Prisoner of Bogan
For ten thousand years, the Je’daii maintained a balance of the Force on their homeworld of Tython. But when a powerful Force user named Xesh crashed on the planet, the entire world was threatened.
Three young Je’daii Journeyers who had sensed Xesh’s arrival, and who helped subdue him, believed he should remain on Tython for training. But the Je’daii Masters exiled the young man to the dark moon of Bogan for his own safety as well as the planet’s.
But an inhabitant of Bogan—banished for a mad vision—is anxious to meet Xesh. And, unbeknownst to all, Xesh’s former masters in the Rakatan Infinite Empire are also seeking him…
The Review
The second arc in the highly successful Dawn of the Jedi series, Dark Horse furthers the origins of the early Je’daii, the predecessors to the Jedi Order as portrayed in the movies. The action follows Shae Koda, Sek’nos Rath and Tasha Ryo as they further embark down their paths towards knowledge of the Force. Simultaneously, former Force Hound Xesh and possibly crazy (though possibly not) Daegen Lok, both imprisoned on Bogan to reflect on the duality of the Force, adventure through the universe to possibly fulfill Lok’s earlier prophecy. It is important to remember that at this early stage in history, the Force was seen in a more Eastern, yin-yang light as opposed to the more Western, good versus evil portrayal it received during the time of the Skywalkers. The main story line focuses on our Je’daii “heroes” attempting to recapture Lok and Xesh, both of whom escaped Bogan together for reasons of their own. The subplot concerns Xesh being hunted down by his former companion, Trill, on behalf of a species that will come back to impact the story even further in the end.
While Force Storm, the first arc, was exciting for its foray into the earliest stages of the Jedi, Prisoner of Bogan unfortunately does not share the same pacing. Too often, the story gets bogged down in exposition and foreshadowing. This is a rather problematic trait of this arc, as there’s far less action than one might expect from a Star Wars story. Equally upsetting, the series originally promised to delve into the origins of the Jedi order. While there are certain plot points exposed, there’s very little discussion in Prisoner of Bogan that deals with the group’s philosophy, beliefs and goals. There was more “knowledge” to be found on the early Order in the original preview issue 0 than there is in this arc (and quite arguably in the entire series thus far).
All of this is not to say the series is without merit. There are compelling characters with complex issues, and it will be interesting to see them progress further on their group and individual journeys. It just seems that this series had the possibility to do so much more, and is quickly becoming “any other” Star Wars story that just happens to involve characters with slightly less spectacular technology (though not by much, considering it takes place in 36,453 BBY).
The series still has enough momentum to keep readers interested for the next arc, but I do hope they do more with the potential that starting so far removed from the trilogies would seemingly afford writers.
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