– Spoiler Review –
While we’re less than a month away from the premier of the new animated show, Maul: Shadow Lord, fans can get a sneak peek of some of its characters and main setting with the prequel comic series, Shadow of Maul! Written by Benjamin Percy with art by Madibek Musabekov and Luis Guerrero, Shadow of Maul #1 is a moody, dark, and intriguing start to the miniseries, where teases abound for the show’s detective and his robot sidekick.
Maul: Shadow Lord premieres April 6, dropping two episodes every Monday until it all wraps up on May 4, aka Star Wars Day, of course. If you’re doing the math, that means Shadow of Maul will have three issues left AFTER the show ends, so it’ll interesting to see if this was on purpose to avoid spoilers somehow or just the way the Sith Lord crumbled. Maul: Shadow Lord will peel back another layer to Maul’s story, beginning to showcase how he rises from the ashes of the end of the Clone Wars to one day run Crimson Dawn (and fall off that perch too). The show primarily takes place on Janix, a seedy new underworld planet away from the prying eyes of the Empire at the moment, and looks to co-star Devon Izara, a Jedi Padawan Maul sets his sights on to recruit to his cause. Is she canon’s version of Darth Talon? How far will this show take Maul on his quest? No idea just yet, but for now we have Shadow of Maul, the 5-issue comic miniseries that serves as a prequel to the show. It focuses instead on Captain Brander Lawson and his robotic partner Two-Boots, both of whom may or may not come to be a thorn in Maul’s side, while giving fans a glimpse of Janix as well, with just a touch of Maul. By the end of issue #1, Shadow of Maul does a very good job building up intrigue around Lawson, offering plenty of layers for the comic and show to peel back. However, it could do more to establish Janix, which I hope it gets the chance to do in the remainder of the series, but at least Madibek Musabekov and Luis Guerrero’s art give it some distinctions from other seedy locales like the underbelly of Coruscant or Daiyu. And as for what issue #1 features regarding Maul, while less is more for Darth Vader typically, less is more worked just right for this series too (though it’ll be hard to beat Maul’s cameo in The Living Force, as if you need another reason to read the book!).
In a way, Janix feels like Gotham City and Captain Lawson like James Gordon, though with a few secrets of his own and in a city where they’re about to get the opposite of Batman (as Maul has revenge, not vengeance on his mind). While it would’ve been an easy sell to make Lawson a full Gordon, the force for good on a semi to fully corrupt police crew, Lawson’s layers elevate the idea. He does uncover a mole amongst the Tactical Defense Force team, and shuts out the internal investigator as he prepares to see how deep this thing goes, so he’s a do-gooder at heart. But he threatens the investigator things will get rough if he gets in Lawson’s way, he mentions having a kid early on, and the chief makes a reference to his bounty hunting days, a list of intriguing background items that could come into play not only in the issues ahead, but the show itself. Will Maul get wind of Lawson’s kid and use that against him? What bounty hunting skeletons does he have in his closet that could help or hurt him against Maul? And just how dirty is he willing to get his hands? These are all things I’m interested to see play out in both the comic and the show.
Fresh off back-to-back placements in my Top 3 Art Teams, Madibek Musabekov returns for more Star Wars comics goodness, his Jedi Knights‘ colorist Luis Guerrero alongside him, and they are joined by letterer Joe Caramagna. Our best taste of Janix is on one of earliest pages, a tall sliver of a panel that starts with Caramagna’s narration box and dialogue bubbles, guiding us to slide down the city’s vista. It’s an excellent collab here between Musabekov and Guerrero, Musabekov featuring such fine details on the big buildings in the distance, though making them feel like an unattainable high, as if they are too removed from where our story will take place. As readers work their way down, what’s closer to Lawson is rather less impressive, drab surroundings with wires and much shorter and crammed living situations, plus a little waterway to collect what seems like an endless rain there. Guerrero drips this scene in neo-noir vibes, neon on a few lights, shadows hugging everything in tight, the overall look murky, drab, yet hints of life hidden within. Between the look of the big city verses the slums and what looks like an elevated tram system of some type, it’s here where my mind went right to Gotham, though more of the Tim Burton-esque vibe than the Christopher Nolan-verse ones. Typical of their work on Jedi Knights, I really liked a smaller detail/moment, the one where Lawson drinks at the bar holding poisonous species and the bartender begins to reveal he’s been poisoned. Lawson’s facial expresses are great here, confident in the first panel, enjoying the first sip in the next, then shock, and lastly disbelief. On the page before, the colors were brighter, less claustrophobic, painting the bartender in a friendly light like we’re all more used to bartenders being, yet after Lawson learns he’s being poisoned, the Guerrero switches up the color schemes, backlighting the massive Dowutin so they look scary now, and it’s not just because they are holding a massive hammer and Musabekov pulled back and shifted us down to being looking up at them. Already proving he could absolutely do a full series in first-person and it’d look slick as all hell, Musabekov returns to the perspective in the issue’s final pages, obscuring just who readers are following, even though we all already likely know. It makes the inevitable reveal of Maul a very cool delight, Guerrero really keeping him in the shadows, so to speak.
Here are a few other things:
- Above is the ONLY Women’s History Month variant cover in 2026 because, well, this is the only issue from Marvel in March. Wild times we’re living in, but I went over that already in my 2025 Comics Year-in-Review. Regardless, it’s a nice cover, just wish we could’ve had more!
- I’ll be doing my best to review the weekly double-drop of Maul: Shadow Lord as soon as I can after they air and I’ll be doing them like Andor‘s second season, where I’ll cover both episodes in a slightly more condensed single post each week. Also, my plan is to review each issue of Shadow of Maul, but we’ll see if I can between the show, my job, and other coverage.
Shadow of Maul #1 is a solid enough start to the prequel comic, revealing a moody vibe and an intriguing character to follow.
+ Lawson’s Layers
+ Musabekov, Guerrero, and Caramagna set the mood just right
– Janix doesn’t get enough yet
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him and the website on Bluesky.