Randy Stradley

I don't know if Dark Times was intended to end in its seventh volume, or if Dark Horse losing the Star Wars license brought it to a premature end, but this volume makes me think it was intentionally winding down. Fire Carrier picks up a thread abandoned since volume two, as we revisit the Jedi younglings hiding from the Purge with Master K'Kruhk. This seems like the kind of thing you make sure to tie off when you know you're running out of time, but maybe a side story is the kind of thing show more you do when you want Doug Wheatley to draw your main arcs but know he can only draw six issues every two years.

In any case, misleadingly Darth Vader-focused cover aside, this is one of the best Dark Times stories, and probably the one that most feels like the series was mean to be-- the last couple Jennir-focused volumes made it more Jedi-centric. But here, like in some of the early Uhumele-focused stories like Parallels and Vector, it's about decent people trying to hang on in a universe arrayed against the very concept of decency. And not just K'Kruhk and his Jedi charges, but also ordinary Imperial officers. There's a whole sideplot about Imperial officers, who were quite recently Republic officers, and how they're trying to make the new government live up to their expectations. The Empire was supposed to be something and it's not, but they want it to anyway.

I enjoyed it a lot. The kind of story that makes you think it could go anywhere (and it does go some dark places), and is all the better for it. There's even a nice tie-in to Legacy, connecting two of Dark Horse's better Star Wars ongoings together. show less

Darth Vader has been a background presence throughout Dark Times, rarely directly interacting with Our Heroes, but lurking off somewhere else, sometimes as frustrated as they are with the new state of the galaxy. In this volume, Dass Jennir sets off to return Ember, the brothel manager he met in the last volume, to her home planet, only to end up crash-landing. The two must work together to survive while being hunted by a bounty hunter, and while the Uhumele crew searches for Jennir with the show more aid of a Verpine Jedi. It's not the best volume of Dark Times, but it is enjoyable enough.

I'm not entirely convinced by the Jennir/Ember romance, which mostly seems to be based on her being female and willing and him being lonely and needy, but the basic premise of the story is sound. I like Jennir's pretty consistent "hero" moments; it's a good demonstration of the constant commitment to goodness in difficult circumstances that the Jedi life requires, and for Jennir, the Dark Times seem to be providing some clarity that his earlier life lacked. The galaxy might be worse off, but he seems to be more himself than he ever was. There's a good twist as regards the bounty hunter, too. I do wish it didn't seem like Bomo Greenbark was fading into the background, though; his ordinariness was one of the original drivers of the series, but he's just kind of becoming yet another member of the Uhumele crew.

I like Wheatley's artwork, but I liked his art better in the earlier volumes of this series. It was more rounded and 3-D then, to good effect. show less

This six-issue miniseries sees Machiko’s crew recruited by some space marines to convince the Predators to help them confront a new threat: a group of Yautja called “Killers” instead of Predators because they prize not the thrill of the hunt, but the act of killing. To make matters worse, these Killers have tamed the Xenomorphs and use them as weapons.

The comic actually starts with a group of Killers unleashing the Xenomorphs on some horrified human cannon fodder with one of the Yautja show more literally holding one of the Xenomorphs on a leash. It’s incredibly badass and terrifying, and really does a great job of setting the tone.

This comic brings Machiko’s story full-circle with one of the Predators “erasing” her Xenomorph hunter brand and symbolically restoring her humanity. I wish she had fit in better with the Yautja, because obviously stories of humans transcending their species and finding somewhere they belong more is a story concept I very much enjoy, but I do like this ending for her. I’m glad she gets to be happy. show less

A lot of the Alien and Predator comics aren't very good, but this is a great series. Perhaps understanding how hard it is to really get into the heads of two groups of aliens that don't talk, Randy Stradley wisely chooses to focus on the humans involved, making them real, fleshed out people. It's their story, particular your main character, Machiko, that pulls the reader in. The art is gorgeous, and the story exciting. It's disappointing that no one has been able to capture this magic in any show more of the movie pairings between these two franchises. show less