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jaredkwheeler's review
4.0
Star Wars Legends Project #35
Background: Knight Errant: Escape came out in 5 issues through mid-to-late 2012. The trade paperback was released in April 2013. The story was written by [a:John Jackson Miller|20028|John Jackson Miller|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1272316895p2/20028.jpg], with artwork penciled by [a:Marco Castiello|2864194|Marco Castiello|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Castiello also did a couple issues of the Purge series and Rebel Heist. His non-Star Wars work for Dark Horse includes several issues of Halo comics, and he's done a bit for Marvel and DC as well.
Escape is set 1032 years before the Battle of Yavin (1000 years before The Phantom Menace). It begins sometime not long after the events of [b:Deluge|13078299|Deluge (Star Wars Knight Errant Comic, #2)|John Jackson Miller|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1338145545s/13078299.jpg|18245442] (my review). Jedi Kerra Holt is still the protagonist, with Sith Lords Daiman and Odion returning as her antagonists (and several references to, and brief appearances by, other minor characters from the series). The action takes place across several planets, mostly in Odion's territory.
Summary: Having recently saved Lord Daiman's capital world, Darkknell, from destruction, Kerra Holt enlists his aid to infiltrate Lord Odion's army, hoping to settle an old score as she works to undermine his regime. She gets more than she bargained for, however, when she learns that Odion is on the scent of an extremely powerful Sith artifact that could endanger the entire galaxy, and the trail he is following was forged by figures from her own past that she believed long-dead. Her judgment may be compromised just when she needs it the most, and her personal feelings could jeopardize everything she has been fighting for.
Review: Finally, this is the kind of story I was hoping for and expecting from this series: rich, dramatic, and emotionally-weighty in a way that the rest of Knight Errant hasn't been. Daiman and Odion have been the primary Sith villains throughout Kerra's story, but Daiman has consistently been featured more heavily. That makes sense, as he is in some ways the more interesting character, but given Kerra's personal history with Odion, his time in the spotlight was long overdue. And, as a result, I see now that Odion wasn't the less-interesting character, he was merely the less-developed one. He stood to be a truly diabolical villain in his own right, and this story certainly realizes that potential.
We also learn more interesting details about Kerra's family and background, and while those elements that ended up being most central to this plot seemed to come a bit out of left field, they nevertheless provided a welcome twist. Suddenly, Kerra's battle, which she has waged with the same single-minded intensity since her arrival in Sith space, becomes even more personal in a way that even she couldn't have anticipated, and watching her grapple with that added heretofore unimagined dimensions to her character.
I particularly loved the art style of this entry, as well. Part of that, of course, is due to the artists, but a lot of it has to do with the darkness of the story itself. Kerra spends much of the story fighting undercover alongside Odion's novitiates amid grim surroundings, and there is a delicious color palette of blacks and reds and oranges that suits this series better than the often-brighter colors of some of the earlier stories. It also introduces yet another Sith Lord, Malakite, whose army features all manner of mutant monsters for the artist to sink his teeth into.
The story includes probably my favorite Knight Errant supporting character: General Yulan. His character arc was totally unexpected, but fantastic, and his conversations with Kerra at various points are some of the best dialogue scenes in the series. I finally felt like Kerra had grown as a character to the point where she is able to articulate a fully-realized personal philosophy that can at least compare (if not quite compete) with the greatness of Zayne Carrick from Miller's Knights of the Old Republic series.
All in all, Escape satisfied most of my biggest complaints about the rest of the series, while tying up loose ends, and still being action-packed and entertaining. I especially love the notion of a frantic search for a lost Sith artifact, which makes for a quite different kind of story from the rest of Knight Errant. I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending as a cap on the series as a whole, but I can live with it, particularly given how enjoyable it was.
A-
Background: Knight Errant: Escape came out in 5 issues through mid-to-late 2012. The trade paperback was released in April 2013. The story was written by [a:John Jackson Miller|20028|John Jackson Miller|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1272316895p2/20028.jpg], with artwork penciled by [a:Marco Castiello|2864194|Marco Castiello|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Castiello also did a couple issues of the Purge series and Rebel Heist. His non-Star Wars work for Dark Horse includes several issues of Halo comics, and he's done a bit for Marvel and DC as well.
Escape is set 1032 years before the Battle of Yavin (1000 years before The Phantom Menace). It begins sometime not long after the events of [b:Deluge|13078299|Deluge (Star Wars Knight Errant Comic, #2)|John Jackson Miller|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1338145545s/13078299.jpg|18245442] (my review). Jedi Kerra Holt is still the protagonist, with Sith Lords Daiman and Odion returning as her antagonists (and several references to, and brief appearances by, other minor characters from the series). The action takes place across several planets, mostly in Odion's territory.
Summary: Having recently saved Lord Daiman's capital world, Darkknell, from destruction, Kerra Holt enlists his aid to infiltrate Lord Odion's army, hoping to settle an old score as she works to undermine his regime. She gets more than she bargained for, however, when she learns that Odion is on the scent of an extremely powerful Sith artifact that could endanger the entire galaxy, and the trail he is following was forged by figures from her own past that she believed long-dead. Her judgment may be compromised just when she needs it the most, and her personal feelings could jeopardize everything she has been fighting for.
Review: Finally, this is the kind of story I was hoping for and expecting from this series: rich, dramatic, and emotionally-weighty in a way that the rest of Knight Errant hasn't been. Daiman and Odion have been the primary Sith villains throughout Kerra's story, but Daiman has consistently been featured more heavily. That makes sense, as he is in some ways the more interesting character, but given Kerra's personal history with Odion, his time in the spotlight was long overdue. And, as a result, I see now that Odion wasn't the less-interesting character, he was merely the less-developed one. He stood to be a truly diabolical villain in his own right, and this story certainly realizes that potential.
We also learn more interesting details about Kerra's family and background, and while those elements that ended up being most central to this plot seemed to come a bit out of left field, they nevertheless provided a welcome twist. Suddenly, Kerra's battle, which she has waged with the same single-minded intensity since her arrival in Sith space, becomes even more personal in a way that even she couldn't have anticipated, and watching her grapple with that added heretofore unimagined dimensions to her character.
I particularly loved the art style of this entry, as well. Part of that, of course, is due to the artists, but a lot of it has to do with the darkness of the story itself. Kerra spends much of the story fighting undercover alongside Odion's novitiates amid grim surroundings, and there is a delicious color palette of blacks and reds and oranges that suits this series better than the often-brighter colors of some of the earlier stories. It also introduces yet another Sith Lord, Malakite, whose army features all manner of mutant monsters for the artist to sink his teeth into.
The story includes probably my favorite Knight Errant supporting character: General Yulan. His character arc was totally unexpected, but fantastic, and his conversations with Kerra at various points are some of the best dialogue scenes in the series. I finally felt like Kerra had grown as a character to the point where she is able to articulate a fully-realized personal philosophy that can at least compare (if not quite compete) with the greatness of Zayne Carrick from Miller's Knights of the Old Republic series.
All in all, Escape satisfied most of my biggest complaints about the rest of the series, while tying up loose ends, and still being action-packed and entertaining. I especially love the notion of a frantic search for a lost Sith artifact, which makes for a quite different kind of story from the rest of Knight Errant. I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending as a cap on the series as a whole, but I can live with it, particularly given how enjoyable it was.
A-
rltinha's review
3.0
Com Sith Lords destes (como o Odion), a Thought Bomb do Bane foi a melhor coisa que aconteceu à... corporação dos olhos amarelos.
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