Not to be confused with the recent novel about Darth Maul, Shadow Hunter, this is instead Dark Horse’s graphical attempt to cash in on the only cool thing in SW Episode 1. Originally a recent 4 issue comic series, Darth Maul is now in graphic novel form, which will delight people like me who prefer these to cheap comic books.

In Darth Maul, the tattooed Sith must deal with a problem for his master, Darth Sidious. While most of Sidious’s plans to gain power by getting the Trade Federation to blockade Naboo underway or at least well prepared, there is only one thing that is out of his control…the devious crime syndicate Black Sun. While they may only be potentially bothersome for Sidious, he decides it’s best not to take chances. So he sends off Darth Maul is sent to eradicate this potential threat.

Darth Maul is a fun comic book and there is no doubting that. The artwork and composition of each page is extremely well done, especially the fight scenes, and the plot is certainly an intriguing attempt to expand the Episode 1 storyline without treading on its toes too much. It’s also interesting to see Black Sun being used. There is a nice insight into this crime syndicate before Xizor took charge, and a good chance to allow the artist to experiment drawing a large number of various species.

However, as nice as it is finding out a handful of other details behind Darth Sidious’s plans, and a look at a pre-Xizor Black Sun, there is one things missing…Darth Maul!

While there are few pages that Maul isn’t in, he is but a shallow, uncompassionate killer with no true background or motive for his actions. This graphic novel makes no attempt at all to full us in on a few blanks about Maul, such as why he turned to the Dark Side and got a full body tattoo. As another character points out in this book, Maul is nothing but a “common assassin” and “nothing special”. While this character is supposed to learn otherwise when he uses the Force to kick their ass, the reader is left still thinking that Maul is still nothing special.

The graphic novel goes through the motions of the usual Star Wars story, “one man against an army”, but there is very little connection that the reader makes with this “one man”. As far as the reader cares, Maul is just one piece of evil scum killing other evil scum. If only they stretched the series of comics from 4 issues to 6, we would have had the chance to have a look in Maul’s head more.

But as I said, Darth Maul is a fun comic book. It’s got a nice little story, there are plenty of action scenes to keep you happy, and the artwork is of a very high quality. It’s not the best Star Wars graphic novel, but it is a worthy addition to any collection.