Another issue, another planet! Zayne Carrick is reluctantly helping to fight a war on the planet Halthor, but this time it’s for the Mandalorians! After being captured last issue with Captain Morvis, Zayne and his not so close friend find themselves on the front line with the only other choice being imprisoned as a slave for the Mandalorians. I think Zayne said it best himself that it’s pretty unusual for someone to help invade two planets in one week for two different armies.

The issue was a little bit light on the action once the beginning battle was over. We are introduced to the Devaronian Mandalorian whose child Zayne saved in the last issue. This issue kind of shows you how the Mandalorians operate during the war if you’re not too familiar with them. First off, Mandalorians take prisoners either to make them work as slaves or to fight for them in battle. This leads to the fact that Mandalorians are not just humans, but a mixture of many species. Being Mandalorian is not only based on race but more on the culture itself. Not to mention that was is their way of life. You come to see that the Devaronian that Zayne helped last issue, Ko Sornell, has her entire family in the war zone with her including husband, son and infant. Crazy bunch of buggers.

Nothing was more interesting than the concept of Jedi Knights siding with the Mandalorians in the war. I thought Dorjander Kace was pretty cool in the last issue but he kind of lost some credibility at the end of the last issue when he revealed that he and his Jedi followers were “Mandalorian Knights”. They all wield the same yellow-orange bladed lightsaber which reminds me of the Imperial Knights from the Legacy Era comics where certain Jedi follow the will of the force as guided by the will of the Emperor. This is the same concept except I’m not sure exactly what kind of code these Mandalorian Knights follow. Dorjander Kace explains that he and his Jedi joined the Mandalorians to balance the fact that the Jedi were entering the war against the Mandalorians. This idea kind of gives me a newfound respect for Dorjander Kace, even though I can only see him falling to the Dark Side eventually while fighting for such a brutal army. He is simply arguing as the Jedi council did against the Jedi entering into the war against the Mandalorians and he believes that the Jedi shouldn’t be fighting a war for a “corrupt” Republic. And after Revan and his Jedi joined in the war, Dorjander is just trying to balance things out. He almost reminds me of Dooku during the Clone Wars and it almost seems like this war is something the Jedi did not learn from and is repeated during that war. Only time will tell if Dorjander’s intentions are pure.

I give the issue 4 out of 5 grizzlies. It just about followed the same pace as the first with a battle at the beginning, story in the middle and a cliffhanger at the end, but I’m completely fine with that. Zayne is going to have his hands full with Dorjander revealing that there is to be a mass invasion of Phaeda, his home planet and where his family and “girlfriend” live. Is his girlfriend Jarael and does that mean we may get to see her in the upcoming issue? I sure hope so.

And on an artistic note, I’m really starting to take a liking to Andrea Mutti’s pencils in the series thus far. Her art has the right tone for this storyline with her gritty feel and attention to detail. I hope she stays on board at least for this first story arc and I wouldn’t complain if she stayed on after either. Stayed tuned for issue 3!