Story: Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole
Art: Carlos Ezquerra
Color Design: James Sinclair
Color Rendering: James Sinclair and Chris Chuckry
Lettering: Michael Taylor
Cover Art: Kilian Plunkett
Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand is a stand-alone series that deals with a few months in the life of Mara Jade. A few very important, crucial months for her, as it turns out. The story begins with her running through an exercise designed to show to Darth Vader just how good she is, a scene that was originally only available online, but has since been made available in the trade paperback form as well. We then get to see her trying to kill Luke Skywalker in Jabba's court, experiencing the Emperor's death, confronting Imperial Intelligence Director Ysanne Isard, and taking down a Black Sun wannabe. Ultimately, though, the title lives up to its promise, and we see Mara Jade in her life as the Emperor's Hand.
One may wonder how feasible it is to follow just one character around for an entire comic series. One may wonder even more so how it is possible to portray that one character's thought process in comic format. This series picked a very interesting yet effective way to do this. Part of the time, the story seemed to be narrated by Mara herself, as she would give commentary over some of the scenes and action. In this manner, we also were allowed into her mind and saw how she perceived things. For the latter portion of the series, an impartial narrator takes over for Mara and, although she is no longer telling us her perceptions, the narrator doesn't leave those out of the commentary.
Although it works, I can't help but wish they had chosen to stick with one way or the other. Either the whole thing should have been narrated in first person, or the whole thing should have been narrated in third person. I realize that there were two scriptors and, if I recall correctly, the place where the narration changes is where the scriptors switched, but it just seems it would have been a little more effective had the perspective remained consistent throughout the entire thing. This is a minor quibble, however, and the switch in viewpoints does not really detract from the story.
When it comes to story, I find that I have no real problems with it. It was not the most spectacular thing I've ever read, but neither was I groaning over how bad it was. As I would expect from Zahn and Stackpole, the story fits well into continuity. It also succeeds with giving us an insightful look into Mara Jade at this point in her life and what makes her tick.
When reading this, I was reminded of a scene from Zahn's Vision of the Future. In it, Luke and Mara are discussing her tenure as the Emperor's Hand and debating whether or not Mara actually had been Dark Side. Luke claims that she had not been opened to the Dark Side because she was never doing anything out of selfish motives, but to serve the Emperor. And that, he said, was the essence of a Jedi: to serve.
When I'd originally read that scene, I remember wondering how she could never have opened herself to the Dark Side when she had been taught by and carried out the whims of Emperor Palpatine. In this comic, we see how this could actually be possible. We never see her killing out of a desire to kill, nor do we see her caught up in bloodlust. She kills because she feels she has to, because her Emperor ordered it of her or in self-defense. Even when killing both Dequc and the being she believed to be Dequc, there was no look of enjoyment. Rather, she was serving as the Emperor's executioner, and the only satisfaction she felt was in knowing she had been successful in completing yet another job for her Master.
Mara did her best to protect those that had nothing to do with her conflict. When confronting the Dequc stand-in, she told everyone else to clear the room. If she truly delighted in killing, she would've slaughtered them all. When smuggling herself off Coruscant, she awakens in the night to thieves stealing from all the passengers. She not only stops the thieves, but sees to it that all the passengers get back their belongings. She didn't have to do this. There are quite a few other occurences in the series that show she is not a Dark Sider, although she is allied with the wrong side and can be ruthless when it comes to getting what she wants.
The story wasn't all drama or action, however. There was one scene in particular that had me cracking up. What's even funnier is knowing that the two people talking weren't trying to be humorous, and one of the two is well-known for not having a sense of humor. If you've read the comic, I'm sure you've guessed it right. I'm talking about the scene with Isard and the tech and the constant promotions.
I just wish they'd continued for a panel or two longer with those two. We see the guy being promoted into the stratosphere for giving Isard what she wants. At one point, when Mara escapes one of the tech's traps, Isard threatens him with being demoted from Grade 13 Tech, but that's about the last we hear of this. Makes me wonder. Did the guy just get demoted back to his original level after Mara's escape? Was he fired? Physically punished? Sent to Lusankya? We will never know for sure.
Up to this point, I've more or less been addressing the story but, as we all know, the story is not everything when it comes to comic books. Like the story, I have about the same kinds of comments about the artwork. For the most part, it was well-done. There are a couple of things I would like to address about the artwork, however.
The first one isn't really a nitpick as it is a comment. Mara had so many clothing changes throughout this series that she could give Queen Amidala and her entourage a run for their money. I didn't find them annoying since they fit into the plot, but it's just something I noticed. I also noticed that the artist managed to refrain from the temptation of portraying Mara as a typical comic book female that runs around half-naked/shows an amazing amount of cleavage. Even when dressed as one of Jabba's dancers, her breasts were fully covered and she wasn't showing any more leg than a woman wearing shorts would. As a woman, I thank you, Carlos Ezquerra!
There was one blooper I caught as well. In the scenes with Isard, for the most part, she is drawn correctly, with her left eye as red and her right eye as blue. But in the very beginning, she is drawn with the eye colors switched. I thought there was one more place in that series where the eye color was switched, but I can't think of where it was now. That one place might even be the only place.
Except for that eye-color nitpick, Isard was drawn well. She did not look like an old hag, nor does she look approachable or kind. She truly looks like how she was described in the X-wing series, as a woman who could be called handsome had she a different personality.
I wish I could be as pleased with the depiction of Mara as I am with Isard. Don't get me wrong, there were no details really messed up. She has red hair, green eyes, and is tall and in good shape. The one thing I didn't like is that she appeared slightly hefty. I pictured her as being more slender and deceptively delicate looking. This woman looks as if she has a little weight to her, giving her a little more of the look of someone not to mess with. Again, not a big deterrent, just a little different than the image of her I have in my mind.
Overall, a good read. In some ways, this comic could be as essential to a Mara Jade fan as I, Jedi is to a Corran Horn fan. Like I, Jedi, this comic gives the reader much insight into the mind and motives of its main character, so even if you are not a rabid Mara fan, this should still be enjoyable. The only type of person I would recommend not read this is the group of people who can't stand Mara Jade and would only like to see her dead. They would only be bored and disappointed by this. Everyone else should read it.
Reviewed September 4, 2001 by Kelly M. Grosskreutz.
Back to the Comic Reviews page.