– Spoiler Review –
Mace Windu #4 might be the finale to the miniseries, but it not only comes with a satisfying ending, it also leaves readers chomping for more thanks to the introduction of its main villain.
The latest obstacle in Mace Windu and Azita Cruuz’s way of getting back to the Jedi with the special coaxium ultra formula is the appearance of those in the shadows: the Dusk Weavers of the Had’le Path. As hinted at before, they are technologically adverse, claiming their great leader, The Shroud, will usher in an era of light once they use the coaxium ultra to reset the galaxy, bring it to darkness. Mace and Azita don’t listen to the Dusk Weavers prattle on for long, engaging them in battle instead, with Mace finding a way past one’s lightsaber blocking weapon and Azita using the darkness they so claim to love against them, frying pan and blaster in hand to subdue another. Azita and Mace’s rapport established over these past few issues doesn’t abate, and I love how quickly they seem to respond to one another’s comments, letterer Joe Caramagna making their word bubbles almost hugging one another at times to show how close their responses come, while it’s almost like they are finishing each other’s sentences. They have been fun to read together and this final issue doesn’t disappoint, leaving me hopeful to see them together in the future. As the two debate the best way to deal with their Dusk Weaver prisoners, getting the local police involved before or after they’ve left the scene, the answer on what’s next comes thundering towards them: the Shroud himself! Approaching his Dusk Weavers first, he deems them unworthy and gives them the option to either kill themselves or flee and never let him see them again…which of course they choose to flee. From the way he holds himself, the surety behind his words, and what he all has to say, I immediately was intrigued by him but worried only being in one issue wouldn’t be enough to make his appearance here feel worth it. By the end of the issue, I was pleasantly surprised in several ways!
The Shroud feels like a great foil for Mace, as while both are sure of the Force and their place with it, he claims to truly know it better than any Jedi alive, even Yoda, and the confidence in his statement is chilling, whereas Mace’s confidence in his knowledge feels to pale in comparison. Mace has been so sure of the Force and his place in it while he speaks with Azita, but to hear the Shroud claim he and the whole Jedi Order are wrong cuts to the core of Mace himself. Can he accept such a possibility? What does it say about him if he can’t? Just as someone from his home planet came into his life and started asking questions about fate, he now faces an adversary who is under the belief they have all the answers and somehow Mace, who is always quick to answer, doesn’t. The Shroud claims the Jedi Order and its beliefs with the Force, how there’s a light and a dark side, how control can harness it, are all lies and the furthest from what the Force truly is. To find his answers, since he wasn’t good enough to be in the Order and couldn’t find the answers he wanted to all his questions in other ways, he claims to have looked into the heart of the Force and gave himself to the abyss, and now only he knows what the Force really is. It sounds like madness, and Mace calls him out on it, so I wasn’t surprised when the Jedi Master, tired of the Shroud’s rambling, cuts down Azita’s ship’s landing struts and crushes the Shroud with it. Given the usual format for miniseries, the main bad guy or main problem is usually wrapped up and the story and characters move on, and given when this takes place, prior to The Phantom Menace by several years, someone as potentially dangerous as the Shroud still being alive doesn’t seem like it would work…right? The Shroud’s death seems assured, fitting my concerns they waited too long to introduce him, but Mace and myself were in for a nice surprise when the Shroud lifts the ship up, alive and well, telling Mace he’ll never be rid of him and the Force itself is his to own. Azita, who climbed into Mace’s Jedi Starfighter since her quips weren’t going to help Mace bring down the Shroud, takes aim at her ship and blows it, and the remaining coaxium ultra, up! As the heroes feel they’ve won and fly away from the destruction, we zoom back into the debris, the Shroud’s hand popping up like a shot from a zombie movie! He’s only in one issue, but writer Marc Bernardin has ensured the Shroud has left quite the impression, and I am very eager to learn more about his time with the Order, the journey he went on, and what he thinks this Had’le Path is…and how the heck he’s still alive! When will we see him again? Is this a backdoor teaser for Mace Windu: The Glass Abyss novel, out in October (which takes place shortly after The Phantom Menace), as technically the Shroud did say the word “abyss?” A hint we have another miniseries for Mace Windu? Maybe an on-going?? Hopefully Bernardin will be involved if it’s another comic!!
Closing us out on art is once again Georges Jeanty, with inker Dexter Vines, Andrew Dalhouse on colors, and Joe Caramagna lettering. The Shroud, a Devaronian (think Cikatro Vizago from Star Wars Rebels), cuts an imposing figure not just due to the typical appearances of his species, but in his formidable size, his often smug, angry expressions, and the way the team gives him confident poses and strides. One of my favorite panels is when the Shroud lifts up Azita’s ship, as the ship looks just massive, taking up the grand majority of the panel, while the Shroud is a little scrunchy thing beneath it, holding it up. Given what he says about the Force in the same panel, how he owns it, this feels like a perversion of Yoda’s maxim of “size matters not” since he’s the villain here, doing the seemingly impossible. Because of the ship being out in the open, everything under it is in shadows, a darker coloring by Dalhouse, further making it an inverse of a heroic moment. I love all the details Jeanty and Vines give to the scene, from the rubble and dust falling from it to the paneling on the ship itself, as it adds a heavy sense of weight to everything the Shroud is lifting. The following panel on the same page, an intense close-up on the Shroud’s face, dust falling around him, teeth clenched in anger, eyes a sinister looking orange compared to his more subdued skin color, makes him feel so menacing, so defiant despite his situation, it really adds to the sense he’s more than anyone, including myself, expected.
Here are a few other things:
- Whatever comes next for the Shroud and Mace, I hope we do get to see Azita and Mace return to Haruun Kal like he offers at the end of the issue. Even if it’s only in one issue, Bernardin has proven his scripts can make a limited appearance worth it.
- Another thing about the Shroud, but learning he uses technology isn’t surprising, as most cult leaders embrace the various things they tell their followers to forgo, but I liked this detail since I was very curious how he hoped to achieve any goals without any technology.
Mace Windu #4 makes for an exciting, victorious, and fun ending for Mace and Azita’s struggles, while its tease of the Shroud’s continued persistence offers hope, and a desire, for more!
+ The Shroud’s memorable introduction…
+ …aided by some menacing art!
– Some perspective questions in action scenes
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Bluesky, Twitter @MynockManor, and Instagram @mynockmanor.