Mace Windu #2

Jedi of the Republic: Mace Windu #2

Writer: Matt Owens
Penciller: Denys Cowan
Inker: Roberto Poggi
Color Artist: Guru-eFX
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Cover Artist: Jesus Saiz

Sometimes a Star Wars comic can miss the mark or be pretty average, but rarely are they just plain bad. Mace Windu #2 is unfortunately the latter. The story jumps around creating confusion, the artwork is mediocre, and the dialog ranges from weak to groan worthy. It’s just bad all around.

The issue opens with the Jedi running through a cave chasing some golem creatures. At first, I was confused. Did I miss an issue? Did I skip a page in the last comic? Why are the Jedi following creatures through caves? Mace Windu #1 game the impression that the Jedi were in a battle fighting Separatist droids, which they were, and the issue ended with the droids. However, there was a panel hidden in there that showed the Jedi being surrounded by some unknown aliens and story ended there, not saying anymore. This one skips a few beats to show the Jedi following those same aliens following the skirmish with the Separatists. I had to go back and check issue #1 twice before I was able to make sense of it.

The Jedi follow the natives to an underground city, and someone gets some magical insight into how this primitive civilization gets by in the caves. The plants from the surface lead all the way into the caves and provide them with light and heat. Later on we discover, via some convenient insight from Mace, that the Separatists are harvesting the plants for energy. Or they’re studying the plants in order to better harvest energy. Both objectives are stated, so it could be their doing both. It probably doesn’t matter since the Jedi will wipe this operation out in the last issue. This doesn’t seem like a series that’s going to deliver any surprises.

Inevitably the Separatists discover the city and attack the Jedi. The artwork gets a little confusing in some of the fight scenes, especially the one where the mercenary droid grabs a ball of junk/dirt that Mace is clinging on to, and then Mace falls. The issue ends with the Jedi seeing the Separatists farming the planet for resources after either stopping the Separatist attack on the underground city or simply running from it. It’s not really clear.

Amid the confusion in both story and artwork, and the weakness of the storytelling, there’s some very poor dialog. Here’s an example of humor:

“And the roots from the glowing plants aboveground supply them with light and heat belowground.”

“And possibly deter larger, subterranean predators.”

“Always looking on the bright side, Prosset.”

Remember, the comic literally told us that Prosset was funny, so we would know he’s funny, because reading the comic, you would have no clue. To be honest, Kit Fisto is the way always striving toward humor. Aside from that, there’s the droids.

Battle Droid: “So what are we supposed to call you then?”

Battle Droid: “Captain?”

AD-W4: “No.”

Battle Droid: “Chief?”

AD-W4: “What? No. You don’t–I would actually prefer if you didn’t speak to me.”

The main bad guy is AD-W4, a mercenary droid working for the Separatists. AD-W4’s ongoing gag is that he doesn’t want any titles, and the battle droids keep giving him a title. Sadly, the gag doesn’t really work. Later on, AD-W4 has a conversation with Mace that is thrown out of wack due to an odd choice of words. Mace says, “A Separatist hired gun. The just do not have a need to hire mercenaries.” At first I thought it was a typo and they meant to say “Jedi” instead of “just”, then I realized they meant “just” as in “righteous.” At least I think that’s what they were going for. It’s a little confusing as the next line from AD-W4 mentions them growing them (mercenaries) themselves, ie. the clones. The dialog really world have mad more sense if it was Jedi instead of “just.”

There’s other examples of bad dialog, but I’d rather not spend that much time tearing this whole thing apart piece-by-piece. Suffice to say, there’s bad dialog, the artwork is weak, and the story skippable. I would not recommend this comic to anyone. I give it a one out of five metal bikinis.

Reviewed By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.