Star Wars Comics: Dawn of the Jedi

Series: Dawn of the Jedi
Writers:  John Ostrander
Artist: Jan Duursema
Publication Date:2012 - ???
# of Issues: 10 
Era: Pre-Republic Era 
Galaxy Date:25,000 years BBY *Before Battle of Yavin

Tho Yor (magical pyramids)

Premise: As confounding as a Tolkien backstory, the first issue of "Dawn of the Jedi" sets up the early days of the Star Wars Galaxy. Using terms like "Tho Yor" and "Dai Bendu Monks", John Ostrander seems to take inspiration from early 70's Star Wars drafts. 
In layman's terms: giant magical pyramids mysteriously fly around the galaxy and collect force-sensitive individuals. The giant magical pyramids take them to a planet called Tython where the first Jedi order is formed.



The Je'daii: Characters are essential to any story and in this series there are a lot to keep track of. Most of the characters in "Dawn of the Jedi" are Jedi (Though they they spell it Je'daii because we are many millennia in the past. The Je'daii are force users, yet they differ from the Jedi of the Republic Era. One difference is that the Lightsaber has not yet been invented, so they use swords instead.

(Sek'nos Rath)

One Je'daii that stands out from the rest is Sek'nos Rath, this is because he is a Sith. At this point in the Star Wars galaxy-timeline, however, the Sith are a species, not an order of dark-force users. They are a red-skinned species from the planet Korriban and it will be centuries later that their planet is conquered by Dark Jedi. Sek'nos is a Je'daii apprentice who becomes the focal point of the series along with his friends, Shae Koda & Tasha Ryo.

Shae Koda on "Butch", the flying Rancor

Rakata

The Force Hounds: The villains of this saga are a mysterious species called the Rakata who use the dark side of the force. They conquer planets and enslave the inhabitants. If they find force-sensitive individuals, the Rakata train them to be "Force Hounds".

Xesh

One important "Force Hound" in this series is Xesh (It's how you say the letter X in Aurebesh- the Star Wars writing system. It's the symbol on his face) Unlike the Je'daii, Force Hounds use Forcesabers (early lightsabers) which only work when you feel anger. Xesh is not explicitly a villainous character, he is merely a brainwashed slave who has never been taught the light side. With the help of the very sexy Shae Coda, he may learn to be a Je'daii- or perhaps not.

The Verdict?
This comic initially suffers from a complex backstory and high-fantasy vernacular. It takes a few issues to get to know the characters (and to figure out what the frack is going on). 

None-the-less John Ostrander is a veteran in Star Wars comics and has never failed to create wonderful series (Republic & Legacy to name a few). By the time you start to get to know the characters, you have already been immersed in Ostrander's ancient world and yearn for more!


Final Verdict: Four out of Five Lightsabers!

DAWN OF THE JEDI #11 (FORCE WAR #1) 

Releases on NOVEMBER 20th, 2013

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