Dark House announced yesterday (via MTV’s Splashpage) that Qui-Gon Jinn will be getting his own comic series set in the times before Obi-Wan Kenobi was his padawan.
Count Dooku will be appearing in the book as well.
MTV has a full interview with Scott Allie, the writer, and some preview pages.
Here’s the official solicit and description of the issue:
STAR WARS: JEDI—THE DARK SIDE #1 (of 5)
Scott Allie (W), Mahmud Asrar (A/Cover), Stéphane Roux (Variant Cover)
On sale May 18 (One day before Phantom Menace’s 12th Anniversay)
FC, 40 pages, $2.99, Miniseries
Twenty-one years before the events in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn is dispatched to prevent the outbreak of a civil war on the homeworld of his Padawan Xanatos—whose father is king. It is a mission that will lead Qui-Gon into close contact with the dark side and start him on a quest that will have a major impact on the future of the Jedi Order!
But with Qui-Gon returning both to comics and The Clone Wars, and it was announced yesterday that Shmi Skywalker is returning as well, and Darth Maul may be back, lurking in the shadows, is The Phantom Menace having a new Renaissance?
An encounter on Facebook yesterday had me thinking, “If Episode I is so reviled, why are there some people reacting so vehemently in the negative to the inclusion of some of these characters?” Granted, Darth Maul was one of the few things held universally sacred from Phantom Menace, but talking to some fellow Star Wars fans, there was a sense that his death was final and it would be frustrating to them to change that truth in the same way it was frustrating to some of them that Anakin was inserted into the end of Return of the Jedi.
If The Phantom Menace was so hated and despised so universally, why would there be any hint of that outcry of it’s slightly shifting continuity? And why would Dave Filoni and crew (and Dark Horse Comics) be bringing these characters back to the forefront of the expanded universe if they were so shallow and hated? It seems as though if all of your suspicions about Lucasfilm as a whole being as business savvy as it is, wouldn’t forgetting these characters ever existed be a wiser plan if they’re so disgusting to the average fan?
It seems as though now, 12 years later, The Phantom Menace is finally getting a little bit of the good reputation it deserves back.
And history is looking more kindly on it and its characters.
One interesting thing to point out in the interview with Scott Allie proves something I’ve been saying for a long time: Kids love the prequels and 30 years from now, no one will know the difference between the 6 films or care.
I have a 5-year-old son, so I watched the prequel movies way more than a lot of guys my age. My son loves them so much, and we’ve watched Episodes 1-3 over and over. I know them backwards and forwards.
What say you, the devoted readers of Big Shiny Robot!?