SEEING RED
Reviews by Steve Almond & Matt Hart

Our resident comic critics come to blows over Dark Horse Comics' story of Imperial Guard Kir Kanos

Crimson Empire (Issues #1 - 6) 
published by Dark Horse Comics 

THE STORY 
Kir Kanos knows a secret. A secret that could lay waste to the plans of Carnor Jax and his bid to claim the vacant throne of Emperor Palpatine. These two men are former members of the Imperial Royal Guard; elite fighters dedicated to the protection of the Emperor's life. At least that's what their grueling training is supposed to instill in them.  

But Jax is more ambitious than that. He wishes to control the galaxy, and to do that, he and his co-conspirators sabotaged the last clones of Palpatine (as told in Empire's End) and ultimately brought about his demise. But a loyal guardsman discovered the plan and informed his fellow guards - moments before a deadly ambush by Jax's troops that annihilated all but one: Kir Kanos.  

Jax utilizes his resources in a galaxy-wide manhunt to capture him and destroy the one source that could shatter his power base. The search leads to the planet Phaeda, where Kanos aids a band of Rebels under the command of Mirith Sinn in defeating his would-be Imperial captors. Jax and reinforcements arrive, only to learn that Kanos has fled to Yinchorr: where the men trained with each other to achieve their appointments to the Royal Guard . . . and where their final showdown will occur and leave one of them as the only surviving member of the once prestigious group.  

IT EVEN STARTS OFF BAD 
by Steve Almond 

Promotional material for this series introduces Kir Kanos as the last of the Royal Guard. Well, except for Carnor Jax ... and Major Tierce of Specter of the Past ... and the ones in the "Young Jedi Knights" series. Being hailed as that last of the guard is about as unique as being the last Jedi: there's always at least one more around the next corner. Starting off the series with a pretty apparent continuity gaff just isn't the way to go, although it accurately sets the tone for a disappointing series.  

As the starring character, one who fights fiercely for what he believes to be honorable, Kanos comes nowhere close to as intriguing as Soontir Fel is in the X-Wing series. We needed more elaboration on his dedication to the Empire, especially when he witnesses a number of atrocities that would dissolve some of that loyalty in a normal person. This character needed more distinction; as it was, it was hardly anything new in a "I don't need your help, I'm in this alone" personality.  

Unfortunately, Carnor Jax is another one of those typical, come out of nowhere (yet with huge resources and massive political power) characters with typical, come out of nowhere schemes of grandeur for ruling the universe. Toss in a dash of Force powers (which, of course, went unnoticed by both the Emperor and Darth Vader) that are sparingly used and ultimately add nothing to the story and you've now got all the ingredients for an ineffective Star Wars villain. Really, where do these guys comes from?  

And let's not forget about our Rebel heroine, Mirith Sinn. She's one character I'd avoid in a discussion about the merits of comic books as literature. Thinking of the comic stereotypes of large breasted, shallow minded women, it was embarrassing to read this series. And her ridiculous spouting at the end of the last issue? Ick! 

I dread reading Crimson Empire II knowing that she'll be involved. If only one of Jax's errant boulders could have knocked some sense into her or at least mangled her enough to preclude her appearance in the sequel.  
 

AND THAT'S THE GOOD PART... 
With star players as these, it's no surprise that the overall story is uninteresting. From my understanding, it's fairly common knowledge that Palpatine exterminated the Jedi Knights and cheated & connived his way to the top. He's a bad guy; it's to be expected. So what's Jax afraid of if people discover his "treachery?" If anything, it would be a bragging right amongst other baddies. Just who does Jax answer to, anyway? I perceived no threat to him if the secret got out, no sense of urgency. All I see is another "epic" storyline quashed between Dark Empire and the Jedi Academy Trilogy, one which disappoints just as Dark Empire II and Empire's End. And they're going to cram two more sequels to this title in?  

     I would like to say that the art keeps this series afloat ... but I can't. There are some marvelous ship depictions and the use of computer generated planets was rather cool, but character depictions fell short. Too far away, and they looked incredibly awkward (especially in motion). Close ups were dominated by huge, out of proportion eyes. It was rather creepy, I must say. I really liked some of the work in this series, but it just wasn't consistent.  

     It's a sad state of affairs when the most intelligent Star Wars title, X-Wing: Rogue Squadron, is the worst selling and will be cancelled in a few short months while this series is by far the best-selling Star Wars title and will be continuing for at least twelve more issues.  

POINT THAT FIN SOMEPLACE ELSE 
By Matt Hart 

I'm afraid I have a totally different take on this story than my collegue, Steve Almond. I liked it. A lot.  

This isn't an epic storyline that tries to jam itself into the period between Dark Empire and Jedi Academy. Crimson is a story that follows one man as he deals with regaining a purpose in life after the death of the Emperor and the destruction of the Empire. A major player in the Star Wars galaxy, Wedge, makes a brief appearance in the somewhat disappointing climax issue, but the series is otherwise devoid of major characters. This contributes to the idea that this story is more of a sideline to the main happenings in the galaxy. Indeed, the whole focus seems to be on Kir Kanos and his insular goal of killing anyone whom he sees as having betrayed the Emperor.  

In Crimson, we are introduced to the Imperial Guard, those red-cloaked stormtroopers that Linda Carlisle likes so much. [Ed. Note: yes, this is an in-joke, but trust me, Linda is laughing right now.]  Apparently, they are at least a little bit Force sensitive, perhaps without the ability of a Skywalker, but with some practical tricks in their arsenal. It makes sense that the Emperor would surround himself with the few people who can sense and use the Force.  
 

FOLLOWING THE CRIMSON TIDE 
The quest of Kir Kanos makes an interesting story. To throw in the excitement needed for a six issue series, the writers introduced Carnor Jax, another would-be despot picking over the scraps of the Empire. Jax is perceived by Kanos as having betrayed the Emperor. Once friends in the Imperial Guard, Jax and Kanos are destined to battle it out in the end.  

My favorite scene is toward the end of book 1, when Darth Vader makes an appearance during a flashback to the Imperial Guard training facilities. Vader maims the best Imperial Guard trainee, and with a typical Vader nonchalance, kicks him off the fighting platform to fall to his death. Were I training to be in the Imperial Guard, I don't know if I would be trying to do better, or if I would be striving to stay in the middle of the pack after witnessing that, but it was a very cool sequence.  

I was a bit disappointed with the ending. It built up to the final fight between Kanos and Jax, but for some reason, it just didn't sit well with me. The last book actually looked better after I read it a second time. Go figure. Maybe it was the way the storyline seemed to hinge on the actions of the erstwhile Rebel allies of Kir Kanos.  

The artwork was very well done. I particularly liked the care taken with the coloring and inking of the Imperial Guard uniforms. My only complaint is the frequent use of eight or more panels, sometimes as many as eleven, on a single page. It forces either close up views of a particular action event or tiny scenes. Overall, the artwork was very nice - I liked the CGI planets that were mixed into the backgrounds of the space scenes.  

I hope this series continues to be as good as this first one. It is a nice break from the typical "Impending Doom and Destruction of the Republic and the Galaxy As We Know It" comics. Here we see the essence of a good story - one man's struggle with defining Life After the Empire. Kir Kanos is another incarnation of Mara Jade, and I'm looking forward to see how his story continues to unfold.

(Steve Almond is a regular Star Wars Lit junkie.  Matt Hart is a computer programmer, full time Star Wars and Batman fan, technical writer for PC Magazine and others, and aspires to see his "The Long Run" comic and "Reality Bites" cartoons published.) 

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