– Spoiler Review –
February’s villain in the Age of Republic is the one with a legacy larger than its character: Count Dooku! Houser’s latest entry might just be the best yet of her “Age,” as it expertly captures the many sides of the titular Count.
Like the character report at the end of the issue makes a case for (thanks again for a great one, Bria LaVorgna!), I also feel like the identity of Count Dooku is inextricably linked to the late, great actor, Sir Christopher Lee. If there was ever an actor who could make a Count really feel like a larger than life figure in an already larger than life series like Star Wars, none was more suited than Lee, and his influence on the role can be felt in the character’s time in The Clone Wars show and even here on the pages of Age of Republic – Count Dooku. I absolutely enjoyed Jody Houser’s rendition of Dooku, including how she had the issue play up his title and older appearance, eventually revealing the agile, vicious reality lurking beneath, which feels like it pays homage and continues Lee’s legacy. It was easy to hear Lee’s velvety, refined voice (and Corey Burton’s excellent voice work as well) throughout this issue, from when Dooku is playing up his sentimentality over Qui-Gon to gain the trust of an old Jedi acquaintance (Jak’zin), his groan over the SoroSuub’s representatives drivel about their world, and a calm, fierceness when he brings his considerable power to overwhelm the gang he’s come to hire on his Sith Master’s behalf. It really was something special to see Dooku doing business on the behalf of his family’s interests, a guise so he can do his real work with Sidious, as I felt like the TV show had him doing more straight up villainy than this covert work, while Dooku taking advantage of people’s assumption about his age so he can misled them also revealed more subtly and guile to his actions as a Sith. The best of Dooku is on display here, and it certainly seems like Houser had a blast bringing him to life.
But it’s not the writing alone which makes this Dooku so believable, it’s also thanks to Age of Republic’s villain art team. While I was gushing over how great Corey Smith and his team does with the heroes after their work on the Anakin issue, the villain team led by Luke Ross, with colors from Java Tartaglia, is unequivocally bringing it issue after issue, and it’s the perfect, final ingredient to Dooku’s appearance here. Ross manages to really capture the Count’s, and therefore Lee’s, gravitas, from his gleeful deceits or smiling Sith successes to the grand, sweeping motions when he leaps into action as he helps Jak’zin/brings his Sithly might down on the weapons dealers. The panel of Dooku holding dozens of guns afloat with the Force, pointing menacingly at a cowering weapons dealer might be my favorite, but I love the shadows obscuring Dooku’s face throughout the most, especially when he’s being duplicitous/doing work of the Sith variety, as it also seems to pay homage to Lee’s past as a very different Count…Count Dracula that is, which Tales from Vader’s Castle honored excellently last year. And the various reds used for the volcanic planet of Sullust from colorist Java Tartaglia bring the heat to the planet (sorry not sorry about the pun) and strikingly stood out.
The intriguing aspect to the Age of Republic series has been how the villain and hero issues of each month manage to rhyme, like the Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jango Fett issues were about mentorship/fatherhood via very different methods, and February’s rhyme between Anakin Skywalker and Count Dooku hasn’t been quite as clear to me. From what I could surmise, it’s how these two apprentices to Darth Sidious, Anakin being one eventually of course, deal with their duty when faced with unexpected aspects to their missions, and how their unique lifestyles and upbringings afford them different avenues for carrying out their respective order’s missions. For Anakin, his emotional approach would serve to make the Jedi Order better, while Dooku’s influence and family assets give him a freedom of movement to ensure the Sith’s plans come to fruition as needed. Dooku enslaves a group of weapons dealers, taking advantage of a young Jedi’s emotions, while Anakin frees a group of slaves making weapons, taking advantage of his emotional Jedi’s instincts. Maybe that’s the better connection: how the two characters use emotions in the service of their cause. I imagine Abigail Dillon’s next article about these issues at Eleven Thirty-Eight will shed some better light on the connection!
Here are a few other things:
- I will express some minor disappointment regarding Jak’zin being the former apprentice teased in the solicitations for this issue, for two reasons: 1) he’s as much as an apprentice to Dooku as Obi-Wan was to Yoda, because Dooku helped train the younglings with Yoda from time to time before they got their actual Masters (2) Because of course it would’ve been nice to have it be Qui-Gon or even making Komari Vosa from Legends canon, but those were assumptions setting my own expectations up for failure. In the end, it’s only minor because no one, especially me, should ever wholly trust the solicits (or covers).
- Jak’zin is a Togorian, like H’sishi, from the Thrawn novel, which was adapted into a comic by Houser with art my Ross, so he’s had some practice bringing the tiger-like people to life! (via Houser herself on Twitter)
Age of Republic – Count Dooku #1 handles the title character with a respect for a legacy that goes beyond the source material and furthers the compelling aspect of the refined Sith Lord.
+ Count Dooku playing into people’s expectations of his age and title…
+ …eventually revealing the darker side beneath
+ Art team puts the Count in Count Dooku…A+!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
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