Taking a gander at this due in no small part to the circle jerk Beefy and Q are forming around Krayt.
Issue 001
In Insider 89, Jan Duursema says she and John Ostrander did not want to at all lessen Luke's accomplishments of destroying the Sith, defeating the Empire, and reviving the Jedi.
In order to preserve this legacy, their tactic was to write a story all about the Sith restored, the Empire ascendant, and the Jedi scattered.
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My thoughts:
Krayt shits the mother of all infobricks on the audience, bypassing the major freakin' events that directly influence and precede the story; show, don't tell
Will give Nihl points for wanting to transcend the mistakes of the previous purge
The impact and implication of Sazen's resurrection/resuscitation are breezed over far too quickly
Cade intrigues me; he's like a young Han Solo with Force powers and a Skywalker last name
Kol's trying too hard to be Ganner Rhysode
Krayt's coup was way too easy; clever and opportunistic, but this is not the product of a mastermind
He's apparently overexerted by taking out Faux!Fel's bodyguards and his weakness is emphasized far too early, along with his overarching scheme for Cade
First impression:
The story loses major points for originality and its close proximity to the movies. Trying to determine which of the two major non-movie EU storylines (TOR and Legacy) is more offensive and degrading is going to be a source of heated internal debate.
Nihl and Cade are currently holding my interest. Otherwise, this issue was far too rushed, with a string of major events occurring too soon or only being relayed to the audience by way of exposition.
Why didn't Sazen contact Shado and the others via hologram? Why meet in person? How did the Sith locate them? How did the Jedi not sense their approach?
Cade reminds me a bit of Mal Reynolds, which is pleasing. Though his opening liner: "We're bounty hunters. We're after a bounty" was pretty damn bad
Cade clearly acted to save Hosk's life, which makes me curious if he's going to let him escape en route to the Sith. Otherwise, it's an inordinately dick move that Cade really has no justification for
Hosk sure begged and whined a lot for a devout Jedi
The anointment of Darth Talon was lame; the impact of her execution of Ruyn was blunted by the fact that, again, we are only told the nature of their relationship. I don't expect it to be vividly portrayed, but even a glimpse of it would be better
Wow, a princess who places duty above personal relationships, relaying messages from fellow rebel sympathizers on her father's behalf; at last an original eleiament!
First impression:
Cade is showing some promise as a Malcolm Reynolds figure. The rest maintains its underwhelming momentum.
Vital info: He's strong, but sick. The Emperor's personal bodyguard including his cousin is simply fodder to Krayt ('fight our way out, or maybe even kill Krayt!' Heh), but fighting at all has a cost for him.
On originality, I will note there's a fair amount being blended around. Rather than trying to be something entirely new, it tries to be something old remade. Cade as a Han Solo type 'Skywalker,' like you note. On time, hey, it's almost 140 years, by normal standards that's a lot! That's about as distant as we are the US civil war or Germany's unification. Not all history is in 1,000 year chunks ^^
What I want to emphasize here is that it's close enough to be familiar, while definitely not being the same. Legacy is a theme, not just a title. That's the author intent.
Anyway, that said, I look forward to your future reactions!
Q, your attempts to Legacy's tasteless and disrespectful aping of the core saga are noble but disastrous. It speaks to an inordinate lack of talent on part of the writers and a tacit admission that nothing that ever happens here will ever amount to anything in the grand scheme of Star Wars. It's been done before and done better. Beyond Cade, I'm seeing very little to care.
Issue 003
My thoughts:
The opening text compares Krayt to Sidious: "A Sith once more occupies the Imperial throne," but then goes on to say that, "however, after seven years of rule, Krayt's hold on the galaxy is not absolute"
Hosk has defied expectations and is being a real pain in the ass to Cade and co. rather than begging like a b1tch. I am well pleased
Cade not letting Hosk escape was a genuine surprise and a welcome one, though I do hope they properly explain his callousness towards them
If all it took was one mini-speech for Fel to convert the totality of Bastion to his cause, why not go live on the Holonet and persuade the galaxy to throw off Krayt's yoke? Though I do appreciate the attempted save-throw that Fel had been rotating loyalists quietly through the years into Bastion's service
Cade being a drug addict makes him suitably Dark and Edgy (lol) but I do appreciate Casper!Luke's presence as well as his tacit reminders that Luke's exploits are vastly more important than anything Cade will ever do
Cade's threat of suicide was a cool way to diffuse Luke
Marasiah is so derivative of Leia that I wouldn't be surprised if Marasiah Fel is an anagram for Leia Organa
Cade's plan to turn Marasiah over to Roan, collect the bounty, and then turn them both over to Krayt and collect that bounty is inspired and deliciously vile
First impression:
Cade continues to exude promise now that we know him being a jerkass is not a wafer-thin front, like Han. Like Malcolm Reynolds, he really is an ass. The political tug-o'-war between Fel and Roan continues to bore for its haste and lack of depth and the other characters aren't memorable beyond bewbz. Nevertheless, it's a solid improvement due to the protagonist.
A vortex of Sith powerplays and treason as seen through the eyes of an Imperial patriot: reminds me of Ghost Prison, but greatly inferior
Loyalty to the Imperial throne is peculiar when the guy who currently sits on it did so by killing the previous guy who sat on it. Still having a hard time accepting that unless we're talking about Klingons or Sith
For a one-dimensional Sith prick, Maleval was surprisingly merciful considering Kark's twice-open insubordination
Stormtrooper vs. stormtrooper would probably be a maelstrom of confusion and I'm glad this is emphasized
Trask's murder of Maleval was most welcome
That was the mother of all non-endings
First impression:
I appreciate Ostrander's attempt to explore other facets of this war. And while Trask is a mildly sympathetic Everyman, I'm back to not caring about anyone.
I'm not sure how I can be completely open-minded about such an openly reprehensible premise. The writers claimed to have taken precautions against diminishing the impact of the films and yet appear to take every step towards diminishing the impact of the films.
I love the EU as much as the next fella, but they all need to understand that everything they bring to the table is ultimately inconsequential. This is Lucas's playground and, right or wrong, he's the singular reason they're employed. So rather than spit on his story with their hamfisted caricatures, why not tell something new and creative?
IMHO, if they're going to start making distant-future SW storylines, they need to shatter the galaxy's static nature.
That is, as Tempest pointed out, nothing seems to matter; we all know that another sith empire is going to rise to power another 50 years down the line, only to get overthrown by the Rebel Alliance 6.0, and the cycle repeats itself.
Why not undergo fundamental changes to the universe's workings? For example, consider the idea of major and fundamental social revolutions; droids rights, for one, is SW's ubiquitous civil rights issue that no author seems to want to address.
Homages and allusions will obviously find their place in Star Wars works. But these things can be done tastefully and quietly to better service the story without reeking of gratuitous narcissism.
Malak was a product of Vader and Tarkin: a man of monstrous bulk and marred with physical deformity, but an unrepentantly cold and brutal killer who was willing to raze worlds in singular pursuit of prey.
Revan was an amalgamation of Thrawn and Anakin: a prodigious mastermind who was also an inordinately gifted Force user.
Knights of the Old Republic took existing Star Wars tropes and expounded upon them (while introducing new ones) in tasteful ways that didn't amount to a bitter attempt to outdo a more popular story.
Legacy, like TOR, has revealed itself to me only as an attempt by obscure writers to match the popularity of that which spawned them by mimicking the original story to a dangerously absurd degree.
But we'll see. As long as Cade continues to be Cade, there may be hope yet.
Yup; the Sith should have died at Endor or Byss. Why would a self-respecting dark sider wanna be a Sith anyway? They fail far more times than they succeed.
Unless they're being literal when they speak of the throne. Maybe it all comes down to the goddamn chair.
I'd be more invested in such a story, that promises actual changes to the SW galaxy, than merely defeating some random villain - all our current crises merely involve maintaining or restoring the status quo. Yawn.
Yea, I can definitely see a "The Sith should be dead-dead," argument, and can't say I entirely disagree (Btw, the One Sith is the *only* Post-Endor Sith I like).
That said, one can view it as, "Luke bought a century of peace and forged the Jedi who're fighting this one."
Though this is a difference in that the status quo involves the Empire.
I downloaded all of them last night. So far, I have seen VERY little of Krayt's awesomeness, but I'm only on issue 5; he has 51 issues to change my mind.
Right now, though, he's not fit to kiss Sidious's boot as a warrior or mastermind.
Sep 17th, 2013 12:23 AM
