The Star Wars universe was an exciting place to be long before Jar-Jar Binks and baby Anakin made their annoying entries into the saga. Dark Horse, which chronicles the adventures of the Jedi, Rebel Alliance and other heroes and villains over a several-thousand-year period, has launched a new series, Knights of the Old Republic, with Commencement.

It's nearly 4,000 years before the birth of Luke Skywalker. Zayne Carrick is a padawan, or Jedi initiate, with some minor abilities in the Force and enough bad luck for a Bantha herd. Stationed with a team of Jedi masters and four peers in training on a planet on the outskirts of a war-torn region of space, Zayne is fully expecting to fail when the other initiates are knighted into the Jedi order. But when he arrives at the ceremony, he finds his friends all dead -- at the hands of their masters. Against the odds, he escapes before he too can be murdered, and he soon finds himself on the run along with a handful of fellow fugitives.

This is the first chapter of what looks to be a fascinating story by John Jackson Miller, set in a time so far unexplored in other media. Brian Ching and Travel Foreman provide bold, colorful art to tell the tale. Zayne is an interesting character who, like the future Luke, is forced by circumstances to rise to the occasion. The question is, will he seek justice -- or revenge?

I certainly hope Dark Horse sends volume 2 of the series along soon! I'm eager to know what happens next.

by Tom Knapp
Rambles.NET
31 March 2007