I am a Star Wars fan, if a selective one. I abide by the common preference for the original trilogy, but I do occasionally branch out into the expanded universe. I enjoy some of Star Wars video games and also the comics, particularly Star Wars - Legacy, of which I own every issue.
When I heard that the same creative team was starting a title at the opposite end of the Star Wars time line, covering the birth of the force-using Jedi, I had to give it a look... It was my destiny.
If there is one problem I have with almost all the expanded universe, it is the notion of light and dark sides of the force, of this yin and yang balance between the two. It is utter bullshit! However, I'm forced accept it in the comics if I want to read them, so I won't make mention of this particular annoyance again.
Star Wars - Dawn Of The Jedi: Force Storm #1 is, aside from being far too long a title, a reasonable book. Much of it is expository narration, but I guess that is the price you pay for picking up a new book with a setting unfamiliar to the audience. I do wish we could get a single-page "opening crawl" effect instead though.
So we begin with the gathering of mystics, priests and philosophers from many worlds gathering on Typhon and the earliest incarnation of the force as understood by the Je'daii. This isn't terribly interesting yet, and I don't believe we are introduced to any recurring characters of any significance. If that were it for the issue, I would be unhappy.
Thankfully that is not the case. We then see the villains of the story, the Infinite Empire, ruled over by the brutal if odd-looking Rakata. Predor Tul'Kar and his imposing "Force Hound" Xesh are focal, and we quickly get a feel for this ruthless government and its politics. Simply put, The Infinite Empire appears to invade worlds, enslave them, and claim force sensitive all across the galaxy.
With the fledgeling Je'daii on Tython, I think it is easy to see where this first storyline is going...
So does it work? I'd say yes. The exposition is heavy-going to begin with... Lots of names and places and events that mean nothing to me. But once we turn to the Infinite Empire I regain my faith in the creative team. John Ostrander and Jan Duursema have been a major pairing in Dark Horse's Star Wars comics for some time now, and it is easy to see why. The book looks great, and even where it is slow to start, it has the right sense of scale to it.
While the book has a long way to go to be great, I'm fairly confident it is in good hands. I won't nitpick the first issue too much, rather I'll wait to see how the storyline develops before I get too critical. After three or four issues I will have a better grasp of the era and story. For now I give it...
OVERALL GRADE - C
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