Star Wars: Darth Maul – Death Sentence #2
Written by Tom Taylor
Art by Bruno Redondo
Colors by Michael Atiyeh
Letters by Michael Heisler
Cover by Dave Dorman
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: August 29, 2012
Cover Price: $2.99

In Star Wars: Darth Maul – Death Sentence #2, we find the roles reversed and Darth Maul put into a situation where he actually has to HELP people instead of kill them. But, that doesn’t mean he’s any nicer about things.

Writer Tom Taylor gives up another chapter in the Clone Wars era of the Star Wars universe. Now, we’ve seen Darth Maul ‘die’ in The Phantom Menace, and we’ve seen him come back to life in the Clone Wars cartoon series, but beyond that, we don’t know what truly happen to him, so this mini series is a bit of a mystery. Will he die for good this time? Will he survive and wander the galaxy while the “original” Star Wars films are going on? Who knows?

What we DO have in this issue is Maul and his brother, Savage Opress, split up while fighting a group of Jedi that has been dispatched to take care of them. The story mostly follows Darth Maul and his ‘rescue’ by some natives of the planet who nurse him back to health, and then ask a favor in return. For some reason, Maul agrees to help them, and then learns that the task is nearly impossible. I can’t say that I completely buy Maul’s sudden out-of-character sympathetic turn, but it moves the story along and, for now, gets him away from the standard Sith vs. Jedi fights.

Artist Bruno Redondo is a fine artist for a Star Wars book. He’s done his research and knows how things are and should look in the Star Wars universe. Although, I’m sure there are people out there who could pick it apart, I am not one of them, and I enjoyed the art with no problem. There are some brutal scenes in this issue, but Redondo tones them down for the all-ages audiences that the Star Wars books are meant for. He doesn’t ‘dumb it down’ by any means, just makes good use of camera angles and motion lines to obscure what could be VERY bloody scenes.

Both story and art are decent in this issue. I’m not salivating over the next issue, but I’ll read it when it comes out. As far as recommendations go, I’d have to give this a slight thumbs up. If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’ll definitely want to check it out, if you’re not, you might want to wait for the trade or just take a pass on this issue.