Review by Ian Keogh

Jedi: The Dark Side is set in the times before Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Qui-Gon Jinn is already a Jedi on Coruscant, but this is prior to his training of Obi-Wan Kenobi, his time instead spent guiding a brash youngster named Xanatos, who’s reluctant to return on a mission to his home planet. It’s a dangerous place, and loyalty to the Jedi way of life is far from guaranteed.

Although Qui-Gon is the known character, Xanatos and the problems of Telos IV dominate the story. Scott Allie is writing for readers who know the background of Qui-Jon’s time being during the re-emergence of the Sith, so they’ll pick up on the smart way he insinuates events around known continuity, but it’s also accessible to readers lacking that background knowledge.

A plot heavy on suspicion, and until the end low on action, means reigning in artist Mahmud Asrar, who draws conversations in a way ensuring interest is maintained, shifting the locations and viewpoints. He’s not quite as proficient when the action manifests. It certainly looks dynamic, but in places focus is missing and moments are unclear.

Fortunately, that’s never when it counts, as Allie’s plot is complex, with the layers of deceit only gradually revealed. From the start it’s a psychological thriller, and between them Allie and Asrar ensure the mood is one of trusting no-one’s words, but focussing only on their deeds. Star Wars graphic novels are usually about battles won and people saved, but this one isn’t, which makes a refreshing change.

Jedi: The Dark Side can also be found in the first Epic Collection: Rise of the Sith, and the Omnibus of the same name.