Star Wars : Darth Maul : Death Sentence #4 (of 4)

As the war rages on between the Moorjhone natives and the Empire, the scorching 3 suns are closing in. It’s the perfect distraction for Darth Maul to rescue his brother still frozen in carbonite.

The Team

Written by Tom Taylor (Star Wars : Invasion Vol. 1 : Refugees, DC Universe Online Legends Vol. 3), illustrated by Bruno Redondo (Push), coloured by Michael Atiyeh & cover art by Dave Dorman (Aliens : Tribes, Indiana Jones & The Fate Of Atlantis). Published by Dark Horse Comics.

The Pros & Cons

Just like heroes & villains of the comic book universe, Star Wars characters never truly die. Whether they fall into a giant man eating sand plant or dropped into a fusion reactor or even chopped in half with a light sabre, somehow they’ll rise again. So by telling you that Darth Maul survived this little adventure, I’m really not spoiling anything. The story wraps up like the neat little package it is, with both heroes & villains dying. The plot is extremely straight forward with some interesting characters, but the meat of the story is watching Darth Maul kick some Jedi ass, even if he’s half the Sith he is, he could still give old Vader & Fett a run for their money. He’s pissed at the Jedi for the loss of his legs, he’s pissed at the bounty on his head, he’s pissed at the universe basically and that makes even more dangerous. I would’ve liked to see the rematch between him & Kenobi, but that tale will probably be told in a future mini series.

I wish Tom Taylor would’ve left us with a few surprises with this final issue, but what it lacks in story telling certainly makes it up with plenty of Star Wars action we’re accustomed to. My views on Bruno Redondo’s illustrations remain the same, a nice blend of colourful characters with panels filled with great action moments with a nice Dave Dorman cover to make it all worthwhile.

The Outcome

With this final issue, this series kind of left me with an empty feeling, like there was something missing in the end. I do believe that Darth Maul is a character with huge potential and hopefully another series will nail it. This issue gets a 6 and so do all four issues.