Star Wars: Knight Errant Volume 3 Escape

Star Wars: Knight Errant

by John Jackson Miller

Joining a team hunting for a relic of extraordinary evil, Kerra hopes their search will reveal the truth about her missing parents—before it leads the Sith to a tool of ultimate destruction! But Kerra’s desire to find her lost family is clouding her judgment. If the relic falls into Sith hands, the galaxy is doomed! Collects the five-issue miniseries.

* The sequel to the novel from Del Rey, a New York Times bestseller!

"Hopefully we haven’t seen the last of Kerra Holt, as there is a ton of potential for her character, and Escape has shown there is plenty more to be seen." —Roqoo Depot

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

120 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2013

About the author

New York Times bestselling author John Jackson Miller has spent a lifetime immersed in science fiction. His Star Trek novels include the Discovery – Die Standing, the acclaimed novel Discovery — The Enterprise War, the Prey trilogy, and Takedown. His Star Wars novels include A New Dawn, Kenobi, Knight Errant, Lost Tribe of the Sith, and the Knights of the Old Republic comics, available from Marvel as Legends: The Old Republic.

He’s written comics and prose for Halo, Iron Man, Simpsons, Conan, Planet of the Apes, and Mass Effect, with recent graphic novels for Battlestar Galactica, Dumbo, and The Lion King. Production notes on all his works can be found at his fiction site.

He is also a comics industry historian, specializing in studying comic-book circulation as presented on his website, Comichron.. He also coauthored the Standard Catalog of Comic Books series.

Reviews

[Freya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read the previous two volumes in this series, but it was a good read, interesting to see the Jedi masquerading as a little sithling.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won't even lie to you. I'm glad Knight Errant is over and I hope I never read about these characters again. It wasn't good or fun to read. Just a chore. The only good thing here is the artwork unfortunately.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit too much and a weird ending made this less enjoyable than the other stories but it was still ok. Also it seems there should have been more. Kerra wasn’t finished.

[Alternate Lore · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final Knight Errant volume sees a dramatic turn in style as John Jackson Miller seemingly realizes he turned Kerra into an empty vessel and attempts to fix it in the eleventh hour. We get more backstory and some genuine moments of desperation as the series finally zeroes in on her personal struggle. But this should have been the core of the story all along.

It seems obvious Miller was planning for a much longer run that would have allowed for this development, but the series ultimately didn't have enough in the bank to sustain itself. What we're left with is an attempt to salvage the protagonist just as the story ends.

The plot itself didn't inspire much confidence either. The tone becomes uncharacteristically serious, losing some of what made the previous volumes entertaining. Odion - who should have been the big bad all along - barely appears after volume 1, while Daiman is really underused in this finale. Some of the alliances formed here don't really feel earned, and while the volume deserves credit for wrapping up the absolute core storyline, most of the threads established in the series are left dangling.

What's most disappointing is that there's a boatload of potential here. The Sith-controlled territory, the isolated Jedi premise, the warring brothers - all great concepts that never coalesced into a compelling narrative. Instead, Knight Errant stands as one of the most disjointed Star Wars series this side of the Disney acquisition.

I can't really recommend this series except perhaps to show Miller's eventual progression as a writer - his later works get much better than this. If you're curious about Miller's Star Wars bibliography, skip Knight Errant and go straight to his stronger novels. This is one for completists only.

[Lance Shadow · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Knight Errant series concludes with it's final volume, Escape!

The first two volumes, Aflame and Deluge were enjoyable for me, but they had some problems. The worldbuilding is engrossing, and I just love the Old Republic Era in general, but the main character has been so bland.

I don't really know how to feel about this one. Like the other two volumes, Escape has plenty to like- some of it is the best out of the entire series. On the other hand, there's some majorly disappointing flaws with this comic that make the sum of it's parts a frustrating Conundrum.

THE STORY: Kerra Holt has gotten very deep in her one-woman jedi crusade to save the beings suffering under the feuding sith lords beyond Republic Space. She gets friendly with Lord Daiman so she can "escape" and get herself into lord Odion's realm, so she can infiltrate it and undermine the dominion of the maniacal sith lord.
However, a shocking revelation about her parents and a sith artifact known as the Mask of Ieldis throw some wrenches into her plans, and she may be way over her head.

THE BAD: This comic was frustrating. It started out jarring and incoherent, really improved things in the middle, only to lead to a weak payoff in the end.
Things were happening way to fast here, to the point that I felt like I was missing an entire part of Kerra's story. Kerra goes from lone jedi on the edges fighting the bad guys at the end of Deluge, to all of a sudden deep in the heart of sith lords' territories, able to go under cover no problem when Escape opens. It's such a jarring change because she's able to go in under cover so easily. Given the connection Odion has with Kerra, wouldn't Odion's underlings know better? how were they so easily fooled? Or if Odion was allowing it to happen, how could Kerra Holt be so stupid to not anticipate any sort of trap?
Lord Diaman, once again, was underused, and even more so in Escape than he was in Deluge. After how intriguingly he was set up in Aflame, it feels like nothing was done with him, and he suddenly became second fiddle to Lord Odion.
The ending, I thought was underwhelming as a payoff. Once the story and main conflict finally got going and the tension steadily built, it felt like everything was resolved way too easily. And at the end, it felt like everything returned to the status quo, with everything in this story arc feeling like it had little if any impact on anything.
While most of the art looks good, a couple of panels looked quite silly- some of the imagery made me think of Magneto or Thanos- but not the gritty magneto from the X-men films or the complex Thanos from the MCU= more like cheesy 1960's comic book incarnations.
Finally, lets get to the disappointment that was Kerra Holt's character. At one point in the story, she has some surprisingly interesting character moments, but much like what happened by the end of Deluge, I didn't feel like Kerra really changed as a person. By the end, she's the same plucky, idealistic jedi woman she has been since the beginning of the series- all the more disappointing because she had potential to actually develop and leave an impact during this story.

THE GOOD: Just like the previous two volumes in the series, Escape has some good aspects that can balance out the bad.
It finally feels like John Jackson Miller is doing somethings different with the story, and taking more risks. While the stories in Aflame and Deluge were fairly generic and forgettable, the story told in Escape takes some more twists and turns. It also raises the stakes and increases the scale of the story- and I have to admit, it actually FELT like the galaxy could have ended.
Lord Odion is, for the most part, great here. He looks a bit too much like a marvel supervillain with that mask and his armor occasionally, but the scene where he begins to carry out his plans is terrifying, and cutting to the devastation in the panels was effective. Not only has a good portion of the silliness been replaced with a menacing presence, his character is expanded upon pretty effectively too. Before he just seemed like a generic crazed maniac, but the comic dives into his past and his motivations are very compelling.
The artwork is also the best it has ever been in the series. Setting aside a couple of silly looking panels, the artwork looks great. It expresses quite a bit of character emotion and the action sequences are epic and exciting.

THE CONCLUSION: Final rating is 3 stars. It has some great moments, but the story developments are jarring. I commend John Jackson Miller for trying to change things up after how derivative and generic the series has been up until this point, but the shake-ups felt like they happened too quickly, and weren't necessarily earned. It's frustrating; volumes 1 and 2 were bland and vanilla, but they were easy to follow. This one has more depth and complexity in the story and some of the characters, but felt messy and detached from the rest of the series. Escape felt like it would have fit better as a 4th or 5th volume for these comics, rather than the 3rd. Despite Knight Errant: Escape being the planned finale for the series, the ending felt more like a tease for a 4th volume than satisfying closure; but even then, it feels like ending the series here was not a big loss. Kerra Holt hasn't developed enough over the course of this series for me to need her story to continue.

As a whole, I didn't hate the series, but it ended up being forgettable fluff. I had fun with the setting and the worldbuilding, but it didn't leave a lasting impact beyond that. I'm glad I checked it out because I love the Old Republic era, but these comics didn't really take advantage of their great premise, instead just telling a safe and standard adventure story that could have been told in any other star wars time period. If you're a completionist and decide to check it out, I can't say Knight Errant is a complete waste of time, but don't set your expectations too high.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent volume overall, with a strong focus on Odion's unique Sith pathology, which is interesting enough, and Kerra's lost parents. The parent thing is a bit more shallow than you might hope, since it mostly serves to funnel the whole story into this "Sith Artifact" hunt. Not a fan of this, as narrative premise or thematic bludgeon when it's finally discovered. It does exactly the kind of exuberant magic that I hated in TROS and TOR and even if it is a bit more grounded in the personal thanks to JJM's competence as a character writer, I still don't like it one bit. There's a big suffering engine, a dark inversion of the rat-morphine utilitarian thought experiment, and that's cool enough but it's a pale echo of the Crucible, and we see it so quickly and glancingly, and interact with it so bluntly, that it doesn't have much impact.

Why are there LAAT/i gunships in this? The design is identical. Very weird.

[BIGnick BIGnick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah there’s really no consistency with the protagonist’s character from volume to volume. There’s no conclusion with Daimon, who was being built up as the main baddie. There’s some interesting ideas they play with like the god complex and nihilism, but I also felt that idea was more fleshed out it KOTOR 2. Minor nitpick, but it really underlined the lack of creativity for me in this series: there was a sith dropship that looks almost exactly like the republic gunships in the prequels. There’s a lot of winks and nods in the Star Wars eu towards things that have come before but this was so blatant and uninspired; and we’re talking thousands of years in between when this comic takes place and Attack of the Clones. For me this was another meh comic series.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story seemed to come out of nowhere. Kerra working with Daiman is a hard pill to swallow, but then a bunch of previously unheard of plot devices show up (like Kerra's locket) and it all seems sudden and weird. I really liked getting to see Beld Yulan, and at least this story dealt with Odion. I guess I will have to hit up Wookieepedia to see if some of these characters show up again, because there are a lot of unresolved factors.

The covers on the series are my favorite of the Knight Errant stuff. Beautiful work. The inside art is fine, although Kerra's clothes are all unnecessarily tight.

[KindaSorta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely better then Deluge.

Things actually happen in Escape. I enjoyed it but it was just ok.
It feels like this story was cut short. Had the series continued I'm sure it would've gotten alot better.
It uses its time period well.
I really do feel though, that the series is better suited to novels, as The Knight Errant Novel in between Aflame and Deluge was the highlight of the series.
Escape was good. There is some good stuff in here, but it left me wanting more. Mostly more Novels.
I assume all these characters, maybe except Kerra, die before the events of Darth Bane. But I would've liked to see this stories conclusion.

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I suspected that Kerra Holt would enjoy no character development in this series and I was right. This is a disappointing volume in general and extremely disappointing as a conclusion (given the timing, it's obvious that the sale to Disney is the reason the series ended - a mercy killing, really). I felt underwhelmed by a storyline that should have done Big Things for Kerra...but didn't. We are left with the same old ending. More people to save. On repeat. Ad nauseum.

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This continues Jedi Knight Kerra Holt's infiltration into the Sith forces with the aim of bringing the Sith down from the inside, except she's got wind of the fate of her parents and has gone on a slight detour to verify their whereabouts.
This was a bit of a mess, and the story could have been fleshed out a little.
Anyway, it's still better than book 1 and the artwork was pretty decent.

[Jody Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not too shabby I must say.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une conclusion moyenne comme le reste de la série.

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Wars Legends Project #35

Background: Knight Errant: Escape came out in 5 issues through mid-to-late 2012. The trade paperback was released in April 2013. The story was written by John Jackson Miller, with artwork penciled by Marco Castiello. Castiello also did a couple issues of the Purge series and Rebel Heist. His non-Star Wars work for Dark Horse includes several issues of Halo comics, and he's done a bit for Marvel and DC as well.

Escape is set 1032 years before the Battle of Yavin (1000 years before The Phantom Menace). It begins sometime not long after the events of Deluge (my review). Jedi Kerra Holt is still the protagonist, with Sith Lords Daiman and Odion returning as her antagonists (and several references to, and brief appearances by, other minor characters from the series). The action takes place across several planets, mostly in Odion's territory.

Summary: Having recently saved Lord Daiman's capital world, Darkknell, from destruction, Kerra Holt enlists his aid to infiltrate Lord Odion's army, hoping to settle an old score as she works to undermine his regime. She gets more than she bargained for, however, when she learns that Odion is on the scent of an extremely powerful Sith artifact that could endanger the entire galaxy, and the trail he is following was forged by figures from her own past that she believed long-dead. Her judgment may be compromised just when she needs it the most, and her personal feelings could jeopardize everything she has been fighting for.

Review: Finally, this is the kind of story I was hoping for and expecting from this series: rich, dramatic, and emotionally-weighty in a way that the rest of Knight Errant hasn't been. Daiman and Odion have been the primary Sith villains throughout Kerra's story, but Daiman has consistently been featured more heavily. That makes sense, as he is in some ways the more interesting character, but given Kerra's personal history with Odion, his time in the spotlight was long overdue. And, as a result, I see now that Odion wasn't the less-interesting character, he was merely the less-developed one. He stood to be a truly diabolical villain in his own right, and this story certainly realizes that potential.

We also learn more interesting details about Kerra's family and background, and while those elements that ended up being most central to this plot seemed to come a bit out of left field, they nevertheless provided a welcome twist. Suddenly, Kerra's battle, which she has waged with the same single-minded intensity since her arrival in Sith space, becomes even more personal in a way that even she couldn't have anticipated, and watching her grapple with that added heretofore unimagined dimensions to her character.

I particularly loved the art style of this entry, as well. Part of that, of course, is due to the artists, but a lot of it has to do with the darkness of the story itself. Kerra spends much of the story fighting undercover alongside Odion's novitiates amid grim surroundings, and there is a delicious color palette of blacks and reds and oranges that suits this series better than the often-brighter colors of some of the earlier stories. It also introduces yet another Sith Lord, Malakite, whose army features all manner of mutant monsters for the artist to sink his teeth into.

The story includes probably my favorite Knight Errant supporting character: General Yulan. His character arc was totally unexpected, but fantastic, and his conversations with Kerra at various points are some of the best dialogue scenes in the series. I finally felt like Kerra had grown as a character to the point where she is able to articulate a fully-realized personal philosophy that can at least compare (if not quite compete) with the greatness of Zayne Carrick from Miller's Knights of the Old Republic series.

All in all, Escape satisfied most of my biggest complaints about the rest of the series, while tying up loose ends, and still being action-packed and entertaining. I especially love the notion of a frantic search for a lost Sith artifact, which makes for a quite different kind of story from the rest of Knight Errant. I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending as a cap on the series as a whole, but I can live with it, particularly given how enjoyable it was.

A-

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Star Wars Knight Errant escape continues on from the previous volume in the series with Kerra Holt trying to uncover the fate of her parents and they mystery surrounding their disappearance! :D

As ever the artwork is of exceptional quality and really captures the look and feel of the events that are depicted! :D The characters expression really display their emotions clearly and the battle Kerra has to go through are clearly etched on her face! :D Many of the planets and technology are still relatively new in the time period depicted and you will find yourself looking at the art and designs and going ah! :D There is a vast palimpsest of character portrayed throughout the book and it certainly helps in understanding if you have read previous books as the action virtually starts strait away and continues as a breakneck pace! :D

The plotline has elements of almost a detective story to it but at the same time there is a high degree of tension as she infiltrates the Siths closest ranks in order to uncover the truth! :D The action scenes are also displayed on epic scale that really crams in a lot of characters and events under the cover of the many battles that take place in the book! :D Much of the book has the feel of an epic quest and this adds to the pace of the books as Kerra flits between one major event and another and this gives the story the pacing it requires! :D

There are many mysteries answered in Escape that have been around since previous books but at the same time setting up new events with the shifting alliances amongst the Sith proving that even they will not tolerate certain actions if their own power bases are put under threat! :D The politics of this our portrayed in short changes of scene that certainly shows the stakes that out at stake if Kerra should fail in not only her quest but also in the stopping of a potential catastrophe she finds herself in! :D

The conflict, both personal and on the battlefield, that Kerra goes through will keep the pages turning at a rapid pace as you try to figure out which way she will go in her priorities and her eventual resolution to this crisis of loyalties is brilliant! :D There is even a bit of humour thrown which adds to some of the character touches and their reactions to each other as the plot moves along at a frenetic pace! :D

The plotline while appearing initially as Kerra simple tracking her parents down will send quite a few surprises your way and raise further questions that will no doubt be covered in future books! :D Kerra's fundamental nature as a Jedi and as a good person is also well on display though the storyline does have you wondering if she will cross that line between good and bad quite often in order to accomplish her quest which adds a brilliant undercurrent to the story! :D

Fantastic art, a rip roaring storyline with mystery and conflict abounding! :D Brilliant and highly recommended! :D

[Edward Cheer · Rating 3 out of 5]

And yet AGAIN, a planet hangs in the balance between two malevolent forces with only a Jedi in between them, and a superweapon that could bring doom upon the planet! Does John Miller realize he's recycling the same idea thrice now? I will say, I did enjoy this take on the idea better than the first, but not as good as the second- because it started off so vague. In one second, Verra's jumping off a building and is caught in time by a soldier of Damian (who conveniently is a spy for Odion, so Verra can infiltrate his ranks perfectly), and then his character is never seen again... huh. Also, can I say how dumb it is that Verra just NOW is going after the truth for her parents? Why not back in Odion's vessel, when she had access to his droids and his computers? This novel has FAR too many plot any plot conveniences. And while Odion was starting to get fleshed out in this novel, it wasn't that interesting, and he ended up dying before I could learn more of him. And I can't learn more about Daiman (and how the two brothers rose to power, and why the Sith order seems so unstructured in this part of Star Wars history). The helmet was the coolest of the doomsday devices, though... until I found out it was powered by anguish. Sure, it's dark to torture children, but could just promising a pie and not giving it give you enough power to kill an army? Oh, well. Maybe in the next issue- Nevermind! The story ends on "To be continued..." , but that's it. It's over! Unless, Miller's ebook explains something. But it slapped a big ol' happy sticker on it, so whatever. It's not a perfect trilogy, but if you want lightsabers and yelling... this'll do for you fine.

[David Caldwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third graphic novel collection of the adventures of Jedi Kerra Holt in Sith space. It is 1000 years before Luke Skywalker. The Republic has abandoned sectors of space to the Sith. Kerra Holt is working behind enemy lines trying to save as many people as she can. This time she is going after a Sith Lord who wants to kill everyone in the universe.

As I understand it, this series of graphic novels are companions to a series of novels. I have not read the novels so I am not sure how the two add to the other. The biggest drawback for me is that Kerra doesn't really act like a Jedi a lot of the time. She lets those dangerous dark emotions, like anger, control her actions frequently. She is just as likely to pull her gun as her light saber.

Of the three collections that I have read, I enjoyed this one the most. The story seemed more like a Star Wars story and was a little more" complete" feeling. Of course, being a graphic novel means you trade some of the detail that you get in a novel is sacrificed in the interest of having pictures. The illustrations do add to the story in this collection.

I am not sure if this would make someone a Star Wars fan, but it definitely won't make someone give up on Star Wars. A decent addition to your Star wars collection.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I thought this was going to be another "Jedi falls to the dark side to serve the greater good" story, but I should have known better. Kerra Holt is always firmly on the Light Side, but must infiltrate "the Odionate," an area of ruled by the Sith Lord Odion. Kerra is seeking her missing parents, but becomes involved in a quest for a powerful Sith artifact.

I've really grown to like Kerra over the four stories that have been published about her. She has an unfailing sense of purpose and always seeks to do good wherever she can. While this story is not about Kerra's redemption, she does make it one of her priorities to redeem others. She is truly a missionary behind enemy lines.

Recently, Disney/Lucasfilm have declared all of these stories non-canon, or "Legends." Its by no means necessary to read these adventures of Kerra to enjoy the streamlined saga, but she really exemplifies the Jedi spirit and demonstrates this in a way we haven't seen previously. I recommend this to any Star Wars fan who is curious about Jedi and want to see one truly in service to others.

[Yves · Rating 5 out of 5]

C'est triste que la série Knight Errant s'arrête à ce tome car plus ça avançait, meilleure l'histoire devenait. Ici Kerra Holt doit infiltrer les Sith pour se rapprocher de ses ennemis et les empêcher d'obtenir une relique Sith qui contient de dangereux pouvoirs. le plus génial c'est qu'elle réussi son infiltration sans même toucher au côté obscur.

J'adore les BD de John Jackson Miller. Même si cette série est finie, je sais qu'il a écrit bien d'autres histoire que j'aurais éventuellement la chance de lire. Ça vaut la peine de lire le premier tome qui est très ordinaire juste pour voir les deux tomes suivants qui sont très bons.

[Margarida · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the first two issues feeling like a lacklustre approach for a story with much potential, the third and final instalment of the knight errant series finally manages to interest me.

All the pieces come together: the "turn" of Kerra into sith; the revelation of the brothers' pasts with that being the ~"~justification~"~ of Odion's actions; Kerra finding what happened to her parents; the children being held in the cloisters and ultimately saved. So many exciting things happening at last!

I was starting to lose my hope in this series being worth reading at all and was ready to leave this last issue untouched, but am glad I held onto it for it closed this chapter in an up note.

[Jaime K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good end to a dark story.

Herra grudgingly accepts working with Daiman to set up a trap for Odion. Odion's empathic in a way and can channel the feelings (anger, lust, and other negatives) of one person into another (and drive them to despair or rage). It's dark, Sithly, and pretty great to read as a comic, because the colours adequately portray the scene and the conversation.

Herra finds evidence that her parents live and helps some of Odion's people realize that the Sith's embrace of nothingness (leading to a meaningless life & death) is not the ideal that it seems.

[Scott wachter · Rating 2 out of 5]

each of the volumes collected in trade have thus far been one single arc of a story that doesn't really progress. slot the first issue in front of any of these storylines and it feels the same. There's no sense of progress.

Besides these arcs feel very rushed, like they could be fleshed out into a fully satisfying story, but then get crunched down into 5 issues.

[Shawn Fairweather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Escape is a bit better than Aflame and Deluge and sadly you have to read the first two volumes to get here. I would put this on par as the Knight Errant novel as well. Descent writing with better artwork that doesn't look so much as if its written from a childs perspective, but there is better out there in the SW universe.

[Tazio Bettin · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh. This series had some great potential. Female lead, two strongly characterized and very interesting villains. But the development is rather mediocre. I couldn't consider it any better than a filler, which is a shame. It's not badly written. It's just not engaging enough for the potential it has.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, a continuation of an interesting story, but it just seemed to be lacking a lot of important events. It's almost like they had to hurry and finish it.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The series started bad and finished great. Great artwork and story.

[Samuel G Wells · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad

Not bad but not as memorable as the first two volumes. Still a great ride, all told. Worth the read!

[Ritinha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Com Sith Lords destes (como o Odion), a Thought Bomb do Bane foi a melhor coisa que aconteceu à... corporação dos olhos amarelos.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting take on the ultimate purpose of war.

[G-E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dernier tome qui conclue cette série qui devenait de plus en plus intéressante. Au final, elle est mieux que le premier tome le laissait présager. 3.5/5