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Publisher: Dark Horse
Writer: John Ostrander
Artist: Jim Hall
Cover: Travis Charest

“Seconds To Die”: Star Wars: Purge takes place right after Revenge of the Sith and is the tale of  Jedi Knight Sha Koon, who is the niece of Plo Koon. Plo was one of the many Jedi killed when Order 66 was given by Emperor Palpatine during the final stages of his takeover of the Republic.

Ostrander provides a brief history of Sha through flash backs and images overlapping in her mind.  It is revealed that she lost her Padawan in battle and has not recovered emotionally, and now she refuses to continue fighting the war.  Her Uncle comes to her understanding this and asks if she can help in another way: to search the archives in the Jedi Temple to seek out the hidden Sith Count Dooku warned them about before his death.  Time passes during her search, when she feels her Uncle’s death in the Force and falls unconscious on the table.  She is awakened by screams some time later, only to be confronted by Clone Troopers trying to kill her.  After dispatching them, she turns a corner in time to witness Anakin, who is now Darth Vader, kill another Jedi.  So she runs and uses the hidden passageways in the temple to escape and plan.  And that plan is to kill Vader and take his place at the Emperor’s side, and possibly kill him as well.  She sets up the attempt by contacting the Emperor and telling him what he wants to hear, and so he obliges her and sends Vader to scratch another Jedi off the list.

Now when you put Vader on the cover of a book and promise a fight, you kind of expect it to be a serious ass kicking because Vader does not half-step in the killing department.  This fight was a little “meh,” and I don’t think I’m giving anything away by saying that she pretty much ends up on the wrong end of Vader’s lightsaber; however the Force shows Sha Koon the events of Star Wars Episodes IV, V, and VI, and even beyond, with Luke reestablishing the Jedi many years later, allowing her to be at peace.

This was a decent self-contained story, and I’m always game for finding out about some of the more obscure Jedi.  The only thing with these stories is that there pretty much isn’t any mystery because we already know how a majority of the events will unfold.  Now I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a really big fan of the comics that focus on time hopping to tell the story, but I will say that Ostrander brings it together nicely by utilizing Sha Koon’s visions.  Jim Hall’s visuals were pretty good, though at a couple of points his Vader looked a little too cartoony for my taste; but overall very nice and very clean artwork. My main issue with the book though, is comin’ off  a little extra cash for only 22 pages of actual story and the rest ads, when I pay less for 22 pages of story when I read Star Wars Legacy!

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