FIRE CARRIER part FOUR (of five)
Escaping from a refugee camp overseen by the Galactic Empire and the local militia of the planet Arkinnea, Jedi Master K’Kruhk, Master Zao, and the young Padawans in their care have journeyed into the wilderness, only to discover the militia secretly unloading ships full of refugees high above a remote valley, allegedly as revenge for suffering at the hands of the Separatists during the recently ended Clone Wars.
Spotted as the ship drops hundreds of refugees to their deaths, Zao and the younglings flee while K’Kruhk draws the militia’s attention, eventually crashing their ship with the Force.
Meanwhile, back at the camp, Militia Captain Relik orders his soldiers to find and apprehend the escapees while Imperial Commander Teron, growing suspicious of the camp and the militia, appeals to the captain of a star destroyer for help uncovering the truth…
That’s your opening ‘scroll up’ as writer Randy Stradley, artist Gabriel Guzman, colourist Garry Henderson, letterer Michael Heisler and cover artist Doug Wheatley present the latest issue of Dark Times.
The Review
Issue 4 of Dark Times was a mixed bag in my opinion. While it moves the story along, I can’t help but feel that the story is a little slow. K’Kruhk continues to show his ingenuity and combat prowess as he faces a near-death situation and survives for the umpteenth time. K’Kruhk fans can’t help but smile and roll their eyes, but that smile is wiped away as K’Kruhk brutually murders a man, by drowning him.
The cut-away to Darth Vader and Admiral Gregg did nothing for the plot and could have been omitted, but Siddiri’s character development is interesting to behold. She’s quick to anger and her power is great, able to knock away Master Zao with a rage induced Force pulse. I wonder if Siddiri will play a future role in the final issue…
The following battle works out similar to Return of the Jedi in my opinion. The troops are disorganized, they are in a jungle, the good guys are disorganized, the bad guys are on speeders, and the good guys encounter a group of primitive furry creatures, who will likely aid them against the bad guys. The creatures Zao and the younglings encounter are clichéd Sasquatch look-a-likes that can also be said to be a composite of Ewoks and Wookiees.
Aside from the imagineless Arkinea natives, the art work continues to be drab and still there is no sign of Falco Sang. The series is very dark as the Arkinea milita are very much like Nazi’s, yet I do hope the children all survive. The next issue says the Legacy of the Force, which of course is an entire series of novels in the EU (oh well you can’t be original all the time), so I assume the children do survive.
All in all, I feel Dark Times is deflating and that the next issue will only wrap up, an arc that is readable at best. It started off strong, but hit sort of a snag in Issue 2. Perhaps Issue 5 will surprise us all.
Coming next – The Legacy of the Force!
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