Review: Star Wars Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral #4

November 14, 2012 at 1:00 am | Posted in Dark Horse, Disney, Reviews | Leave a comment

A Sith princess returns to her kingdom as ancient Lord Dreypa’s awakened army of Leviathans wreaks havoc and destruction across the lost tribe of the Sith, searching for the one thing that can again open Dreypa’s power to the entire galaxy! Running out of options to save the tribe she wants to rule, the princess takes a chance that places all her trust in herself and in the Sith rebel who’s been fighting against her . . .

Today sees the release of the fourth issue of John Jackson Miller’s Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral comic from Dark Horse! After the break you can read my thoughts on the issue!!

BEWARE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Normally I wouldn’t write a review like this. Normally I wouldn’t even consider it, but then a month ago when Synlah and I sat down to review the third issue of the series the Sequel Trilogy wasn’t announced. So maybe some are wondering why this is important or what it has to do with this issue? The answer is simple, what happens in this series ties in to the larger picture of where the current EU left off in the books. The Lost Tribe were still a threat to Luke and the Jedi and Vestara was getting ready to venture forth as a full fledged Sith and conquer the galaxy. Well maybe on that last part :) But then October 30th rolled around and the announcement was made that Disney was buying Lucasfilm and there were going to be new movies. All of a sudden thousands of EU fans cried out in shock about what would happen to the EU. Is it dead? Does it still count? Will we see what happens to all the characters and situations set up in the comics and novels anymore?

As it stands now we aren’t being told anything aside from it’s business as usual, hell we don’t even really know what that means. So as fans where do you stand? Are you left wondering if any of this matters until the movies come out? Or are you wondering if you should even keep up with the magnitude of things the EU has to offer? Truthfully I can’t answer that for you. What I can tell you though is that whether these stories count or not towards canon shouldn’t be enough to stop you from enjoying some damn fine stories. Because at the end of the day all of this is make believe anyway and it’s the stories that should be the driving force on what YOU decide. If you enjoy it, continue to and this series by John Jackson Miller is one helluva good story and it’s only gotten better with each issue.

We actually get to see Sith versus Sith action continue in this era and what the differences are between Dreypa and the Lost Tribe. When things really get peeled back I almost wonder if the Hilts-led Sith were redeemable as a whole on Kesh? We don’t see the normal in-fighting that has always threatened to undo the Sith, instead we see the Sith pulling together to combat the massive threat that Dreypa poses to their society and culture. It’s ironic that it’s one of the Doomed from Kesh that really does start to spell certain doom for the Lost Tribe.

Things like this, John’s story-telling ability, make these stories matter for what they are: damn good stories. I’ve never really been a fan of Sith, my preference has always leaned towards the light side characters, but John has made me care for these characters. Because of Fate of the Jedi I know that the Lost Tribe survives this scare with Dreypa. BUT now that there are Sequels coming out in 2015, maybe now I’m not so sure anymore and with the huge twist at the end that John threw in there involving Spinner, maybe things are going to get changed in more ways then we ever expected. That’s one of the surprising aspects the announcement of the new movies has done for me, it has opened up the possibilities of what will count and what won’t. What will be touched upon and what won’t. Because right now if Michael Arndt is looking for a new group of Sith to take the forefront John’s interpretation of the Lost Tribe certainly opens up some doors.

I’m going to close with this. I know that Disney owns Marvel and now Disney owns Lucasfilm. A lot of people have assumed that the Star Wars license will go back to Marvel once it expires at Dark Horse. Here’s how I look at that: Marvel had the contract. Now maybe they weren’t allowed to tell more stories after #107 or maybe they felt there weren’t any stories left TO tell. But 21 years ago a little publisher thought they could and Dark Horse has delivered for all 21 years of their time with Star Wars. I hope that Star Wars stays with Dark Horse for another 21 years. Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley have done an amazing job of bringing in major talent to expand upon the vision of George Lucas. When things looked too bleak within the world of the novels a lot of fans turned to Dark Horse for quality stories and Dark Horse delivered year after year, issue after issue. So whether you’re worried about the current status of the EU or not I implore you to vote with you wallets. Show Disney that you support where the contracts are, whether it’s Dark Horse or Del Rel. Help to show Disney that we trust these people with Star Wars just as much as the people at Lucasfilm did. And also let Disney know that you trust what they have in store for us as well. After all we are all fans of the Saga and its continuing adventures.

I easily give this issue a 5 out of 5 brass bikinis: