???Okay, I said I wouldn't mention it again, but this cover is the ugliest one yet. I don't mean to be so hard on Schultz, I mean, it's a thousand times better than anything *I* could come up with ... but what are those black blobs at the bottom of the page? The swirling white mist? And Adi's lightsaber ... it's lit from the opposite end this time.

However, the first page on the inside is a full panel that would have made a fun cover. (Talk about weird lightsabers, look at Windu's here ...) The Jedi are being dragged along in the wake of Sebulba's afterburners, and Windu says, "We could just levitate down, but that would reveal our presence here ..." Huh? Like, who doesn't already know they're around? Especially when he's hanging on to the race favorite while camdroids record his every move. The other Jedi eventually rescue them in a highly ludicrous sequence of events. I was laughing out loud, though I'm not sure that's what the writer intended.

The Jedi are feeling conflicted. Piell points out that Hutar was a good man, so if he was willing to go to such an extreme, the Prince must be very bad indeed. Yet their job is to preserve the peace. They realize the Red Iaro will have a Plan "B" and rush to stop it. Meanwhile Zug and his Ffib priest burst in and capture the Prince, intending to kill him. Zug decides killing him with a knife would be too messy, so he brings in ... two Akk dogs! (Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't being devoured by giant slavering beasts a little messier than an knife to the heart? [g]) Of course the Jedi burst through the skylight in the nick of time, capturing the Ffib priest and defeating the dogs. (Yaddle leaping around wielding a lightsaber is not as weird as it sounds.) The Jedi are upset that the normally docile Akk dogs are being used as pitfighting beasts; apparently they are from Windu's home planet and have some sort of relationship to his people through the Force. While the Jedi are distracted, Zug jetpacks away up through the skylight, only to end up being sucked into a podracer's engine. Guess whose? Aks Moe shows up, simulating astonishment at this turn of events and vowing to investigate. The treaty is cancelled, the Jedi sent home, and Mace Windu announces his intent to go to Nar Shadda to investigate the smuggling of Akk dogs.

So, basically four issues into a six-issue series called Emissaries to Malastare, the story arc is complete, and a new story starts. Why didn't they just make this a four-issue series? (Really three, since the first issue had nothing to do with Malastare either.) We even had different artists for this one and the last two. I guess it doesn't really matter. I'm glad to have the stories any way I can get them.

This is probably my favorite cover for the series. The movement of the two Jedi fighting off Nar Shadda's underworld critters is really dynamic. I don't quite get Depa Billaba's outfit, though ... since when do Jedi wear their belts outside their cloaks?

Mace is on Nar Shadda looking for the smugglers of Akk dogs, but first he stumbles upon a petty criminal about to kill an innocent old woman. He intervenes, and ends up facing a whole gang of thugs with spears and stuff. Just as things look bad, Depa Billaba steps out of the shadows to help. It seems Mace's former Padawan decided he might need a backup, and she was right. The woman they rescue, Aunuanna, reveals that she has seen another Jedi that day. The Jedi appears, and after giving Mace and Depa a map to the lower levels, reveals himself to be Quinlon Vos, sporting a cool Native-American look and gray-blue tunics under his brown robe. He and his Padawan are supposed to be on Ryloth, but he has come to Nar Shadda investigating something that will "shake the Galactic Senate." This seems like foreshadowing for Episode II to me. Aunuanna, who turns out to have given up her daughter "Angel" to the Jedi long ago, leads Mace and Depa to a swoop they can use, then warns them of the dangers below, including monsters called Vrblthers. (Apparently there's a shortage of vowels in the lower levels.)

Meanwhile, Gargonn the Hutt (who happens to be missing half his head due to a run-in with a nasty critter on Circarpous IV) is running his Circus Horrificus on the lower levels, a pitfighting ring enjoyed by bloodthirsty gamblers.  Depa and Mace are attacked by Vrblthers (see the cover). Just as a pair of rabid-looking Akk dogs are released to fight the hapless winner of the previous round of combat, Depa loses control of the swoop, and it looks like they're going to have ringside seats for the main event.

Have I mentioned that the art in this series is great? Well, the switch to Ensign and Nadeau certainly didn't hurt anything. The first few pages of Nar Shadda's exteriors, the rain, and then the glowing eyes of a hooded Mace Windu impressed me with their wealth of detail and an intriguing use of shadow and light. I can't compliment them enough. Beautiful.

We've got a different look to the cover this time, by a different artist, Jan Duursema. His colors are more saturated, with perhaps a bit more detail. I liked the Hutts hovering in the background, and the pile of skulls on the floor. Too bad Depa's face is so one-dimensional.

As Depa and Mace battle the Vrblthers, the Twi'lek fightmaster of the Circus Horrificus gestures to the gory results of the Akk dog attack and intones, "I ask you, sports fans -- what could possibly top this?" just as the two Jedi crash the party, literally. That's the second time this series Mace has come plunging through a skylight. (Trivia note: the Akk dog handler is Malakili, the Rancor handler from Jabba's Palace in ROTJ.)

Gargonn the Hutt is incensed. (I loved the depiction of Gargonn with the insides of his head flapping around. ) The Jedi demand proof that the games are legal. In the stands, Vilmarh "Villie" the Devaronian (we met him in Star Wars Tales #3) wagers with the crowd (including, by an unbelievable coincidence, Sebulba) that the Hutts will soon be "making the Jedi dead within 15 millicycles." Gargonn orders the beasts released into the arena with the Jedi. At first Mace tries to use his Force-connection to calm them, but they have been mutated into killing machines, and the Jedi must fight. They survive the first few attacks, and after 15 millicycles the crowd starts demanding that Villie pay up. He tries to renege, and a riot breaks out. The Hutts send their guards to break up the fighting, and the Jedi take advantage of that to leap into the Hutts' box. The last thing we see is Villie running from an angry mob.

This ending left me completely unsatisfied. I've already mentioned how the Nar Shadda episode has nothing to do with emissaries to Malastare. But now we have the duplicity of the Gran Protectorate and the Ffib, the mystery of Quinlon Vos and his mission to Ryloth, and the destiny of Aunuanna's daughter left hanging, hopefully to be cleared up in a later series. Worst of all, the bit with Villie at the end was just plain silly. The series should have ended with better closure. I only hope the next series will fill in some of the gaps for us.

Speaking of the next series, comics fans have a lot to look forward to over the summer. Following Emissaries in the Star Wars Ongoing Series is the four-parter Twilight. Dark Horse has also released the first issue of another four-part series called Jedi Council - Acts of War. Then there is the Dark Horse Presents Annual 2000 - Girls Rule! featuring Aurra Sing as well as the upcoming Darth Maul four-parter, a Bounty Hunters trade paperback which will include the hard-to-find Boba Fett: Twin Engines of Destruction, and more Star Wars Tales compilations. Keep tuned here for reviews.

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(Toryn Farr knew everything about Star Wars back in 1977 thanks to Starlog Magazine. She's been trying to keep her know-it-all reputation ever since. During the 90 minutes per day her preschooler is napping, Toryn attempts to run an internet design business and write fantasy fiction.)