Knights of the Old Republic #12 Reunion Part 2 Story: John Jackson Miller Art: Harvey Tolibao special thanks to Crystal Faith Celestial Coloring: Jay David Ramos Lettering: Michael Heisler Cover: Hoon Released: 01/10/2007 Reviewed by: JF Boivin (07/30/2007) SUMMARY: The Moomo brothers have messed up their assignment on Telerath, and their employer is not happy. Now that they have captured Arvan Carrick too early and brought him to their ship the Moomo Williwaw, there is no chance that his son Zayne will be able to contact him. The brothers fight, and Dob then goes out to a local tavern. Gryph engages the Ithorian in conversation, and manages to find out where Arvan is and who hired the Moomo brothers. Soon, a plan is formed and Zayne himself sneaks into the Ithorians' ship, rescues his father and brings him aboard the Last Resort. Now all Zayne has to do is to find a safe place for his father and family where they will be out of reach of Zayne's enemies.

[final cover] [preview cover]

THE STORY

Just when I thought that the Jedi Covenant would be out of the picture for a while, this issue reveals that they are behind the whole plot. Well at least two of them: Master Raana Tey is the one who hired, muc to her regret, the Moomo brothers to keep watch over Arvan Carrick until Zayne contacted or visited him; and Master Lucian Draay is also probably behind the plot to have Zayne's father transferred to a banking job on Telerath in the first place, as it is revealed that the bank is owned by the Draay Trust among others. So they are still around, but the Force is still with Zayne as his presence on Telerath at the right moment, coupled with the Moomos' incompetence, inadvertantly foils the Jedi Covenant's trap.

After Raana Tey berates the Ithorians over the HoloNet, they fight among themselves and one of them goes outside their ship the Moomo Williwaw. Now that Gryph knows who he's dealing with (he learned last issue), he also knows the Moomos' reputation and that is enough to help him come up with a plan. First, he correctly predicts that at least one of them would go to a bar, so it is a simple thing for him to use his ruse to extricate some information from the not-too-bright Ithorian, especially with the help of generous amounts of mind-numbing liquids which Gryph treats him to. Then we are treated of a whole 5 pages of very entertaining and funny dialogue between the two characters; needless to say, Gryph easily outsmarts the Ithorian, who turns out to be Dob Moomo, and fools him into revealing who hired them and where the kidnapped banker is located by offering him Zayne himself in exchange. Zayne is a way bigger bounty than the banker, he tells the Ithorian, plus his brother Del would not have to know.

Of course, all this is a charade and now that he knows where his father is, Zayne easily finds the Moomo Williwaw, sneaks aboard and frees his father. It is then a simple matter to start another fight between the brothers to provide cover as the two Humans sneak back out. Zayne is very unhappy and surprised to learn that his former Masters would go so low as to target his own family, but this little adventure has given him a chance to prevent this from happening again: he instructs his father to take his mother Reiva and his four sisters and go to a place where someone Zayne still trusts resides. His father accepts, saying that he can appy for a transfer and then we find out on the last panel that Zayne's family will live on Dantooine under the protection of Master Vandar Tokare!

I really loved this issue, the way that events turned out good in the end while at the same time finding out about Zayne's family. The dialogue between Zayne and his father are very touching. They really talk like they have known each other all their lives and haven't really been apart all that long. Some will say that Jedi shouldn't know their parents as dictated in the prequel movies, but this is a different time, thousands of years before the movies when the rules were different. I mean, in Tales of the Jedi, Masters are allowed to have more than one student, and some students are chosen at an advanced age. Arvan seems to really love his son and he tells him that whether Zayne did what he is accused of or not, it doesn't really matter because he trusts that he did the right thing. Once again, this issue has a nice blend of emotions courtesy of Miller: comedy in the form of the Moomo brothers; intrigue with the looming menace of the Jedi Covenant; drama between Zayne and his father; and brilliance with Gryph's gift of manipulating people.

THE ART

It had to happen! I was so happy that the story arcs so far have been consistent in the art department (aside from issue #5 of course). But now with this second of a two-part story, a new artist and colorist take over for Brian Ching and Michael Atiyeh. Tolibao does a good job of recreating Ching's designs (especially Gryph), but his own style is very apparent and different. Not too say that it is bad, but he doesn't seem as informed about the Star Wars universe. Still, Tolibao's art is nice. Some highlights include: the first full-page panel, which is a striking close-up of a very angry Raana Tey; the various fights between the two brothers are pretty dynamic and funny; and the last panel representation of Vandar is very convincing.

I am disappointed by the cover, only because it is not up to Hoon's previous high standards. It seems kind of bland compared to his usual work.

CONCLUSIONS

Very entertaining, despite the change of artistic team.

Rating: 7.5 / 10 Highly Recommended