Star Wars: Outlander (Star Wars

Star Wars: Republic #2

by Timothy Truman, Tom Raney (Artist), Rick Leonardi (Artist)

Ki-Adi-Mundi's first assignment after joining the Jedi Council will take him back to the fearsome desert wastelands of Tatooine. The Jedi Council has tracked a long wayward and powerful Jedi, Sharad Hett of the Sand People, to the backwater world, and it's up to Ki to find him and convince him to return. Only two things stand in his way: the vicious krayt dragon of Tatooine and the Jedi-slaying bounty hunter Aurra Sing! Ki has little choice but to ask for help from the slimiest crime lord of them all, Jabba the Hutt -- and Jabba's aid always comes with a price! Outlander is full-throttle, white-knuckle Episode I-era adventure!

Genres: Star Wars, Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Marvel

144 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2001

About the author

Timothy Truman is an American writer, artist and musician. He is best known for his stories and Wild West-style comic book art, and in particular, for his work on Grimjack (with John Ostrander), Scout, and the reinvention of Jonah Hex, with Joe R. Lansdale. Truman is currently writing Conan and is an instructor at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.
Truman's first professional comics work was Grimjack with writer John Ostrander, for the independent comics company First Comics. Grimjack first appeared in Starslayer #10 in November 1983, before moving to his own series after issue #18 in 1984, and continued for 81 issues. Along with being a fan favorite and often imitated character, Grimjack almost single-handedly defined the "grim and gritty" action comic character archetype.
Truman has been continuously creative for more than 20 years, displaying his pulp sensitivities in his writing. In 1985, he created Scout, which was followed by Scout: War Shaman, a futuristic western. A year later, he relaunched the Hillman characters Airboy and The Heap for Eclipse Comics. He also developed The Prowler, a Shadow type character, and adapted The Spider for Eclipse. In 1991, at DC Comics he created Hawkworld, a reinvention of Hawkman. With author Joe R. Lansdale, he reinterpreted Jonah Hex as a horror western. In it, their creation of villain Edgar Autumn elicited a complaint from musician Edgar Winter. With his son, Benjamin Truman, he created A Man Named Hawken.
Truman was chosen by Dark Horse Comics to illustrate a newly completed Tarzan novel and wrote a story arc for the comic book. He also wrote virtually the entire run of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for Valiant Comics, after David Michelinie launched the book with its first three-issue story arc and subsequently departed the series. For the defunct SF imprint of DC, Helix, he created The Black Lamb. He also worked on a typical pulp adventure Guns of the Dragon, featuring Enemy Ace and Bat Lash; and wrote Star Wars at Dark Horse Comics. While at Dark Horse Comics, he took over the writing of Conan from Kurt Busiek in 2006, and after that series ended he started Conan The Cimmerian.
Truman's startling work, Simon Girty, Renegade was a two-volume black and white graphic novel that translated the horrors and triumphs of the American settler's western frontier in a fresh, interesting light. In bold, black and white use of positive and negative space, Truman appealed to both young and old audiences in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. It was especially important for West Virginians that had been struggling against novelist Zane Grey's portrayal of Lewis Wetzel in an overly romanticized, florid light. Truman himself is an avid historian who dislikes nothing more than to see a drawing of a war using the wrong weaponry, and the second volume of his two-volume series on Simon Girty was devoted to the errors caught in his first volume.
Tecumseh! a graphic novel based on the West Virginia Outdoor Theater, is a colored graphic novel that shows the play from beginning to end. It renewed interest in the warrior in Appalachia. When asked why he used "Tecumseh" instead of "Tecumtheh" he explained he didn't want to explain to the mainstream audience the variance in spelling — the movement on pronunciation began with General William Tecumseh Sherman who came from a family that wanted to commemorate the warrior, but felt the lisping "Tecumtheh" would be unmanly.

Reviews

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in 32BBY

"May the force strengthen the hand that is just." - Ki-Adi Mundi

You know what's even more fun to read a Star Wars story that has Ki Adi Mundi in it? To read about Aurra Sing! Yeah, a fun story with some hunting, action and secrets, all of that happening on Tatooine with some great artwork!

"I take no pleasure in this. I have no wish to harm any of you. Sheath your weapons and no more shall die." - Ki-Adi Mundi

"Tatooine is a harsh world. Things that need assistance soon die." - Sharad Hett

[Timo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty damn entertaining Star Wars story with fine art. Not perfect but pretty damn good.

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the lengthy Prelude To Rebellion, it's surprising that they kept with Ki-Adi-Mundi. Particularly as, away from Cerea and his family, there's less to learn about him. However, with the inclusion of the bloodthirsty Aurra Sing, Hutts, a Krayt Dragon and a closer look at Tusken Raiders' society, the focus was never going to be on the Jedi hero. There's also the introduction of A'Sharad Hett, who goes on to bigger things, particularly in the Legacy storyline much, much, much later. I also appreciated seeing Aurra's thoughts as she hunted the Jedi, making her a better character than just another mysterious hunter. It was a little unsettling where she breaks the fourth wall.
The artwork was top-notch and helped make this the compelling story it was.

[Dominic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Wars: Outlander is a fascinating entry in the Expanded Universe. It was one of the earliest comics in Dark Horse's Republic series, which started before The Phantom Menace and continued into the Dark Times. Republic would later be acclaimed for its Clone Wars arc, featuring Quinlan Vos, everybody's favorite gloomy Jedi. However, the early Republic comics seemed set to feature Ki-Adi Mundi, a very different type of Jedi (he's the cone-head alien on the Jedi Council).

Outlander came out in 1999, a time when The Phantom Menace opened up a whole new corner of the Star Wars for storytellers, but without all of the constraints imposed by later stories. The Galaxy felt fresh and full of possibilities. Outlander is also a sign of what was to come with the Expanded Universe. The story is fairly straightforward - Ki goes to Tatooine to investigate reports that a rogue Jedi called Sharad Hett has joined Tusken raiders - but it reverberates throughout much of Dark Horse's run of Star Wars comics. Even as the Republic series moved away from Ki and focused on other Jedi characters, characters from Outlander play an important role in later events.

I enjoyed the story. It has elements of a classic revenge story, with some unexpected twists. I appreciate that Sharad Hett never becomes a caricature of a Dark Jedi. It's not even clear that he's fallen to the Dark Side. The subplot with bounty hunter Aurra Sing probably could have been excised (I suspect Lucasfilm wanted Dark Horse to include her because they were trying to make her the "next" Boba Fett). The text bubbles conveying her internal thoughts really didn't add much to the story. While the art can't quote compare to the heights of Jan Duursema's later Republic comics, I found Outlander's artwork had its moments of beauty, particularly the scenes set during dusk and dawn. 

Star Wars: Outlander is the type of Expanded Universe story I find myself missing since Disney rebooted the Star Wars canon. It's not a perfect story, but it really committed to telling the story of characters who barely appeared in the films. It's not hard to imagine hundreds of other Jedi having hundreds of other small-scale adventures just like this one before the fall of the Republic.

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Wars Legends Project #72

Background: Republic: Outlander came out in 6 issues from June to November 1999. The trade paperback was released in April 2001. It was written by Timothy Truman and drawn by Tom Raney, Rod Pereira, Rick Leonardi, and Al Rio. Truman wrote a number of issues in the Republic series, as well as a ton of Conan comics (among a variety of other work). Raney drew part of the first issue of Outlander, but is better known for his Marvel work, including quite a few stories involving X-Men, and several Avengers and Avengers-related titles. Pereira did the rest of the first Outlander issue, as well as the third. Leonardi did the 2nd and 4th issues of Outlander, and a small handful of other Star Wars titles. He has done quite a bit of work for both Marvel and DC, including lots of Spider-Man for the former and lots of Batman-related titles (particularly Nightwing) for the latter. Rio did the 5th and 6th issues of Outlander and has a hugely varied resume in comics, but not a long list of other Star Wars work.

Outlander is set shortly after the Battle of Naboo, 32 years before the Battle of Yavin. The protagonist is Jedi Ki-Adi-Mundi, on his first mission after joining the Jedi Council. Most of the story takes place on Tatooine, with important appearances by the bounty hunter Aurra Sing and the Hutt crime lords Jabba and Gardulla.

Summary: On Tatooine, scattered clans of Tusken Raiders have united behind a new leader to attack settlements. Weapons dealers are flocking to the planet to arm the settlers, and open war seems imminent. More troubling still, the Tusken leader carries a lightsaber that belonged to a revered Jedi warrior who disappeared many years earlier. The Jedi Council dispatch Ki-Adi-Mundi to deal with the situation, but between Tusken war bands, Krayt Dragons, scheming Hutts, and bounty hunter mayhem, he may just be in over his very tall head.

Review: My expectations for this comic were low for several reasons: It's a continuation of the ongoing comic series begun with Prelude to Rebellion (my review), still focusing on Ki-Adi-Mundi, with the absurdly overused setting of Tatooine, and (likely) still published before these prequel-set expanded universe stories really had a chance to adjust to the information from the movies. Those expectations proved to be largely unfounded, presumably thanks to the totally different creative team. Even the one issue that there seemed to be no help for (setting the story on Tatooine) was explained!

Ki is a much better-drawn character here, plus they give him a cool "wandering monk" hat to obscure the absurdity of his conehead most of the time. In terms of his actual personality, it seems like they tried to make him a more compelling and likable character, and mostly succeeded, but they sometimes get caught in a weird place between his portrayal in Prelude to Rebellion and what they want him to be here. He's still kind of a square, and really excessively formal in his speech most of the time, but at various moments in the story, he'll start in with a string of wisecracks that don't quite fit. This is generally when he's in some kind of danger, but there are at least a few times when he's addressing his remarks at someone or something that can't understand, so it's kind of like he's just joking to himself? I dunno. It didn't quite work.

In addition to Ki himself, the artwork in general is really spectacular here. The attention to detail with the Tuskens is great, and there are so many pages and frames where you can really see them working, not just to tell the story visually, but to deliver on tone and mood and style at the same time. It's almost cinematic at times. There's one particular panel that really stood out to me early on in the story, as Ki leaves the Council Room to head out on his mission. He's in the very front, just his head, popping out around the edges of the frame, saying something to the two masters behind him: Yoda and Eeth Koth. Yoda and Koth are shrouded in deep shadow, except for their eyes watching ominously out of the darkness. And then looming behind them (presumably creating the shadow since they're facing away from it) is the holo-recording of the Tusken leader, frozen on a shot that reveals the lightsaber and conveys all of the mystery and menace that he represents. There were several moments like that that I really appreciated. They also had a really dynamic way of drawing action scenes that's a lot of fun.

The real strength, though, is the storytelling that the visuals serve. The various twists and turns as the story unfolds were well-placed and held my interest, and a few of the "chapters" started with fun little monologues by various characters, mostly about Tatooine, that managed to breathe fresh life into a dry (har!) subject. I particularly loved all of the insight and development of the Tusken Raiders. There were still some oddities that stuck out as inconsistent with other details from Star Wars, but unlike with Prelude to Rebellion, I didn't really care that much because the rest of the story was so good. It does a fantastic job of being a complete tale in and of itself, but without tying up every loose end so that I'm excited to pick up the next storyline and keep going with the series!

B+

[Zac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Wars Project #30
Rise of the Sith Era #30
Characters:Ki-Adi Mundi, Aurra Sing, Sharad Hett
Major Events: Ki-Adi Mundi is sent to Tatooine to investigate a band of Tuskens that are raiding settlements led by a lightsaber weilding Tusken. That tusken turns out to be missing (thought dead) Jedi Sharad Hett, who left the order after his parents were killed before he could spend time with them. He is helping the Tuskens fight back agains the the Hutts who are supplying weapons and stoking fear into the settlements, causing them to hunt the Tuskens. In all of this, Aurra Sing (a force sensitive bounty hunter who used to be a padawan) is hunting both and ends up killing Sharad Hett. Sharad's kid, who he had been training as a Jedi Padawan is taken in by Ki-Adi Mundi, while all of the rest of the Tusken party are killed by the Hutt forces. An intersting look at Star Wars's first two fallen Jedi, one who turns to bounty hunting while the other seeks a reclusive life and has a child and raises him as a Jedi. Also an interesting look at the Tusken Raider lifestyle and customs (well before we see this in Book of Boba Fett)

Score8/10

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this story arc much better than the previous one (Prelude to Rebellion). The artwork was better overall despite hopping back and forth between different pencillers in every issue. I guess this must have come out after The Phantom Menace since it mentions several plot points (even Aurra Sing having gone to Tatooine for the podraces). I liked the character of Sharad Hett, and also liked getting some backstory on Aurra Sing. The "Dark Woman" has been thrown in a few times now but they haven't even revealed her name.... hopefully they'll do that soon.

[Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read, one that reminded me of the X-Wing comics' The Phantom Affair arc: Very entertaining, very fast-paced, a definite improvement over the lackluster series debut that manages to breathe some life into these characters. Main difference is that instead of cheesy mid-90s humor we now have cheesy early-aughts edginess (presented without comment).

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good story, builds upon the previous Star Wars Republic comic. Great action, great characters, great writing, and an overall tightly-bound story that I can see myself revisiting. I enjoyed the final action setpiece too, that was pretty entertaining. I blazed through this story pretty quickly.

[Josiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A much better read than the opening issues.

[Rizzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's alright. Kind of necessary to read before the Ostrander run.

[angelofmine1974 · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/b0tNOMFKsM8

Enjoy!

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite liked this arc! It gives us Tusken Jedi, which is so unique and - I don't think - ever seen before. It was also really interesting just to learn more about the Tuskens in general.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Roz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a continuation of the Republic comic series and continues to follow Ki-Adi Mundi. Mundi has joined the Jedi council and his first assignment is to go to Tatooine and track down a wayward Jedi named Sharad Hett, who has become the leader of a Tusken tribe. Mundi is being tracked by the bounty hunter Aurra Sing, who has a vendetta against the Jedi and a penchant for collecting their lightsabers through extreme prejudice. I continue to dislike Mundi as a character; he's way too pompous and self-important for my taste. But I really liked Aurra Sing and Sharad Hett, who both offer different critiques of the Jedi Order and their standard modus operandi. I'm kind of upset with how Sharad's story ends and his son's decision to join Mundi. I wish A'Sharad had pushed back against Mundi more. Maybe he will in the future, but in this collection, I don't love it.

[Cloudy · Rating 4 out of 5]

EU Comics #2

A definite improvement over the first arc. Now we are introduced to the Tusken Jedi Sharad and A'Sharad Hett. This comic was filled with action and I couldn't put it down. Awesome art too.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

December 13 2019: I don't know that I realized the first two times I read this series that most of it was published before AotC came out. That certainly colors a lot of it in a new light. These comics reiterate again and again that it's common for Jedi to return to their home planets and remain in contact with the birth families is less a conflicting truth to be retconned than a plain mistake, contradicted by later and more definitive material. That in turn casts some doubt on its portrayal of the Jedi in general, and in terms of consistency tossing this whole thing out of canon is a parsimonious solution.

As an individual story, this volume is much better than the previous one. Hett is a solid character, channeling more than a bit of Anakin but with his own mysteries. He certainly makes a more interesting foil for Ki. The thing that should, and to some extent does, elevate this volume above most similar stories is the adoption of the Tusken perspective. Hett is an outsider with only a partial grasp of it, but still enough to give us a more positive and intimate view than we've had before. It's good, though relies a fair bit on colonialist tropes that aren't always the best, and it doesn't dig into their POV quite enough to overcome them. The biggest benefit is that it couches Hett's apparent darkness in terms of a cultural context and a specific environment it's adapted to, rather than abstract terms of morality and personal virtue. That's something SW has almost never done, and it's an enticing flicker for sure.

Unfortunately the actual story is undermined by its short scope and clumsy telling. Shatterpoint basically does the same thing, of course, so it'd be kind of redundant, but this is really a novel-length story in 6 comic issues. Hett doesn't get enough development, is the main issue, too few choices and confrontations and experiences, too much reliance on exposition. Ki is as much of a gormless lump as he was in the previous volume. At one point Hett says "I was wondering why they sent you and not Qui-Gon" and I thought "wow yeah this would be better with Qui-Gon wouldn't it." Though it really comes down to the writing of course--I can imagine a bad Qui-Gon story here and a good Ki-Adi Mundi story. Anyway, it also suffers from the same issue as the first (and third) volume: everything's wrapped up in a clumsy criminal conspiracy that isn't particularly intriguing and also happens to remove any trace of moral complexity in the situation. The way this story ends, freeing A'Sharad from his community on Tatooine so he can go be a Jedi, echoes Luke hopping on the Millenial Falcon with barely a glance at Beru and Owen, but feels even more hollow since Hett's world was so much more singular and intense, so much more distinct from Galactic High Culture or whatever. The way this series changes up protagonists feels clever and enjoyable in the long turn (in retrospect) but to do that without sacrificing all its chances for emotional impact, it needs to dig deeper into the POV of each one before it moves on. This should be a far more powerful moment than it is.

August 21 2017- 3 stars: The art takes a step up toward a normal standard of competency from this volume onward; still nothing terribly impressive or interesting but not distractingly weird.

This is where pieces start to come together for the longer-term arcs Ostrander et al are creating in Republic and beyond to Legacy. The cast of mythic characters--the Jedi and Aurra Sing mostly--feel pretty solid so far. That's exciting, but in the moment this story itself isn't all that great. The whole "Heart of Darkness" thing with Hett resolves too quickly to mean much, and the Tusken culture bit would have been a lot cooler if they hadn't just crashed it into a Hutt army and never looked back. I like the way these comic arcs build and weave through each other, but a lot of the component stories feel mistreated by the constrained length here.

[☆ ana ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

uma melhora considerável do primeiro volume, a história foi muito mais interessante e a arte foi bonita. os personagens também estavam melhores e gostei muito desse conceito de um tusken jedi.

*achei muito curioso que aqui ainda não davam muita importância pras cores dos sabre de luz e os significados

[Bane Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Anthony B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather forgettable Star Wars story. For the 100,000th time a jedi has to go to Tatooine. Jabba is a backstabbing worm, a bounty hunter is after the jedi. The formula is followed and the boxes on the Star Wars roles are ticked. Jedi? Check. Sandstorm? Check. Poorly conceived plan to kill the jedi? Sand people? Weirdly speaks Yoda? Check, check and check.

All the technology looks closely like they do in the films, perhaps to a fault - it feels rigid, and on a world where the storyline makes a point of people being stuck and having to adapt & improvise, the tech rarely seems to reflect this; for Hutts who're greedy and power hungry there's little to indicate that they've fought or risked for anything new lately.

There isn't one interesting character; whenever someone does something that displays some hidden depth - a personal flaw, something that goes against the grain of the jedi code - the plot abandons it like it and never brings it up again.

The artwork is done to a consistently good standard, and was clearly done by people who care about the SW universe; this wasn't just another paycheck to them.

By all means, if you own a full Storm Trooper costume read this, because I think you'll enjoy it. But its not a good introduction to anyone new to it; there's nothing gripping about it, it lacks hooks.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who wouldn't seek it out to read anyway; it was readable, but could have been different enough to remarkable. It wasn't though, and there are enough excellent science fiction stories and unforgetable graphic novels to give a book like this a miss.

[Yves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suite à un raid des Tusken Raiders, les Jedi se rendent compte que l'un d'eux porte un sabre-laser qui serait celui de Sharad Hett, un Jedi disparu il y a près d'une vingtaine d'années et que tout le monde croyait mort. Le conseil Jedi envoie donc Ki-Adi-Mundi investiguer sur ce cas. Le Jedi qui est déjà allé sur Tatooine, contrôlée par Jabba The Hutt, sait qu'elle est remplie de danger. Ce qu'il ne sait pas, c'est qu'il y a une menace qui pèse sur lui et qui est encore plus grande que tous les dangers de Tatooine.

L'histoire, sans être mauvaise, est truffée de cliché Stars Wars. On a encore une fois la planète perdue où se cache un Jedi puissant. On a un Jabba tout aussi magouilleur que d'habitude. On a une méchante qui est imprégnée du côté obscur avec un passé trouble. Il y a des attaques des méchants Tusken contre les gentils fermiers.

Au moins, dans cette BD, on a une bonne explication pour le comportement des Tusken et de leur culture. Si Ki-Adi-Mundi était endormant dans le tome précédent, il est très bien développé ici. On a donc une BD qui conviendrait mieux à un néophyte qu'à un fan de longue date.

[Don · Rating 2 out of 5]

Star Wars Reads Day II

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More of a missed opportunity than anything. The idea of a Tusken Raider who's also a Jedi is a good one. Sadly, the story focuses elsewhere. What we have, instead, is a fairly standard story of Ki-Adi-Mundi trying to convince Sharad Hett to return to the Jedi. But he's happy just being a Tusken Raider, living on Tatooine. Then the Hutts show up, and Aurra Sing appears as well. (Sing being the poster child for missed opportunities.) In the end it all just becomes this jumbled mush.

I guess it's a little unfair to condemn in 2013 a book from 2001, but I read this after reading John Jackson Miller's novel "Kenobi," also set on Tatooine with Tusken Raiders. After "Kenobi," I was really hoping we would have gotten to see more life amongst the Tuskens.

[Kaya Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

started for eeth koth, stayed for aurra sing

[B. Reese · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty much just a prequel era pot-boiler.

I could take or leave it. It's not bad, it's got Aurra Sing and fleshes her out. Also introduces Asharad Hett, the Tusken Jedi who becomes Dart Krayt. Sorry, Spoilers. I am not that interested in his character, and am on the fence about Star Wars Legacy being in my canon.

A topic for another day, but anything NJO or later I could toss as long they respected what came before. If Episode 7 has Jacen, Jaina and Anakin Solo, and everything from the EU up to the start of NJO was canon, and Vector Prime after was not, I could live with it.

Anyways, outlander is OK if you're looking for an episode 1 era story that's a quick read.

[Hector · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is great. Though, I didn't like some of Ki-Adi-Mundi's dialogue; sometimes he would come off a little too smart-alecky, a side that I wasn't expecting from the venerated Jedi Master. The artwork is little "iffy"; I could take it or leave it. It's not up to the high-standards---I believe---of some of the later titles. Overall, Star Wars: Outlander serves as a nice little companion piece to Star Wars: Kenobi, where some of the events of Outlander are mentioned.

[Shawn Fairweather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent TPB that delves deeper into the time period between Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones where a member of the Jedi Council must seek out a long lost Jedi while conducting an investigation. For those that would like more lore based on the Tusken Raiders aka Sandpeople of Tatooine, check this out. Artwork is top notch as well and the story flows nicely. Highly recommended.

[Zuzana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A missing Jedi Master Sharad Hett resurfaced on Tatooine as a formidable Tuscan war leader - raiding cities, killing people right and left. Jedi on the Council are concerned that he succumbed to the dark side or did he? They send Ki-Adi Mundi to investigate. Not bad.

[Noah Soudrette · Rating 2 out of 5]

This six issue story ark builds slowly to the one thing we want to see... Aurra Sing fighting Jedi. We get about 10 pages of that in the last issue. That is all. Snore.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty average. Perhaps even below that. Less than average I'd say. Aurra Sing is kinda cool, though.

[Chad Hansen-Saunders · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best Star Wars graphic novel. The most interesting thing was to see the origin of A'sharad Hett who becomes a major player in about 150 years.