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Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #12

"REUNION" PART 2

As with all my “production notes,” consider a “Spoiler Warning” attached. Please read the books first.

This issue dealt with an important question that needed to be addressed before Zayne encountered the difficulties ahead of him in 2007: With him suspected of murder, what would his parents think? We’d established his large family in the flashback in #2 — and while Zayne expresses shame and regret in #5, events following "Commencement" had simply moved too quickly for him to explore their situation. So I brought their situation to him — with the help of Raana Tey!

The nature of Arvan’s response to Zayne’s situation was something I had planned all along, and may spark some discussion about Jedi and upbringing. Now, I’m not going to get into a big nature/nurture debate: Anakin had a loving mother and turned out wrong, while Luke was stuck with an indifferent uncle and turned out all right. I did, however, think that the sort of amiable decency that Zayne exhibits probably came from somewhere. And I think in Reiva and Arvan Carrick, we see people we wouldn’t mind meeting ourselves. In fact, being amiable is Arvan’s job!

This is not to suggest that Zayne’s relationship with his family is free of complication — whose is? (He did say in #6 that they thought he would fail as a Jedi, for example, which is something we’ll be delving into later on.) But — in a slightly late-arriving holiday gift to the kid after a bad year — he did find that, whatever else was going wrong for him, his father was standing behind him. 

This issue also gave us a chance to see Gryph in action. Sometimes battles of wits with unarmed opponents can be harder than the ones with equals!. 

Autumn’s scheduling concerns resulted in the arrival of Glass House Graphics artist Harvey Tolibao to pinch-hit on this one issue, with colors by Jay David Ramos, making this the first issue not colored by Michael Atiyeh. Ironically, I had shared a lunch table at Motor City Con that year with Glass House owner David Campiti, not knowing I’d be working with one of his artists later in the year. Harvey did an outstanding job, really matching the tone of Brian Ching’s first part. Harvey works from his studio in Malaybalay City in The Philippines.

Brian’s work was still reflected in the issue, of course, the character designs being his – and Dustin Weaver designed the Moomo Williwaw, the comically over-stocked flying armory belonging to the hammerheads in question. I had suggested something really lumpy and bizarre looking, sort of like the Ithorians themselves – and threw in the notion of two cockpits, the only compromise these hard-headed hammerheads might ever make!

Having two artists working on two issues simultaneously (actually three, as Dustin was finishing #10), presented some challenges: Check out the Moomo Brothers note, below.

TRIVIA

• I was pretty sure the image of Raana Tey screaming would give someone a heart attack. I’m glad no one had to be carted away...

 

• I tripped up when I first came up with my Moomo Brothers Identification Rule due to some differences between #11 and #12. Here’s the scoop: Dob has always been in the blue scarf; Del has always been in the red one, with the scar over his eye. Where we got tripped up was in the issues being done simultaneously, with black-and-white pages coming back from two different artists. The issues were internally consistent — it was between them where the problem occurred. Don’t ask how, but we’re reconciling it for the trade, such that #12’s version is the correct one: Del is red-scarved and scarred and is the one who suggested seizing Arvan; Dob is blue-scarved and unscarred and thought it was a dumb idea. The end. (I hope!)

• Back in school, I prized my Kenner Twin Pod Cloud Car — even though I thought the design was kind of bizarre. The two-seater configuration recalls to me the two-steering wheel car from Driver’s Ed class – only the occupants aren’t next to each other. One imagines Dr. Seuss’s North-going Gax and South-Going Gax flying the thing in circles – or into a tree! And I could never again remember the name properly after someone in school drew a doodle of two goofy looking characters in one, with the caption “Twin Clod Pod Car.” So in this issue, in the form of the  Moomo Williwaw, we give you the true Twin Clod Pod Car...!

• Jarael has never looked more elf-like than on page five. Hey, with that alabaster skin, does that make her a anti-drow? (And Gryph’s already our orc. And Camper the wizard. Hmm...)

• The “Jedi? Hiring bounty hunters?” line had some cinematic resonance. If it weren’t for assignments from Jedi (or, rather, former Jedi), the Fett family wouldn’t have had much to do later on!

• We thought about having Dob drink from both mouths, but that might have been a little messy. Try drinking out of both sides of your mouth and see for yourself...

• The shots of Dob thinking – or trying to think – on page 8 are about the most painful things I’ve ever seen!

• Three guesses who The Blindfold and The Bad Attitude are...

• Boy, that sure looks like an R2 unit serving drinks. It’s safe to assume it’s not!

• Pazaak is the simple card game — set up kind of like a collectible-card game — you (first) can play in the first Knights of the Old Republic game. Don’t play the guy in the lower city cantina — he cheats!

• The Moomo Williwaw seemed a perfect name for the hunters’ ship. They blow in like a foul wind!

• Listen to the Moomo now and believe him later: If humans don’t get exercise, they die. Just don't call them Hans and Franz to their faces...

• No, that’s not Gorilla Grodd and Green Arrow together outside the ship — but that is one of my favorite panels of the series!

• The whole “off-panel noisy fight scene” was something I think I learned from an issue of Charlton’s Flintstones. Secrets of the creators...

• Some have asked why Elbee hasn’t had much to do in 2006 — it’s pretty simple. He doesn't want to do anything. He’s even asked to be removed from several scenes we had planned for him!

• Dig the floating Minority Report computer screens on page 21!

• This issue added yet two more to this series’ list of ironic responses to (or unusual phrasings of) “May the Force be with you,” which has become a running element. Perhaps someone will index them all one day!