Leroy Douresseaux on STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC – The Lost Suns #2

STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC – THE LOST SUNS #2 (OF 5)
DARK HORSE BOOKS

["Star Wars Central" review page is here.]

SCRIPT: Alexander Freed
PENCIL ROUGHS: Dave Ross
PENCIL FINISHES: George Freeman
INKS: Mark McKenna
COLORS: Michael Atiyeh
LETTERS: Michael Heisler
COVER: Benjamin Carré
32pp, Color, $3.50

I’m not really into that part of the Star Wars Expanded Universe known as Star Wars: The Old Republic, but I like the comic book. Star Wars: The Old Republic – The Lost Suns is a comic book based upon the LucasArts online game, Star Wars: The Old Republic. While Dark Horse has published two previous series set in the Star Wars: The Old Republic time period, this is the first one set concurrent with the game.

In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, the Old Republic is the time period 1000 to 25000 years before the Battle of Yavin (abbreviated at BBY). For those that don’t know, the Battle of Yavin is the climactic battle in Stars Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, during which Luke Skywalker destroys the Death Star.

Star Wars: The Old Republic – The Lost Suns is set in 3632 BBY and focuses on Theron Shan, a spy working for the Republic Strategic Information Service. Theron’s superior sends him on a mission to find Ngani Zho, the great Jedi who may have important information. Theron has strong ties to the long-missing Jedi, as Zho trained Theron’s mother, Satele Shan. Darth Mekhis, an old enemy of Satele’s, also wants Zho.

As Star Wars: The Old Republic – The Lost Suns #2 opens, Ngani Zho reveals the dark history of the Republic’s war with the Sith and the tragic peace accord. Theron finds Zho, but both his and Zho’s past complicate their mission.

While I’m only vaguely familiar with the whole “Old Republic” universe within a universe, I am enjoying The Lost Suns. The script for the second issue by Alexander Freed, a senior writer on The Old Republic online game, is more streamlined than the one for the first issue. Freed seamlessly weaves back story and the present action to create an engaging, enjoyable read. The art, with its clean compositions and no-frills design, makes it easy to comprehend this story, which is steeped in arcane Star Wars stuff.

B+

Leroy Douresseaux on STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC - The Lost Suns #1

STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC – THE LOST SUNS #1 (OF 5)
DARK HORSE BOOKS

[Visit the "Star Wars Central" review page here.]

SCRIPT: Alexander Freed
PENCIL ROUGHS: Dave Ross
PENCIL FINISHES: George Freeman
INKS: Mark McKenna
COLORS: Michael Atiyeh
LETTERS: Michael Heisler
COVER: Benjamin Carré
32pp, Color, $3.50

I love me some Star Wars, especially the original trilogy of films. To a lesser extent, I enjoy the Star Wars Expanded Universe. I try to read Star Wars comic books whenever I get a chance, so I decided to try the latest new Star Wars comic book series.

Star Wars: The Old Republic – The Lost Suns is a new Star Wars comic book from Dark Horse Comics. This new series is based upon the LucasArts online game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, which was developed by BioWare. Dark Horse has published two previous series set in the Star Wars: The Old Republic time period, but, according to them, this one is set concurrent with the game.

In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, the Old Republic is a time 1000 to 25000 years before the Battle of Yavin (abbreviated at BBY). The Battle of Yavin was the climactic battle in Stars Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, in which the Rebel Alliance attacks the Death Star and Luke Skywalker destroys the monstrous station.

Star Wars: The Old Republic – The Lost Suns #1 is set in 3632 BBY and focuses on Theron Shan, a Republic spy working for the Republic Strategic Information Service. Theron’s superior sends him on a mission to find Ngani Zho, the great Jedi who may have information important to the Republic. Theron has strong ties to the long-missing Jedi. Zho trained Theron’s mother, Satele Shan, known as the “Guardian of the Republic.” Theron isn’t the only one looking for Zho. Darth Mekhis, an old enemy of Satele, wants the information Zho may have.

I have never played a Star Wars video game, and I’m only vaguely familiar with the whole “Old Republic” universe within a universe. Still, I enjoyed the first issue of The Lost Suns. I guess that having Alexander Freed, a senior writer of The Old Republic online game, writing The Lost Suns is supposed to be a good thing, and it is, for the most. After squeezing what amounts to a book’s worth of backstory into the first five pages, Freed manages to establish the main players, conflicts, and goal in the remaining 17 pages in a way that makes me want to come back for the second issue. Also, the art looks good, although the visual storytelling is stronger than it is pretty.

I imagine that everyone who reads Star Wars comic books will want to at least try Star Wars: The Old Republic – The Lost Suns.

Leroy Douresseaux on THE ORIGINAL JOHNSON Book Two

THE ORIGINAL JOHNSON BOOK TWO

IDW

 

CARTOONIST: Trevor Von Eeden

ADDITIONAL INKS: Don Hillsman II
COLORS: George Freeman, Glenn Hauman
LETTERS: Marc Alan Fishman
AFTERWORD/EDITOR: Mike Gold
ISBN: 978-1-60010-664-4; paperback
136pp, Color, $19.99 US

The Original Johnson was first published as a webcomic at the site Comicmix.com. Written and drawn by Trevor Von Eeden, a comics veteran of over three decades, The Original Johnson is a comic book biography about John Arthur “Jack” Johnson (1878-1946). An American boxer, Jack Johnson was the first Black man to win the “World Heavyweight” boxing championship, a title he won in 1908 and held until 1915.

IDW recently published the second of two trade editions collecting Von Eeden’s 240-page graphic novel. The Original Johnson Book Two can be described as the education, maturation, triumph, and fall of a great boxer and of a greater man. Early in Book Two, Jack reaches the turning point in his career that takes him to the next level as a true professional boxer. He faces his first opponent who, rather than rely on brute force, has developed a science and system to boxing, Joe Choynski. Book Two also details Jack’s complicated relationship with women and his reasons for preferring white women as his mates. The story recounts his triumph as world champion and also makes a case for why he chose to lose the world title in 1915.

I found that The Original Johnson Book One presented Jack Johnson’s life (from the age of 13 to 22) as being like a coming-of-age story about a young superhero – a kind of Black Superboy/Superman. Book Two is more a straight biography, but it is also an essay and treatise on racism, both national and internationally, against Black people.

With his pencil art, Von Eeden captures the physicality and musculature of Jack Johnson. With his inking, he depicts power and dynamism that marries Burne Hogarth’s love of anatomy and the intensity of Michelangelo’s David. At times, Von Eeden turns Jack Johnson’s figure into a blunt instrument to batter his bigoted opponents and the virulently racist spectators at boxing matches. At other times, Von Eeden transforms Johnson and his perfect physique into a precision machine, undulating waves of ecstasy into the white women he frequently beds (Mandingo!).

Much of Book Two is both philosophical and even informative about the racism African-Americans and Black people faced in the United States and abroad in Johnson’s time. The reason for the hate was because many people who did not have black skin refused to see Black people as anything other than less than white people. Black people were subservient half-citizens who were often beasts of burdens. Not only does Von Eeden present the story of Jack Johnson the boxer, but he also uses Jack Johnson as a fictional paladin through which Von Eeden boxes against racism.

The over-arching theme of The Original Johnson is that of taking freedom no matter what others may say or do. That permeates Trevor Von Eeden’s comic book. This is the work of a free man unafraid to speak his mind and to present his work as he sees it. The graphical style, the design, the formats, the compositional qualities, the storytelling feel as if these are all Von Eeden’s choices, made free of other’s prejudices and expectations.

The Original Johnson doesn’t read as if it followed the rules for comic book writing that fans and critics think Alan Moore established in Watchmen. Nor does the art slavishly ape Jim Lee or some photorealist. Jack Johnson was a man, and Trevor Von Eeden is man enough to tell his story the way he wants. Johnson and Von Eeden did it their way, and the result of each man’s effort is greatness.

A+

http://www.trevorvoneeden.com/
http://www.comicmix.com/

Leroy Douresseaux on THE ORIGINAL JOHNSON Book One

THE ORIGINAL JOHNSON BOOK ONE

IDW

 

CARTOONIST: Trevor Von Eeden

ADDITIONAL INKS: Don Hillsman II
COLORS: George Freeman
LETTERS: John Workman, Marc Fishman, Glenn Hauman, and Carrie Wright
EDITOR/INTRODUCTION: Mike Gold
ISBN: 978-1600106385; paperback
128pp, Color, $19.99 US

Boxing aficionados know the name John Arthur “Jack” Johnson (1878-1946). Jack Johnson was an American boxer, and he was the first Black man to be the “World Heavyweight” champion, a title he won in 1908 and held until 1915.

Others may be familiar with Jack Johnson through Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, which was Ken Burns’ Emmy-winning, 2005 PBS documentary about Johnson. The documentary was based upon the 2004 book by Geoffrey C. Ward of the same title. Some readers may have even seen the 1970 film, The Great White Hope, starring James Earl Jones, which was a fictional account of Johnson’s life.

The Original Johnson is a webcomic originally published by the website, Comicmix. Written and drawn by longtime comics veteran, Trevor Von Eeden, The Original Johnson is a biographical graphic novel about the life of Jack Johnson.

IDW has published Von Eeden’s 240-page graphic novel, The Original Johnson, in two paperback volumes. The Original Johnson Book One depicts Johnson’s life, mostly from the age of 13 to 22. Von Eeden portrays Johnson’s early encounters with physical violence, his teenage wanderlust, his introduction to boxing, and the virulent racism he saw and experienced during his travels, particularly in and around his hometown of Galveston, Texas during the late 19th century.

Von Eeden’s narrative, at least the first half, is not just about Johnson’s life. The Original Johnson, Book One juxtaposes the young Jack Johnson’s struggle to define himself as a man of accomplishment with the desire of white racists to destroy any sense of accomplishment on the part of black people. Von Eeden presents Johnson’s youth as metaphor for a black awakening to the possibilities of what being strong and independent could bring black folk.

Von Eeden makes The Original Johnson more than just a straight biography or historical document about racism. A veteran of superhero comics, Von Eeden presents Johnson’s journey and the setting in which that journey takes place as a heroic epic, so he uses the visual language and graphic cues of superhero comic books. He combines the compositional raw power and majestic figure drawing of Jack Kirby with the enthusiastic page design of Neal Adams. In that way, Von Eeden can emphasize passion, emotion, and symbolism. In this way, he can also draw the reader into the narrative by presenting the elements he wants to emphasize in visual appealing ways.

That is the one thing that I can say for certain at this halfway point in The Original Johnson: for all the ways that Von Eeden tells this story, he presents this in a comic book language that is familiar to readers. This is a good and interesting way to introduce a historical figure, especially someone like Jack Johnson, a transformative figure in American history. This is a superhero story about a man who, in hindsight, was a hero to many.

A-

http://www.trevorvoneeden.com/
http://www.comicmix.com/