so far this year and together with this comic they only further build on my liking of Star Wars. You can easily read Darth Maul Son of Dathomir separately without any prior knowledge. It is hard to compare a this comic with a full EU book, each has it's perks. Darth Maul Son of Dathomir is a fast paced adventure that shows Maul in his best possible way that of wreaking havoc and utter destruction. He is bad ass period.