5,000 BBY
*I just want to point out that master Ooroo is referred to as the “jellyfish master” in this comic. Just straight up referred to as that. I’m not sure that there’s any way to react to that except with hysterical laughter.
*Okay, now this is just ludicrous. Ludo Kressh was presumed dead at the end of The Golden Age of the Sith when Sadow blew up his ship. He returned at the start of this story and Sadow blew up his ship again. Here, at the climax of this story, Kressh returns AGAIN and Sadow blows up his ship AGAIN! This time, he actually dies, but still, get a grip, man, that’s just stupid.
*Somebody once argued that this was supposed to be “ludicrous” and that Anderson was hinting at this by naming the character “Ludo Kressh.” Anderson is about that stupid, so, yeah, maybe. But I don’t know what that’s supposed to excuse. Stupid is stupid, even if it’s named Stoopid.
*So, anyway, in the whole star going nova kerfuffle, Sadow ends up fleeing to a deserted planet known as Yavin 4 (ooh, neato, a tie in!); the Republic thinks he’s dead, but in fact he’s just starting to build some temples that we’ll see later on.
*Things are somewhat better for our good guys. Jori has taken over Aarrba the Hutt’s shop, Empress Teta is back in command and Odan-Urr is returning to his master’s homeworld to set up a library. How charming.
*All in all, this one was an improvement over the first volume. It was more emotional and the battle scenes were done better. However, it still fails to really engage on quite the level one looks for.
*CANONICAL STATUS: Much like the previous volumes in this series, this one features a fair amount of legitimate historical detail, such as Sadow’s exile to Yavin 4 and the founding of Odan-Urr’s library. It also, however, contains a wealth of textual additions that have no factual foundation. This work is NOT RECOMMEDED as a historical resource.
* ½ out of **** stars.
Kevin J. Anderson
Next time? Well, we’re finally done with these comics. Next time, we’ll take an overview of this period of history with our first foray into the moving image. Join me next time for Timeline 12: The Great Hyperspace War!