ALL THAT'S GOLDEN
DOES NOT GLITTER
Review by Matt Hart

Dark Horse comic series is almost a Sithspawn

Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith
Trade Paperback compiled from issues #0 - 5
published by Dark Horse Comics

THE STORY
Five thousand years before the rise and fall of Emperor Palpatine's Galactic Empire, another mighty force attempts their own takeover of the Republic and throws the galaxy's inhabitants into a bloody war.

Two down-on-their luck hyperspace explorers, Gav & Jori Daragon, are forced to flee their home system and make a desperate, random jump into the unknown. They arrive in the Sith Empire, the existence of which is but a legend and known to only a small number of Jedi. Two Lords, Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh, are engaged in a bitter struggle over the vacant seat of the Dark Lord of the Sith.

The unexpected arrival of the Daragon siblings gives Sadow the tools with which to deceive his fellow Lords, seemingly destroy his enemies and prepare a force to unleash upon the unsuspecting Republic. Allowing Jori to escape and lead the Sith armies to Republic space, Sadow brainwashes Gav into aiding his plans of conquest. Jedi advisors and conformation by Jori have convinced the ruler of her system of the impending attack. While that sector has made preparations, a doubtful public in the remainder of the galaxy are caught off guard when the Sith invasion arrives.

At the height of the battle, Gav redeems himself and disrupts Sadow's plans. Sacrificing his life, he transmits the location of the Sith Empire and the Republic gives chase, ending Sadow's bid to rule the galaxy and ultimately destroying the Empire he sought to expand.

IT IS A DARK TIME, A SHORT TIME...
"Sith" is a powerful word in the Star Wars universe.  It conjures dark images of cruel and powerful men, of an almost god-like presence. I couldn't wait to see a comic series dealing with a "golden" dark age of these creatures. Unfortunately, "Golden Age" and the subsequent series "Fall" did not live up to my expectations.

Turns out the "Golden Age of the Sith" lasts about a week. Whereas the Rebellion against the Empire was carried out over a dozen or so years by a couple of Jedi and a few hot pilots, the powerful Sith and their Empire are defeated faster than a one-legged jawa running from a rancor. Granted, the universe back then contained a few more Jedi, but you'd think a "Sith Empire" would have force power running out the tentacles.

The first problem with "Golden Age" is the timetable. There is NO "Golden Age"! We don't really see anything of a gloriously frightening Sith Empire. Many of the elements you might expect to see in a Sith Empire are there, but they aren't explored. Maybe the editors didn't give Kevin the space to write them in. "Golden Age" should have been expanded to a dozen or more books. How can a wonderous Sith Empire be shown in just 6 books? It can't. So BAMMO, we're pushed into the middle of the book, or more likely a few chapters back from the end. Yes, there's a cruel, Dark Lord sitting on the throne, watching his back against the treachery of his fellows. Yes, we have strange rituals and death battles for power. Yes, the general population is cowed and warped. However, all of these images are given only one or two pages each. I wanted more, blast it!

Of course, there's the ever present Star Wars style intro into each book in the series:

A little intro is okay, certainly if there's vital information to be given to the reader, but it needs to be NEW information, not a rehash of the story so far.

STORY AT LIGHTSPEED
While the intro is slow, the rest of the book flies by too quickly! Okay, so we've got this Sith Empire who, after a zillion stagnant years, must suddenly expand into the Old Republic or its society will die. A quick battle to force the expansion, follow the bait to the Old Republic, make a few cool moves but get defeated, go home and watch the 'ol home Empire keel over in a matter of days. A bit of a whirlwind tour of the Sith Empire.

The artwork is a bit too "archaic technology", but I liked it nonetheless. Cool ships and evil characters with powerful magics fly past at a dizzying pace. I must applaud Kevin Anderson's effort to pack what should be a two or three year series into one year. The story is a good one, it's just too shallow.

You cannot build an Empire in a week, nor can you tear it down in a day.

(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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