Hot on the heels of his visage appearing to Obi-Wan Kenobi in two episodes of Cartoon Network’s The Clone Wars, the venerable Jedi Master is back again in a new comic’s mini-series from Dark Horse. Though he only appeared is in what most consider to be the worst of the Star Wars films, ol’ Qui-Gon has some kind of bizarre staying power. According to MTV.com, the forthcoming series called Star Wars: Jedi—The Dark Side will feature the exploits of Qui-Gon roughly 10-15 years before the events of The Phantom Menace. And it sounds like this mini-series may actually have a new take on not only the character, but also present a fresh perspective on Star Wars storytelling. And it all has to do with Dark Horse Comics editor and writer Scott Allie!
Despite the assertions from the infamous Plinkett reviews that Qui-Gon is a drunk and an unethical crazy person, it seems that there is a lot of love for him out there in the fan community. Instead of being a stoic and strangely manipulative Jedi Master, comic writer Scott Allie is imagining him more as a Clint Eastwood-type character. Known primarily for handling the various Joss Whedon titles at Dark Horse, Scott Allie has revealed that he is not a massive Star Wars fan but has done a lot of his research into the expanded Star Wars universe via his 5-year-old son. He also mentions that the series will not focus to heavily on the Sith, or other familiar elements of the Star Wars films. Even Yoda will only have a brief cameo. With an eye on making a Star Wars adventure accessible to a reader perhaps unfamiliar with the totality of this complicated fictional universe, it sounds to us that Scott Allie’s Qui-Gon series might be exactly what disgruntled Star Wars fans might need to return to a galaxy far, far away.
Still, its seems Qui-Gon is a strange choice. Not only did his appearance contradict the previously held assumption that Obi-Wan was exclusively trained by Yoda, but the ridiculous notion of the midichlorians came straight from this guy’s mouth. Would a new Star Wars comic series be better served by focusing on real Clint Eastwood-types like certain smugglers and scoundrels?
In any case, if someone can make Star Wars comics super-fun and Qui-Gon Jinn relevant, we bet it’s Scott Allie.
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