| Title | : | Star Wars: Legacy, Volume 2: Shards |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 159307879X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781593078799 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 176 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2007 |
Discover how the Empire joined forces with the Sith to defeat the Galactic Alliance in the war to dominate the galaxy—only to have Darth Krayt and his legion of followers usurp ultimate power for themselves! Follow the fate of an Empire divided, with battles pitting stormtrooper against stormtrooper, and Sith assassins bent on taking the life of deposed Emperor Roan Fel! Witness a galaxy in turmoil, and the decisions that will shape its future!
• This is the future of Star Wars, the continuation of the story that started in the original trilogy, and none of it has been seen before.
Star Wars: Legacy, Volume 2: Shards Reviews
-
Great continuation of the Star Wars EU.
I know some people were turned off by a tattooed, pierced, foul-mouthed, and thoroughly un-Jedi-like Skywalker, but the creative team makes it all work. . . at least, in my opinion, they do, turning Cade Skywalker into exactly the sort of jaded protagonist I love to read about. Nope, he and I probably wouldn't be friends, but he does lead a damn interesting life.
As for everyone else (Sith, Jedi, Imperials, and Alliance) they are all here, playing the main roles in this collection until the very end where it turns back to Skywalker and proving this is much more than a one man show. Instead, we have great characters on all sides. Imperial Emperor Roan Fel is developed as a pivotal character and is shown battling his nemesis: the New Sith Order. Obviously, Darth Krayt is also amazing, as is that very same new Sith Order. My favorite though is Nyna Calixte, Director of Imperial Intelligence, whose story grows more and more complex. Really, I can't think of anyone who is horrible, though the Jedi aren't terribly exciting. Well, the live ones anyway; the deads ones are actually pretty cool.
Honestly, this is a great series which I wish I'd discovered years ago and actually read in order instead of experiencing the ending first. Definitely intend to read the rest of Legacy in order now.
-
The Hunt for Cade Skywalker has begun now that he has let the Sith learn he's alive. Meanwhile the war between the Imperials and Empire continues.
On how to sum up this volume, I guess I'd say this is about the other guys. Cade and his crew take a backseat as the other guys get the spotlight. It's not all mediocre though as Imperial Agent Morrigan Corde joins the hunt for Cade.
There is also some back story on how the war between the Empire and Galactic Alliance began which seems as though it will be important.
Star Wars Legacy Shards was mostly a transition volume to set up larger events in the future. -
The second volume of Star Wars Legacy, “Shards”, sees the evolution of Cade from an uncaring rogue space pirate to the heroic figure that Fate has in store for him. Machinations of betrayal within the Empire continue with Moff Nyna Calixte, the Imperial officer who set in motion the war that brought the Sith out of hiding.
A lot of good stuff in this one, including a stand-alone issue entitled “Noob”, in which we get to see the men (and women) behind the stormtrooper helmets, as they struggle with following orders versus doing the right thing. In many ways, this is the precursor and inspiration for the character of Finn in “Episode VII: The Force Awakens”.
We also get to see more of the “ghosts” that haunt Cade’s conscience, including a cameo appearance of Mara Jade Skywalker, Cade’s great-grandmother, and Anakin Skywalker, a.k.a. Darth Vader, Cade’s great-great grandfather.
Writer John Ostrander and a rotating crew of artists (Adam DeKraker, Travel Foreman, Colin Wilson, and Jan Duursema) created a compelling and exciting universe that extrapolates 140 years into the future of Star Wars.
It’s a shame that the series has been completely negated by the “new canon” since Disney/Marvel took over, but these Dark Horse comics stand as an excellent piece of SWEU history. -
-
Noob - 4 stars
This is a pretty classic one-off story by now (something the Clone Wars did a lot of though not really to the same effect) where they dive right down into a grunt's perspective on a larger war, a perspective that doesn't really advance that story at all but does make it a lot richer. This one is pretty effective. It explores a lot of the loyalty and worldview questions of stormtroopers a hundred years after Palpatine by putting them into this awful vice of Sith scheming and Imperial infighting. Has some decent characters and a good arc, too.
Allies - 3 stars
Jumps back to give another perspective on the events that opened the series, and in doing so opens a new intrigue subplot. Does what it's meant to do but is nothing special. The art here is still fine-good but there's more goofy designs here (the clothes, the droids) than good ones (the star destroyers).
Trust Issues - 3 stars
Admiral Bovark is a very good goofy looking boy, and seeing him and Stazi interact is fun. But the whole spy posturing thing with Cade's mom doesn't do much for me and I feel like having this meeting get sabotaged on a spur-of-the-moment improvisation is kind of underwhelming--it feels just as planned as if the characters had planned it, but without the narrative structure to contextualize it.
Ready to Die - 3 stars
Jesus, it's a bizarre and bold choice to put this one-off proxy-war arc on Munto Codru, of all fucking places. It really highlights how weird that stuff was (they are wolves as children and then molt into four-armed humans as adults? their culture is based on ritual kidnapping? what?) and how much less crazy the EU has become overall. Which is probably a good thing. I'm not entirely sure what the point of this is. It doesn't seem to have any bearing on the larger plot, but it also isn't an interesting story on its own. Just a strange choice all around.
The other half of this issue is an assassination attempt on Roan Fel, which is a bit more interesting (he is a slightly intriguing character) but also doesn't really go anywhere.
Ghosts - 3 stars
The art choices continue to get weirder/less tolerable. The Vong plants have never been good but they're a lot more on display here and I kinda hate them. They're a kind of toned-down version of Felucia, all modeled after bright and "charismatic" life forms on earth without any of the dignity and architecture and assemblage. Then there's the Jedi "treasure horde," which is a bunch of medieval shields and helms and wizard staffs?? There's a mounted dragon head with a pearl in its mouth? What?
Cade's Jedi friends are maybe the best characters in this series--the least patient with Cade's shit, not interesting in posturing. They manage to wrangle him into some character developments here, though the character strains under the pressure of that both in the text and as a reader (ie, Cade's too much of an edgy shit to really pull this 180 off convincingly). -
Volume 2 is not as good as the first volume. It's more of a collection of short stories from this era, and doesn't quite continue the Cade Skywalker storyline.
-
Slows down quite a bit after the big finish to Vol 1.
-
Not sure where I stand with this series. I like the concept and the story but can't really get into the characters.
-
Though I liked the first one best, this is a pretty good volume too. The different narrative arcs and one-issue stories turn this into a less cohesive book, but they also offer a greater variety. I didn't like the art as much, and the sith are far less interesting in these chapters, but Cade shows a good evolution, cameos are simply awesome (Mara Jade, Vader, Luke and R2-D2), the Yuuzhan Vong have an interesting role (as the cool master K'Kruhk does), backstories are engaging and, overall, it makes for a respectable follow-up, despite its inconsistencies.
Besides, "Noob" is an awesome chapter that manages to do in less than 30 pages and 8 years earlier what "Episode VII: The Force Awakens" tried to do with stormtroopers. So, not bad at all. -
STAR WARS: LEGACY Volume 2: SHARDS
Issue 8
“Your survival is in BOTH our interests. And that is enough to make us allies.” – Moff Nyna Calixte
.
Issue 4 – NOOB
“Good shooting, Trooper.”
.
Issue 9 – TRUST ISSUES
“I’LL… TELL… YOU…NOTHING!”
.
Issue 10 – READY TO DIE
“Your death will be an example to others.”
.
Issue 13
“It went as I expected, my lord”
Issue 11 – GHOSTS
“Home now only to ghosts.”
Issue 12
“Is this how far the Jeedai [Jedi] have fallen?” -
Very interesting read! Love the narratives and the artwork..
-
Re-read
Please note that this comic series is now part of Legends, and is no longer canon within the Star Wars expanded universe.
Yaaas give me that pulpy Star Wars goodness. -
A lot of this volume is just back story and exposition which is a necessary evil.
All the pieces are being lined up in their own camps. Enjoy. -
I liked the art style in this comic but I was not a huge fan of the story.
-
In this comic we see how all the plot lines come together to make a fantastic story. I really liked that ending with Artoo Detoo. Amazing series
-
This volume doesnt focus as much on Cade Skywalker. It is more about the other guys. We get a better understanding about why the Galaxy is at war again.
This time there are three sides: the Sith, the Empire, and what could be seen as the Republic. The Sith are heavy after Cade now that they now he is alive. They believe he has a high pull to the Dark Side of the Force.
He had to go really dark to save his master from death in the first volume. This time he shows rven more that he has great power that could be a benefit to either side depending on which wins out, light or dark. -
Un timo. No sigue la historia del anterior hasta el final. El 70% de este tomo es basura, y cuando reemprende la historia, es una cutrada. Leeré el siguiente porque ya lo tengo alquilado de la biblioteca que sino...
-
The Star Wars Legacy comic book series jumped the timeline ahead 175 years after the Return of the Jedi film. The galaxy is once again at war. Only this time, there are three sides: The Galactic Alliance made up of the former Rebel/Republic forces, the Empire, and the Sith. The Sith have come to knew power under the leadership of Darth Krayt, who changed the belief in only two Sith at one time ... the master and the student, who will one day want to tear down the master. The Sith are now one massive culture made up of thousands of individuals, they want a claim to the galaxy.
They have been pretty successful so far. The Emperor has fled into exile on the planet Bastion. The Grand Alliance seems to have little influence in the Core anymore. The Jedi have been hunted down, once again to the edge of extinction. As usual, there is a Skywalker at the core of events. This time, it is Cade, a descendent of Luke and his wife Mara Jade Skywalker. He was a padawan who watched his father and most of the Jedi die before fleeing into obscurity, when he was rescued by a smuggler/pirate. He hid away his powers until he was dragged back into galactic affairs.
Darth Krayt seems particularly interested in him. This is largely due to Cade's strong connection to the Force and his ability to use it to heal. Krayt suffers from being infected by genetic weaponry used against the Galactic Alliance/Empire during the invasion of the Vong decades earlier. Cade may have the power to heal him before he dies.
This volume collects a bunch of "random" issues from the run that provide background information that is important both to the overall arc of the series' plot, but also to character development. Readers are given strong insight to these characters, allowing them to shift from flat stereotypes assigned to them by their allegiance to being living breathing beings that have their own personal interest in the events.
Since it is not really a linear presentation of a single story, many will find it harder to get into the content, though that is similar to any collection of short stories. With that said, it provides greater depth to the series as a whole, which makes it worth a read. -
There is a lot in this volume, hence the 4-star rating. Each issue was a doozy, and must have been irritating to read one at a time.
I like seeing where Roan Fel was before Ossus, and why he ended up having to hide from the Sith (other than Krayt taking over the throne). It's great to see Imperial Knights as Force users too. It's a great legacy to Jaina and Jagged Fel.
Maladi is a perfect Sith, and Krayt reads her well. I'm glad the latter has a bit more "screen" time here, because he's not simply a behind-the-scenes ruler, though he seems it.
Ason Trask begins as a noob in the Imperial ranks run by the Sith. It's likely his story has meaning later on (I've read these before but forget a lot).
I forgot, for example:
~ How great the paneling (or sometimes lack of) is. It changes within each issue to flow with the story.
~ How beautiful (and yet eerie) Ossus is. It's a colorful jungle with many secrets that even Cade doesn't know.
~ The strong Yuuzhan Vong presence in the subseries. It's exactly what was lacking in LOTF and FOTJ.
It makes me sad that Roan all but forbade Antares Draco from marrying Sia. From what I recall, something about that situation changes, but I can't remember how.
We see how more [want to] defect from the Sith, particularly as more learn about their sabotage efforts -- with with regards to the Vong and with the galaxy in general.
I love that the gardens on Bastion are named "Pellaeon Garden."
I'm glad we got to see Delilah and Syn's immediate fate. I can't wait to see where their story leads. Syn grows on me, even in the brief period we see them
The death sticks don't prevent Cade's visions and he has to come to terms with the real reason he uses them. Everything with him at the end is perfect. He's a Skywalker. He's a Skywalker. He's human. -
Another impressive installment. This arc is following a rather classic arc - but that in no way makes it boring. Renegade and ne'er-do-well Cade Skywalker is forced to confront his past and become the Jedi that fate would have him be. Any intelligent reader knows where the story is going the minute you get a handle on Cade's character. What Ostrander does surprisingly well is make you care about it anyway. With all the disappointment expressed in Cade by his peers and yes, even by his illustrious ancestors, you simultaneously want to cheer for him and say, "Screw them, do your own thing; be your own man" and yet... Maybe it's the artwork, but you can feel the disappointment when you see Luke and for Star Wars fans who've seen the old guy go through so much, you just want him to catch a break - even long after he's dead.
In this volume, Cade undergoes his obligatory transformation, and even after such a short development, it feels good to see it. Ostrander wisely doesn't get rid of the ambiguity - Cade is not a Jedi, even if it does mean he's kicking the drugs and trying to atone for the bad decisions he's made in the immediate past. More interesting were the couple of one-shots. There was one vignette about a new Stormtrooper recruit that gives a "common" perspective on the unfolding space opera that is nicely done and well-written. The political subterfuge and wrangling between the Sith, Fel's Empire and the Galactic Alliance Remnant is also well layered for a comic book (and again, I can't help but make comparisons to the political debacle of a story unfolding in the Fate of the Jedi arc.
In Legacy history repeats itself, but the effect is more nostalgic than parroting. This is fun stuff. -
When I read the first volume of Legacy several months ago, I was impressed and wanted to read more of the series. I had no idea that by the time I read the next volume I would be totally impressed and hooked on the series. Shards does something no other comic series I've read does well. It tells short little stories that go back in time and add to the ongoing plot in a really interesting way. I've seen Hellboy and B.P.R.D. both attempt to fill in back story, but the plot moves forward by going backwards in Shards and that is awesome. All of the new characters return in the next volume and the reader is better for it. As someone who has read some of the Star Wars material outside of the movies but not all, I appreciated learning about much of the stuff that happened after Luke Skywalker tried to revive the Jedi order too. Legacy is not only faithful to what's come before though, it adds a ton of fresh ideas to Star Wars too. The tone is dark and adult and the complications of having the Sith in power and trying to put down the Jedis and fight off large remnants of Imperial loyalists at the same time is complex and interesting. I can't say enough how great it is that the main character, Cade, is also as morally ambiguous as Han Solo or any other memorable scoundrels in the Star Wars Universe. The fact that he has avoided becoming a Jedi makes him all the more interesting. Outside of Dark Times, I think Legacy is the series I would recommend to anybody who likes Star Wars. It is fantastic.
-
Yeah, let's widen the scope of this legacy era, and take a look at our dramatis personae. All in all it's a good read. You got your drug addict protagonist looking to reform his life, your scheming imperials, and a few unexpected occurrences.
Some notes I made while reading:
*Haako has just about the same syntax as Jar Jar Binks. Not fun.
*I rarely read the "BAM!"s or "POW"s in comics but I find myself noticing them when they're absent.
*Talk about role reversal in legacy: the galactic alliance are the not so perfect ones now?
*How many red Sith are there? It seems all rather stereotypical.
*Nice "Pellaeon" reference
*Typical Sith failure playing it off as "everything is going as I planned". It gets old real fast.
*French pun for Darth Maladi. Malade = sick.
*"Up to snuff" is SO an Earth idiom.
*Cade is such a druggy
*Wolf must have amazing recovering time. He goes from KO'd to fine and monologuing in one frame.
*How does Wolf and Cade focus on fighting each other if they take turns monologuing? Like I'm trying to imagine it in my head and it gets real awkward.
*So if you train someone to become a Jedi it increases their chance to become a Sith? That's like saying if you go to church regularly it increases your chance of becoming a Satanist. The comparison goes as far as polar opposites.
I'm not getting into the specifics of volume two in terms of it's qualities determining whether it's a good graphic novel or not, but what I will say is that it was an enjoyable read but didn't have that extra something that makes you go, "that was pretty cool". Thus three stars. -
The title is a good indication of the contents of this volume in that it sports five differing story arcs with slightly different artists between arcs:
Allies
This is more of a recap of volume one, but from the point of view of Grand Moff Nyna Calixte as she manipulates everyone around her.
It was nice seeing the story from a different angle but this felt like filler.
Noob
Anson Trask, a fresh Stormtrooper joins Joker Squadron who are tasked by the Sith Empire to eliminate another squadron who have deserted.
Not the best artwork and a story totally unrelated to anything else so far, but I did enjoy it.
Trust Issues
Imperial Agent Morrigan Corde is sent by Grand Moff Nyna Calixte to hunt down Cade Skywalker.
And back to the main story with the focus on Morrigan who has her own motive for finding Cade before anyone else.
Ready To Die
The Emperor Roan Fel is targeted for an assassination attempt.
One of the best concepts for this series is the whole idea behind the Imperial Knights and seeing Roan Fel as being a lightsaber-wielding kick-ass was highly satisfying. Good stuff.
Ghosts
Cade discovers a hidden trove under the Jedi Temple of Ossus. There he confronts some of his demons as he struggles with his identity.
Cade is a fantastically conflicted character who has so many issues. There are also some appearances from some familiar faces which nicely ties these series with the rest of Star Wars. -
Darth Krayth est maintenant à la tête de l'empire. Il ne sera pas l'empereur officiel tant qu'il n'aura pas éliminé l'empereur Fel. La BD commence avec un retour en arrière où l'on voit la trahison de deux impériaux, Nina Calixte et son conjoint Morlish Veed. C'est aussi cette trahison qui a amené la chute de l'Alliance Galactique. Malgré la prise de pouvoir de Krayth, ce ne sont pas tous les impériaux qui sont de sont côté. Certaines troupes restent fidèle à Fel et les deux camps sont forcés de s'affronter sous la supervision des Sith.
Darth Krayth veut aussi retrouver Cade Skywalker qui possède une pouvoir de guérison qui va au-delà de tout connu mais qui amène en même temps très près du côté obscur. Le Sith envoi donc ses chasseurs de prime pour le capturer.
De son côté, Skywalker est au prise avec des vieux démons qu'il essaie de cacher avec la drogue. Éventuellement, il devra le faire face malgré que douloureux soit le processus.
Si le premier tome était un introduction à la série, le deuxième rentre de plein fouet dans le coeur de l'action. Ce qui est bien c'est que l'intrigue est le passé des personnages est révélé qu'à petite goûte, ce qui permet de pleinement savourer l'histoire. De plus, la narration n'est pas linéaire. Il y a plusieurs flashback ainsi que plusieurs sous intrigue.
Avec Shards, John Ostrander a vraiment toute mon admiration. -
"We must take what is given." Legacy: Volume 2 continues the astounding expansion of the Star Wars universe 125 years after the time of Luke Skywalker and the rebellion. Cade's resistance to the Jedi Order's teachings in a galaxy where they are continuously turned against, past regrets due to his inability to save his loved ones, and his death wish are all brought to a brilliantly emotional conclusion that is back dropped against a lightsaber duel between Cade and his former master. The rogue goes on a life-changing journey through his beliefs. Meanwhile, Imperial officials, agents, commando squads, Sith and and even tribal cultures are introduced to the story of Legacy. In the second volume the authors of Legacy show that they chose this time period of the Star Wars universe so that they could universe build and create their own intricate stories within a much broader and beloved aesthetic. This volume takes Legacy from a story about a Jedi who became a rogue, to a story of a large galaxy with many conflicts.
-
The second volume of this series really starts to get into the intricacies of the various plot lines, but I found myself doing a lot more Wookieepedia-ing than in the previous volume. Figuring out who were major players, and who was descended from which original-trilogy characters was a bit annoying at first, not to mention getting a gloss over of the formation of the New Empire and it's split with the Galactic Alliance and the betrayal of the Empire by the Sith. It's a lot of information either way, and all of it is important to the main stroyline, so it makes sense that the writers tried to dump/cram all that info into a single graphic novel rather than try a integrate it into the whole series. It might make sense in that regard, but with some careful planning I think that they could have spread it out a bit more on an "as need" basis, just so that the reader doesn't have to spend an entire issue being vaguely confused and annoyed before the real action picks up again in the next story arc.
-
The second volume in the Legacy series, this one picks up with a bit of review of the current political situation, and elaborates on the scheming of the Sith-loyal Imperials. The next issue is a bit of an odd departure: the whole thing is devoted to a brief story centered around a newly minted stormtrooper, who joins up with his company and is thrown into battle. This one comes closest to the feel I remember liking most about the old-school stories: there's no nig-name heros, no flashy Force users, just regular people going through their lives in this wonderful universe. But, the interlude quickly ends and we're right back to angst-ridden, Force-sensitive Cade Skywalker, who in an attack of conscience jets off to infiltrate the Sith temple on Coruscant for some crazy reason or other.
Like the first one, this book is entertaining, a quick read, but nothing spectacular. Read it if you liked the first. -
Hearing about this series depressed me before I'd ever read it. Throughout Star Wars (both the movies and the EU), we see the Skywalker and Solo families striving so hard and sacrificing so much to defeat the Empire and re-establish the Republic. And then Legacy comes along and we learn that this was all for naught, and that a new Empire is established a century later, and they are teaming up with the Sith to try to exterminate the Jedi order. Depressingly cyclical.
Thankfully, though, the series itself is actually rather good. The standout chapter is the unfortunately-named "Noob", about someone joining a stormtrooper batallion and learning about the true face of war, but the Sith/Jedi stuff is all pretty interesting too. There's enough of the old to get you hooked, and enough of the new to keep you intrigued. -
I didn't fly through this volume as fast as the first one, partly because life got in the way, but also in part because it was a little less cohesive of a plot than the first volume. The strands of stories jumped around some (which was, in part, because they're apparently compiled from non-contiguous issues of the comic) but I was pleasantly surprised in the end at the ways different threads pulled together to form a clearer idea of Cade's backstory and the backstory of the war that kicked off the Sith reign. The various princess-related plotlines were of course a fun twist on A New Hope... though the appearance of *one* character at the end was stretching credulity a bit.
