Star Wars: Darth Maul Paperback – September 5, 2017

This graphic novel introduces us to Darth Maul as an aide to Darth Sidious, who has been told to wait before going after Jedi. He, however, hears of a captured Jedi Padawan to be auctioned and comes up with a plan to capture and kill her. We also cross paths with Darth Vader and Bane and his group of bounty hunters...An entertaining tale with great graphics (though some double page spreads are more tricky to view on a kindle) and a very unsurprising ending!

This particular graphic novel very loyally went along the lines of what separates the dark side from the light side that George Lucas set from the beginning; Anger, hatred, rage, a lust for revenge. These insatiable emotions are what molded the Sith Lord, Darth Maul, as illustrated in this beautifully written and drawn novel. If you are a Star Wars fan like myself who wishes to dive deeper into the hidden lore of the galaxy hidden far, far away, Darth Maul is a great place to start. And I look forward to continuing my read about Maul's unquenched thirst for carnage in the next few volumes.

Cullen Bunn's solo series sees a younger Maul before the events of Phantom Menace chaffing to take the fight to the Jedi. While Darth Sidious is content to weave his plans and push the galaxy towards Civil War, Maul is itching to hunt down the hated Jedi. When he learns of a Jedi Padawan being sold into slavery by a group of ruthless pirates, Maul takes the opportunity to disobey Sidious' orders and join the auction in order to gain an opponent he can finally duel. Joined by Cad Bane and Aurra Sing (from the Star Wars Clone Wars television series), Maul infiltrates the pirates and comes face to face with his first Jedi. The artwork is gorgeous in this series and while the book doesn't delve too deeply into Maul's back story or motivations (he's angry and his anger has been honed as a weapon against the Jedi) the action is a blast. If you didn't watch the Clone Wars series you won't have missed too much when it comes to the bounty hunters (Bane is an awesome character and I'm glad the comics gave him more to do outside the show).

The Return of Darth Maul!This is Marvel's first series featuring the character.There have been a few Darth Maul series. Of all of them, this one is the best. It is excellent. It presents the character like he should be presented, full of pure hate. He's a Dark Side weapon about to explode. This book does such a good job portraying Darth Maul because it gets inside the character's head.The plot is damned interesting, too. I won't blow it for you other than to say it may tug at your gut a little bit.This is very good writing combined with very good art to make for an excellent read.AT LAST WE WILL REVEAL OURSELVES TO THE JEDI!AT LAST WE WILL HAVE OUR REVENGE!

Really tapped into the mindset of a Sith & gave Maul a goal & ambition that gave his time in Phantom Menace more substance. Maul killing Qui-Gon is a lot more rewarding after this read, considering this entire book is about Maul’s hunger to not only kill a Jedi, but one that is worthy of a true challenge. Even more interesting was the fact that Maul admired the sith-like fighting style & energy of the padawan, making his defeat at the hands of Obi-Wan more interesting; Obi-Wan used a sith-style technique to defeat Maul (slicing him in half), which is frowned upon by the Jedi. We are now led to believe that Maul must’ve appreciated this defeat, for he is allowed the pleasure of witnessing a Jedi tap into their Sith nature. I also liked the chemistry between Maul & Cad Bane (you can never tell when one is going to turn on the other). The padawan also gave off an Ashoka vibe, which was appreciated. Very good story, very will written. 5 out of 5 stars :)

This story is basically the story of his Darth Maul kills his first Jedi, even from the start there is quite a bit of action. If there was not a fight scene then it was getting into the mind of Maul. The art is absolutely fantastic, there is cross hatching and some pages mimic a watercolor which is beautiful. There is a lot of lore for Darth Maul even more for his state of mind during the entire event. Still my favorite Sith Apprentice hands down.