Mace Windu #4

Mace Windu #4 (of 5)

Writer: Matt Owens
Penciller: Denys Cowan and Edgar Salazar
Inkers: Roberto Poggi and Scott Hanna
Colorist: Guru-eFX
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Cover Artist: Jesus Saiz

With one more issue to go with the Mace Windu mini-series, I’m not really sure what the writer is trying to accomplish with this story. As if the last issue didn’t make things complicated enough by having the Jedi fight each other, this issue adds entire side story that takes place in the past and doesn’t really have anything to do with the rest of the story. With shortcomings in the writing and an overly complex narrative, Mace Windu #4 kind of takes the series off the rails. It’s not a good turn.

The issue opens on the planet Mathas some time in the past. This little side story follows a young padawan Mace Windu and his master. On one hand, this story is actually far more interesting than the whole Clone Wars mission. Rather than just seeing Mace as a Jedi master fighting some Separatist droids and a mercenary droid, this side story gives us something completely new. It shows a side of Mace we’ve never seen before. Readers catch a glimpse of what Mace looked like as a padawn. We learn who is master was. We also learn how Mace acted as a padawan. That’s where the writing falls apart a little. If we are to take this story as canon, then it seems the Jedi Order has no problem with training padawans who are given to murdering people whom they think are worthy of being punished. The steps shy of actually making Mace a murderer, but he is consistently embracing violence which seems completely unlike a Jedi. I’m not sure how you can explain that away. With how picky the Jedi seemed to be with Anakin, and with how the Jedi are trained as very young children to grow up with this philosophy of peace and balance, Mace seems like a problem child that should have been expunged from the Order before even becoming a padawan.

Fast forwarding back to the present, Mace Windu fights fellow Jedi Prosset Dibs in a lightsaber duel over the way the Jedi Council is doing things. Prosset thinks the Jedi Council is trying to misuse the resources on Hissrich to further the war. Rather than talking him down or trying to peacefully resolve the situation, Mace ignites his lightsaber and decides to teach Prosset a lesson. Prosset declares that he’ll leave the Jedi Order if this is what they’ve come to, and Mace’s response is, “If you turn your back and run, I will not hesitate to hunt you down.” Uh, is that really the Jedi way? Prosset isn’t threatening to join the Separatists or go over to the dark side. He just said he wants to leave the Jedi Order. Dooku left the Order, and no one hunted him down. Why would Prosset be different? To me, Matt Owens is missing something here. Either he doesn’t quite get how Jedi are suppose to act, or he’s intentionally trying to write Mace Windu as a flawed person. A very flawed person. Or maybe he’s just doing a bad job at writing the characters. With one more issue to go, we’re close to getting an answer.

The issue wraps up with Prosset being defeated and confined. Mace and what remains of his Jedi team, then decide to go beat the bad guys and save the planet. Again, the setup for the story seems very odd. What was the point of the first three issues if we’re only coming all the way around to the same outcome? By not integrating the flashback sequences from the beginning, the flashbacks seem very out of place popping up in this issue. Having the Jedi fight and detain one of their members on this mission against some droids on a backwater world also seems out of place. While these could have been very interesting points in the story, they don’t seem central to the plot. Instead, it’s like they were afterthoughts tacked on rather than being integral. There is one issue left, so perhaps it someone will make sense then, but I’m not hopeful.

With some very messy writing and storytelling, I give Mace Windu #4 a one out of five metal bikinis.

Reviewed By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.