CBR: STAR WARS VECTOR PRIMED, Part I

[CBR News]

With the landmark Dark Horse “Star Wars: Vector” maxiseries now complete, CBR
News speaks with series architects Randy Stradley, John Jackson Miller, John
Ostrander and Jan Duursema about the event 4,100 years in the making.


Full article here.

[grphxkindaguy]

I was really looking forward to this SW crossover event...and boy was I ever disappointed. It was pretty predictable and just...lame IMO.

The only readable chapters were the Vader/Dark Times issues. And that was it b/c it had Vader actually doing something!!!

I was reminded why I dropped KOTOR, it was unreadable and Zayne has gotten even more annoying & stupid since I stopped reading it.

The Rebellion issues contributed nothing (much like the title itself, unfortunately). A waste of paper.

Legacy is by far my favorite SW title, and it felt forced, how they had to shoehorn this event into the ongoing events of the title, thereby ruining it in my eyes.

ah well, here's hoping in the future when DH does another one (and you know they will, based on the success of this one), they do it RIGHT.

[Sean Walsh]

Wow, the TPB is out in 2 weeks! Very quick and appreciated turnaround.

I'll give that a shot.

[Scavenger]

I felt the middle series, Dark Times and Rebellion, Vector was just kind of there.....didn't really feel important..It played well in Legacy though (the book that I read regularly), in part because it became the important ingredient to solving the big Legacy storyline. It was an unexpected element, which sells the story, since there's no reason the regular elements would work on their own.

[artiepants]

I was really looking forward to this SW crossover event...and boy was I ever disappointed. It was pretty predictable and just...lame IMO.

The only readable chapters were the Vader/Dark Times issues. And that was it b/c it had Vader actually doing something!!!

I was reminded why I dropped KOTOR, it was unreadable and Zayne has gotten even more annoying & stupid since I stopped reading it.

The Rebellion issues contributed nothing (much like the title itself, unfortunately). A waste of paper.

Legacy is by far my favorite SW title, and it felt forced, how they had to shoehorn this event into the ongoing events of the title, thereby ruining it in my eyes.

this was pretty much my reaction as well. I'm really glad it's over and look forward to Legacy getting back on track. I even felt like the art wasn't up to Jan's usual standards ~ like you said, it felt totally forced.

part of what made the Dark Times issues work so well for me was Celeste being inside the Obelisk that had been sort of central to the ongoing story, it felt like natural extension/progression

the KoToR chapter was just absolutely dreadful. It was so bad, that i'm fairly sure i never even read the last part ~ the bouncy cartoonish art was a terrible match to the almost horror-style story...

I think if you are going to do a successful Star Wars "Crossover" event, leaving KoToR OUT might be key, unless it's a prequal story that say, sets up a status quo that comes to light later on, or something. having a character jump from era to era like they did was, again, forced feeling (imho)

[Sabrina_Fried]

I felt the middle series, Dark Times and Rebellion, Vector was just kind of there.....didn't really feel important..It played well in Legacy though (the book that I read regularly), in part because it became the important ingredient to solving the big Legacy storyline. It was an unexpected element, which sells the story, since there's no reason the regular elements would work on their own.

I agree with that, but I think it was because by the time the story got to Dark Times and Rebellion there just wasn't much for them to do beyond just "be there." KOTOR's contribution had to introduce the story arc and Celeste, etc. Legacy had the big climax and conclusion. Dark Times and Rebellion just basically served as the bridge between the parts of the story in KOTOR and the parts of the story in Legacy.

Overall I thought Vector was OK, but I really didn't find it any more special than any other Star Wars story that borrows characters or events from other stories.

Sabrina

[Jared]

The off-kilter art in the KOTOR segment really hurt it, but I thought the writing there was strong. Hell, I liked it better than the Space Worm story arc. I think it felt more like a natural part of the ongoing series than the Dark Times or Rebellion sections. I'll probably pick up the first trade along with KOTOR volume 4.

I'm still not entirely sure what to make of the ending in Legacy. It could be a brilliant move, or it could end up being remembered as a shark-jumping moment. It was certainly bold, so props to Ostrander for that.

Randy Stradley and company repeatedly cite the importance of getting each chapter out on time, and to their credit, they pulled it off. But putting two of the series on hiatus in order to cash in on Clone Wars kind of nullifies that.

I noticed they left the potential for Celeste to show up again between Rebellion and Legacy. If nothing else, I expect the RPG people with do something with that, putting her in a story module for a tabletop game or something. I can't recall, but did the writing ever bring up why Celeste couldn't just fly herself into a black hole? It seemed like she would have had enough control to do something like that, most of the time.

One my favorite tidbits is learning that Muur is (probably) one of the original exiles-turned- Lords of the Sith. I believe that makes three that we know of Ajunta Pall from the game, and Xoxaan.

[C. Earl]

To me, the biggest strength about "Vector" was that each segment was really self-contained. Yeah, put 'em together you get the complete story, but I don't think it was remotely necessary to buy all twelve issues. I was collecting KotOR and Legacy, so I got the beginning and the end, but I never had any intention of getting the middle segments. As its name implied, "Vector" merely cut through Dark Times and Rebellion, but they did indicate that Celeste did meet Darth Vader on her way to eventually meeting Cade Skywalker.

I think Celeste said it best at the end that Zayne Carrick had set her on a path that would bring her to Cade, the only one who could free her from Muur and defeat him at the same time...

[artiepants]

I noticed they left the potential for Celeste to show up again between Rebellion and Legacy. If nothing else, I expect the RPG people with do something with that, putting her in a story module for a tabletop game or something. I can't recall, but did the writing ever bring up why Celeste couldn't just fly herself into a black hole? It seemed like she would have had enough control to do something like that, most of the time.

i thought about that myself, but my impression is Muur likely had enough sway to keep her from doing it ~ Self-preservation seemed to be his primary motivator for being.

[DonC]

Too many important events took place in this series. I realize the big complaint with crossovers is "Nothing ever happens," but when you have major plotlines being resolved in books some people are picking up for the first time, or some people are skipping because they don't like crossovers, then you run the risk of confusing part of your audience and pissing off another part.

I also don't like that Dark Horse is not including the "Vector" issues in each series' trade paperbacks. I read Legacy and Dark Times as trades and had to get those monthlies. And I'm going to have to sit on the Legacy issues for six months because there's a whole trade in between Volume 4 and the "Vector" issues.

[grphxkindaguy]

Too many important events took place in this series. I realize the big complaint with crossovers is "Nothing ever happens," but when you have major plotlines being resolved in books some people are picking up for the first time, or some people are skipping because they don't like crossovers, then you run the risk of confusing part of your audience and pissing off another part.

I also don't like that Dark Horse is not including the "Vector" issues in each series' trade paperbacks. I read Legacy and Dark Times as trades and had to get those monthlies. And I'm going to have to sit on the Legacy issues for six months because there's a whole trade in between Volume 4 and the "Vector" issues.

I concur 100%. I would've liked to see the Darth Krayt storyline resolved in a different issue then in a lousy crossover.

DH should've done the smart thing and incorporate the Vector issues into the regular titles tpbs, in addition to having them seperately.

[jediracer]

I'm upset Krayt is dead. He totally went out like a bitch.

[Lester C.]

I just read the first trade. The good news is that it's well written. The bad news is that for my tastes the art was awful for 5 of the six issues collected. The art for the sixth issue was good but spilt with two very different artists. What pissed me off was that in order to make the one issue of Dark Times important they killed off a main character that had a ton of story potential and left behind a ton of unresolved plotlines.