Last week saw the release of the fourth (and last) issue of Marvel Comics’ anthology series Star Wars: Darth Maul – Black, White & Red, and below are my brief recap and thoughts on this final installment.
Darth Maul – Black, White & Red #4 is written by Greg Pak (Star Wars: Darth Vader) and illustrated by Luca Pizzari (Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – Jabba the Hutt) and Will Sliney (Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser – Halcyon Legacy), with Andres Mossa (Star Wars: Captain Phasma) providing the singular color this time around. Its story begins with the titular Sith Lord on a successful assassination mission to an unnamed planet, though he overstays his welcome and his assignment by sticking around to kill the remaining guards of the governor he was sent to take out. Maul’s master, Darth Sidious (AKA Sheev Palpatine) reprimands him by next sending him to the remote Outer Rim planet of Ah Re Won, newly introduced here but reminiscent of a similar location that popped up in the Star Wars Rebels animated series. Ah Re Won is home to an abandoned, overgrown Sith temple, and Maul’s instructions are to wait there patiently for Sidious’s arrival and “control [his] rage by meditating in stillness and quiet.”
This task proves to be more challenging than anticipated, as Maul’s isolation is interrupted by an argument between a local bed-and-breakfast owner and the town mayor demanding late rent on her property. The conflict escalates to the point where Maul takes it upon himself to intervene– not because of any moral imperative, mind you, but simply because their ongoing spat is causing too much noise. It’s heavily implied that Maul kills the mayor in the middle of the night as the slimy politician is planning to burn down the bed and breakfast, and then feeds his remains to a large, menacing creature called a Karafankata, but the Sith Lord’s distractions don’t end there. Soon a group of aristocratic hunters show up in pursuit of the creature in its temple home, further interrupting Maul’s meditations. This does not end well for them either, and soon we realize that this comic is mostly about the title character eliminating everything and everything blocking the way along his path to “Peace and Quiet.”
The final act involves a pirate king in this sector who shows up to get revenge for the death of his son, who was the leader of the hunters, and we get more of the same (very well choreographed and illustrated) violence as he and Maul duke it out on the streets of Ah Re Won. There’s a bit of a twist ending here, as we’re expecting Darth Sidious to be displeased with Maul’s inability to stay out of trouble, but instead Palpatine is satisfied that his Dathomirian apprentice went to such great lengths in order to achieve the stillness he had ordered. It’s a fun, clever story with a rewarding payoff, though there were a couple moments in the middle where I wasn’t sure what exactly was supposed to be happening (did Maul pay the woman to stay at her bed and breakfast? He is treated like a guest there though we never see him agree). Either way, I enjoyed the Darth Maul – Black, White & Red miniseries quite a bit. Like the similar Darth Vader anthology before it, it was a great playground for a variety of writers and artists to have fun with a character that offers up plenty of opportunities for striking imagery and colorful writing– though the artwork is intentionally monochromatic.
Star Wars: Darth Maul – Black, White & Red #4 is available now wherever comic books are sold.