Star Wars: Darth Maul - Black White & Red #2 Review

Writers: Mark Russell

Artist: Carlos Nieto

Cover Artist: Tyler Kirkham

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Price: $4.99

Reviewer: StoryBabbler

On the remote fringes of the territory of the Galactic Republic, one of the rough corners of the galaxy is inhabited by seasoned bounty hunters who survived through the worst and settling down. But now, their retirement has been cut short by the arrival of a mysterious warrior who wields the Dark Side of the Force, Darth Maul. But why is he here, and what will the bounty hunters do to survive? Read Star Wars: Darth Maul – Black, White & Red #2 to see this bloody clash.

Review:

Okay, so this series caught me off guard from the first issue as it uses the format of one story per issue unlike the other Black, White & Red series. What’s more, this issue is actually good. We finally got a good comic book from Mark Russell. In all seriousness, the comic is decent in terms of writing and it’s the art that sells it. Let’s get into the review.

This issue has a very straightforward premise: the people of a remote colony on the fringes of the Galactic Republic’s notice is targeted by Darth Maul. Why? The answer is a spoiler, but it’s nothing too crazy or big and will be explored in the SPOILERS section. Either way, the story focuses on the remote colony of Moonbender, weird name I know, run by a cadre of retired bounty hunters turned colony owners for their stellar service. And now that they’re under attack by a strange warrior, they have to put their skills to the test once again.

Like I said earlier, this comic is special because for once in his decade-long comic book career, Mark Russell actually writes a fun comic that’s not drowning in his poor social commentary in any way. If you didn’t know who the writer was and read this, you wouldn’t believe that Mark Russell wrote it. Now that being said, the writing is nothing groundbreaking or incredible, it’s just fine. We have our POV character in the retired bounty Hunter turned medic called Korvik who is narrating while Darth Maul is besieging them and fighting his friends.

Of course, while the writing, dialogue, and pacing are just fine, it’s the art that really sells this comic. The artist (artist name) did a good job with illustrating Darth Maul and the other characters, showing their anger, fear, and despair as they face a foe cutting them down and overcoming the best they throw at him. As I said in my review of the first issue, we see exactly why Darth Maul perfectly fits the Black, White, and Red visual style as he is the most distinctive character here due to his design being prominently black and red. And when he’s in action, Maul looks great.

The only major flaw is that the action isn’t that great. That’s not to say the art is bad, Darth Maul looks good in this comic, but there’s just no challenge here for him and thus the action is pretty average. The previous issue had him fighting Lovecraftian aliens who wielded the dark side, but here Maul is essentially fighting bounty Hunter retirees. There’s nothing cool or dangerous about them, they don’t have cool designs, weapons, fighting styles, etc. and they’re barely interesting as a group and individually. The narrator Korvik says that his crew are “survivors of just about every type of combat the galaxy could dream up. And believe me when I say the galaxy is a creative place.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t show here as Maul easily cuts them all down with only a couple close calls that he quickly recovers from. Even the name of their group is lame. I kid you not, they’re called “the Remainders”.

SPOILERS Section:

Earlier I said the reason Darth Maul attacks the Moonbender colony is pretty simple. Well, at the end of the comic, after he’s killed all of the bounty hunters, Maul is contacted by Darth Sidious and he asks why he was sent there. Sidious replies that it’s simple, for training. And while some might scoff and think that’s a weak reason, it’s actually very well rooted in Sidious’ character and the Sith Order which we saw plenty of in the Legends Continuity. Since they don’t have the run of the galaxy, the Sith would have their apprentices gain real experience in combat via trial-by-fire training and used the criminal underbelly of the galaxy as their fodder. And this is how Darth Maul was sometimes trained by Sidious then, and it’s echoed here in the new Canon.

Final Thoughts:

Star Wars: Darth Maul – Black, White & Red #2 brings a solid story with the dathomirian Sith on the attack. While the POV of the comic is another character, Darth Maul remains the star of this comic as he’s got the best poses, action, and even a cool double-page spread thanks to the artist Carlos Nieto. The premise is pretty straightforward and gets right to why we’re here pretty soon. The problem is the lack of challenge for Darth Maul as the comic builds up his opponents as being some of the deadliest bounty hunters around, but they’re not and the action ends up being a little underwhelming. However, the comic is still a fine read for a standalone Darth Maul comic.