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A review by jaredkwheeler
Star Wars: Vector, Vol. 1 by John Jackson Miller
3.0
Star Wars Legends Project #16
Background: Knights of the Old Republic: Vector was released in four issues from January to May 2008. The trade paperback was released in January 2009. It was written by [a:John Jackson Miller|20028|John Jackson Miller|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1612231658p2/20028.jpg] and pencilled by [a:Scott Hepburn|1953865|Scott Hepburn|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Hepburn also pencilled 7 issues of The Clone Wars, along with various other things, mostly for Marvel (Captain Marvel, X-Men, The Avengers, Fantastic Four), but also some work on a "Dr. Horrible" comic, "Street Fighter," and "Thundercats."
A special note about Vector: I'm not reviewing all of it, because I didn't read all of it. Vector is a 12-issue timeline-hopping series that crosses four different ongoing (at the time) Dark Horse series: Knights of the Old Republic, Dark Times, Rebellion, and Legacy, with 4, 2, 2, and 4 issues in each series, respectively. So, I've read 4 of the 6 issues in volume 1, but I'm not hopping 4,000 years into the middle of the Dark Times series to continue it at this point. I'll get there when I get there. (I got there! And it only took me . . . *checks watch* . . . 5 years! You can read my review of the Dark Times issues of Vector here. *break* And here I am, 3 years later, with the 3rd Vector review!)
Vector begins sometime shortly after [b:Daze of Hate, Knights of Suffering|3840160|Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, Vol. 4 Daze of Hate, Knights of Suffering|John Jackson Miller|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403203829l/3840160._SY75_.jpg|3884992] (my review here), still 3,963 years before the Battle of Yavin. It references various Sith Lords from Tales of the Jedi (most notably Naga Sadow), and introduces a new character, the "Jedi Shadow" Celeste Morne, who will be the main protagonist of the other Vector comics as they continue into the future. Zayne and Gryph return as major characters, but most of the other significant players from Knights of the Old Republic appear only briefly or not at all.
Summary: The Mandalorians have smashed the Resistance on Taris, and Zayne and Gryph are scrambling to stay alive amidst the chaos of war and the horrors of the Rakghoul plague in the Lower City. More danger is headed their way, though, in the form of Celeste Morne, an agent of the Jedi Covenant dispatched by Lucien Draay to find an ancient Sith artifact of impossible power . . . and kill Zayne Carrick.
Review: Ambitious, but not up to par. I look forward to seeing more of Vector in future series, but there's just no denying that it feels like an interruption of the Knights of the Old Republic series, despite the best intentions of everyone who worked on it. A bit of the problem is that it kind of comes out of nowhere, leaving several threads dangling from the last arc. When it begins, enough time has passed that I don't get to see the conversation between Zayne and Gryph about the death of Raana Tey, though you can fill in most of the rest of the gaps through hints dropped here and there.
It's not really the writing, though. This is a fairly exciting story, and an interesting spin-off that makes clever use of elements that Knights of the Old Republic has had in play since the beginning. And Celeste Morne is a cool character who has a neat little arc over the course of these issues. I enjoyed all that well enough, and certainly impacts the direction that Zayne will take in future issues, so it's not like it's just irrelevant to the series as a whole. No, the problem is the art.
The editor noted at the end of one of the issues that they wanted the art to set Vector apart from the rest of the series so far. Well, first of all, that seems kind of dumb when one of their stated goals for Vector is that it not feel like just a one-off gimmick. But, secondly, the art does stand out. It makes it seem like we've transitioned from a mature, quality masterpiece of graphic storytelling, into a cheap Saturday morning cartoon. There's a lot about this art style that I hate. For one thing, it's completely inappropriate to the seriousness of the story they're attempting to tell. The biggest problem, though, is the way the characters are drawn as ugly caricatures, particularly Zayne and Celeste.
Zayne is only recognizable from his signature outfit. His face has been transformed into an upside down triangle, with his chin protruding way down in a sharp point. Celeste is even worse because I don't know what she's supposed to look like in actual human terms, so there's just no way to imagine her any differently. Her face looks hideous from almost any angle (it seems to shape-shift as she turns her head), shaped so bizarrely that I don't know how it's supposed to exist in three dimensions. Her lower jaw juts out so violently that the rest of her face appears concave. Half the time, she looks like she's angrily chewing on so many marbles that they're packed into her cheeks, and the rest of the time she just kind of resembles a chimp. Her eyes, nose, and mouth are slapped on at strange angles that don't appear to line up with each other in any way. It's just incredibly distracting, and awful. Click here for one example of what I'm talking about.
Bad art can't destroy good storytelling, but this was an additional handicap that Vector definitely didn't need. Thank goodness they didn't turn the writing of this arc over to a different author, too, as a way of "setting it apart." I guess I should count myself lucky there. I'm glad to know, as well, that Hepburn will not be returning to either Knights of the Old Republic or Vector, and it's back to business as usual with the next issue.
B-
Background: Knights of the Old Republic: Vector was released in four issues from January to May 2008. The trade paperback was released in January 2009. It was written by [a:John Jackson Miller|20028|John Jackson Miller|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1612231658p2/20028.jpg] and pencilled by [a:Scott Hepburn|1953865|Scott Hepburn|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Hepburn also pencilled 7 issues of The Clone Wars, along with various other things, mostly for Marvel (Captain Marvel, X-Men, The Avengers, Fantastic Four), but also some work on a "Dr. Horrible" comic, "Street Fighter," and "Thundercats."
A special note about Vector: I'm not reviewing all of it, because I didn't read all of it. Vector is a 12-issue timeline-hopping series that crosses four different ongoing (at the time) Dark Horse series: Knights of the Old Republic, Dark Times, Rebellion, and Legacy, with 4, 2, 2, and 4 issues in each series, respectively. So, I've read 4 of the 6 issues in volume 1, but I'm not hopping 4,000 years into the middle of the Dark Times series to continue it at this point. I'll get there when I get there. (I got there! And it only took me . . . *checks watch* . . . 5 years! You can read my review of the Dark Times issues of Vector here. *break* And here I am, 3 years later, with the 3rd Vector review!)
Vector begins sometime shortly after [b:Daze of Hate, Knights of Suffering|3840160|Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, Vol. 4 Daze of Hate, Knights of Suffering|John Jackson Miller|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403203829l/3840160._SY75_.jpg|3884992] (my review here), still 3,963 years before the Battle of Yavin. It references various Sith Lords from Tales of the Jedi (most notably Naga Sadow), and introduces a new character, the "Jedi Shadow" Celeste Morne, who will be the main protagonist of the other Vector comics as they continue into the future. Zayne and Gryph return as major characters, but most of the other significant players from Knights of the Old Republic appear only briefly or not at all.
Summary: The Mandalorians have smashed the Resistance on Taris, and Zayne and Gryph are scrambling to stay alive amidst the chaos of war and the horrors of the Rakghoul plague in the Lower City. More danger is headed their way, though, in the form of Celeste Morne, an agent of the Jedi Covenant dispatched by Lucien Draay to find an ancient Sith artifact of impossible power . . . and kill Zayne Carrick.
Review: Ambitious, but not up to par. I look forward to seeing more of Vector in future series, but there's just no denying that it feels like an interruption of the Knights of the Old Republic series, despite the best intentions of everyone who worked on it. A bit of the problem is that it kind of comes out of nowhere, leaving several threads dangling from the last arc. When it begins, enough time has passed that I don't get to see the conversation between Zayne and Gryph about the death of Raana Tey, though you can fill in most of the rest of the gaps through hints dropped here and there.
It's not really the writing, though. This is a fairly exciting story, and an interesting spin-off that makes clever use of elements that Knights of the Old Republic has had in play since the beginning. And Celeste Morne is a cool character who has a neat little arc over the course of these issues. I enjoyed all that well enough, and certainly impacts the direction that Zayne will take in future issues, so it's not like it's just irrelevant to the series as a whole. No, the problem is the art.
The editor noted at the end of one of the issues that they wanted the art to set Vector apart from the rest of the series so far. Well, first of all, that seems kind of dumb when one of their stated goals for Vector is that it not feel like just a one-off gimmick. But, secondly, the art does stand out. It makes it seem like we've transitioned from a mature, quality masterpiece of graphic storytelling, into a cheap Saturday morning cartoon. There's a lot about this art style that I hate. For one thing, it's completely inappropriate to the seriousness of the story they're attempting to tell. The biggest problem, though, is the way the characters are drawn as ugly caricatures, particularly Zayne and Celeste.
Zayne is only recognizable from his signature outfit. His face has been transformed into an upside down triangle, with his chin protruding way down in a sharp point. Celeste is even worse because I don't know what she's supposed to look like in actual human terms, so there's just no way to imagine her any differently. Her face looks hideous from almost any angle (it seems to shape-shift as she turns her head), shaped so bizarrely that I don't know how it's supposed to exist in three dimensions. Her lower jaw juts out so violently that the rest of her face appears concave. Half the time, she looks like she's angrily chewing on so many marbles that they're packed into her cheeks, and the rest of the time she just kind of resembles a chimp. Her eyes, nose, and mouth are slapped on at strange angles that don't appear to line up with each other in any way. It's just incredibly distracting, and awful. Click here for one example of what I'm talking about.
Bad art can't destroy good storytelling, but this was an additional handicap that Vector definitely didn't need. Thank goodness they didn't turn the writing of this arc over to a different author, too, as a way of "setting it apart." I guess I should count myself lucky there. I'm glad to know, as well, that Hepburn will not be returning to either Knights of the Old Republic or Vector, and it's back to business as usual with the next issue.
B-