John Jackson Miller talks with IGN about the next chapter in the Knights of the Old Republic comic series. Click here for the interview and check out the excerpt below:


"IGN: This new storyline is being billed as a perfect jumping-on point for new readers, so let's set the stage. Who is Zayne Carrick, and where does he fit into the pantheon of Star Wars heroes?

John Jackson Miller: If Anakin Skywalker is the Jedi who blew the curve for all the other students, Zayne Carrick was the kid at the back of the class. A marginal candidate for Knighthood, Zayne never could catch the con artists, like Gryph, he was dispatched to capture — and he was always being embarrassed in front of his teachers and his girlfriend. (Yep, in our corner of the Old Republic, Jedi can date!) But fate intervened. Zayne arrived late for the graduation ceremony and found his fellow students dead at their teachers' feet, launching him on the run from his Masters and the quest for answers and justice that has made up the first movement of the series.

That meta-arc completed in #35, and now Zayne finds himself a free agent —?keeping company with the scoundrels he once had to pursue, and still trying to keep to Jedi principles, even on the outside. One of the springboard moments for me is that scene in Star Wars where Han Solo says a kid like Skywalker could come in handy in the smuggling trade. Of course, Luke declined (and the galaxy and Yavin IV thanked him for it), but what if, after the award ceremony, he'd agreed? I wanted to explore the notion of the Force-user as paladin, no longer attached to the Jedi Order and its many intrigues, but still trying to do the right thing."