By George & Josh Bate
Ahead of the April 6th premiere of the Disney+ series Maul – Shadow Lord, the official prequel comic Shadow of Maul has debuted with its first issue.
Written by Benjamin Percy and illustrated by Madibek Musabekov and Luis Guerrero, the new Marvel Comic miniseries introduces Star Wars fans to a number of key elements from Maul – Shadow Lord, including its setting and the characters Captain Brander Lawson and Two Boots. But, as the comic is the first piece of canon storytelling involving Maul to take place between The Clone Wars Season 7 and Maul – Shadow Lord, it also sheds light on what happened to the Zabrak after Order 66.
WARNING: Spoilers for Shadow of Maul #1 follow….
Maul Makes A Fitting Return
Maul surprisingly does not appear until the very end of Shadow of Maul #1, but he certainly leaves an impression. In the Cina System, a mysterious hooded figure tries to book passage to the planet Janix. Aiding him is a shady bearded smuggler, who offers him “a hundred different chain codes” so that the stranger can assume any identity he wishes. Chain codes, which function similarly to Social Security Numbers in the U.S., originated in the first episode of The Mandalorian and later appeared in The Bad Batch.
Rather than accept the aid of the smuggler, however, the hooded figure ignites a double-bladed red lightsaber and slaughters him, revealing himself as none other than Maul.
Maul then says, in characteristically epic fashion, “Now that the terms of my passage have been arranged…Janix awaits.”
This moment indicates that Maul has selected Janix as the planet he wishes to build his new criminal syndicate on. The story of Shadow to Maul #1 offers an explanation for why Maul chose Janix…
Why Maul Chose Janix as the Place to Restart his Criminal Empire On
Janix is a neon-lit, shadow-soaked maze of a planet, not unlike the Imperial capital of Coruscant. Importantly, the planet lies beyond the reach of the Empire, which is essential for Maul as he does not want the development of his criminal syndicate interrupted by his former master Darth Sidious in any way.
The Janix that we see in Shadow of Maul #1 is a seedy planet overrun by crime and corruption. The comic primarily follows Captain Brander Lawson as he goes undercover to bust one of many criminal syndicates. His investigation leads him to reveal the identity of a mole in the police department – that is, after being poisoned and barely escaping a deadly bar brawl.
With no Imperial overreach and a corrupt police force ripe for exploitation, Janix makes the perfect site for Maul to restart his aspirations to conquer the underworld.
Star Wars‘ Commissioner Gordon has Arrived
Captain Brander Lawson is the unexpected lead character of Shadow of Maul #1. As mentioned, the titular character does not appear until the final few pages of the comic.
Lawson is a former bounty hunter and current police officer on Janix, who appears fed up with the stranglehold corrupt cops and sinister gangs have on the planet. Lawson very much evokes Jim Gordon from the Batman comics and movies, with similar facial hair and a distaste for the corruption he sees all around him in his department.
Lawson already seems like a formidable figure, who, alongside his trusted droid partner Two Boots, appear determined to clean up Janix. The job is already difficult for the duo, so one can only imagine how crazy things are going to get when Maul arrives on the scene.
Unlike Commissioner Gordon, however, Lawson does not appear to have his equivalent of a Batman. And yet he will soon have his equivalent of a Carmine Falcone, The Penguin, or perhaps The Joker in the form of Maul. It will certainly be interesting to see how Lawson and Maul butt heads in the series. Based on the first issue, we suspect that Lawson may eventually team up with Maul in an effort to get rid of all the other criminal syndicates on Janix (a kind of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ dynamic). But we’ll have to wait and see until next month when Maul – Shadow Lord premieres.