Knights of the Old Republic #5 Commencement Part 5 (of 6) Story: John Jackson Miller Art: Travel Foreman Coloring: Michael Atiyeh Lettering: Michael Heisler Cover: Travis Charest Released: 05/31/2006 Reviewed by: JF Boivin (04/22/2007) SUMMARY: On the surface of the Rogue Moon, Zayne and Jarael are caught by Jedi Master Lucien and a squad of Taris police. But they are rescued by Gryph and Camper with help from the Last Resort's canon and they manage to escape with T1-LB's wrecked parts. The droid is put back together and reactivated by Camper, and using a holoprojector displays its last moments with the Jedi Masters on the Rogue Moon. While waiting for their Padawans who are completing their last trial before Knighthood, the four Masters who are Consulars meditate and have a vision of the Sith invading Coruscant led by a figure in a red spacesuit, a suit very similar worn by their Padawans. In unison they decide to exterminate their Padawans to prevent this terrible vision from happening. After the holoprojection, the Last Resort is captured by a bounty hunter ship, the Oroko. Gryph knows Captain Valius Ying and manages to negotiate his, Camper's and Jarael's release, but the price on Zayne's head is too high. But while being led to a cell, Zayne knocks out his captor and plans to steal the Last Resort and disappear. But Jarael discourages him, and he decides to turn himself in.

[final cover] [preview cover]

THE STORY

A few revelations in this issue. It's cool to find out exactly what happened to the Masters to make them decide to kill their Padawans, presented simultaneously as a holographic recording made by "Elbee" and as a flashback sequence. Even though the Masters' visions that are shown couldn't possibly have been recorded, it is presented more as a "flashback" and is handled properly when Gryph mentions later that all they saw was the Jedi "running around swinging at nothing". Another revelation is Jarael's relationship to Camper: she vowed to protect him when he rescued her years ago from a "bad spot".

We see more of Gryph's skills as a negotiator when he reveals the deal he made with the bounty hunters. We also see more of Camper's amazing skills as a mechanic when he rebuilds the wrecked droid entirely and even adds a vocabulator and holoprojector. And Zayne starts to even doubt himself, thining that there is a slight chance the Masters are right and he could be the figure from the vision. Being honorable, he prefers to turn himself in when Jarael mentions that he would leave her and Camper at the Jedi's mercy if he just left. The story arc is coming to a close, and I'm intrigued to see what happens next.

THE ART

One of my pet peeves is a story arc or miniseries with a set number of issues, and one or two of the issues has a different artist. I understand that this is due to deadlines and such, but still I'm sure in this day and age it is possible to keep a schedule. Anyway, as a fill-in artist, Foreman's art is not bad. He does a decent job of emulating Ching's style and designs, but shows a bit of manga-esque influence. The coloring also helps to create some kind of continuity in the art, although it will be very apparent in the trade collection that there are different pencillers.

CONCLUSIONS

If you've made it this far, don't quit now! This issue has a lot of answers.

Rating: 7 / 10