Star Wars: Mace Windu (2024) #3
THE RUN
In the time before the fall of the Republic and rise of the Galactic Empire, Jedi Knights are keepers of the peace. Before joining the Jedi Council, one brave Jedi travels the galaxy on a daring mission. He’s known as….
Upon returning from a daring undersea mission, Mace Windu was briefed on a new threat: Smuggler Azita Cruuz has taken a rare, dangerous substance known as coaxium ultra and is looking to sell it to the highest bidder.
After tracking down the young pirate, Mace and Azita began working together to evade the various other smugglers and hunters looking to get their hands on the rare material.
But there are other mysterious figures, watching from the shadows….
Writer: Marc Bernardin
Penciller: George Jeanty
Inker: Dexter Vines
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse
Cover artist: Mateus Manhanini
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Release Date: April 17, 2024
We’re back on Ro Mira as Mace Windu and Azita exit from the caves they were battling through in the second issue, and as they hit the crisp air we realise that despite the danger Azita has a plan as she uncovers a silver speeder and the pair hop in and speed away as we learn more about her. She does occassional jobs to ‘stock my cargo hold and fill my fuel reserves‘ before disappearing again, a life Mace sees as lonely but she disagrees. Her life on their shared homeworld of Haruun Kal was tough, living alone without parents after they died when she was young, but the conversation is ended as vessels from the Ro Mira Refinery Security Patrol swoop in and start firing. Mace gives her an ultimatum; give the Jedi the formula and fuel stock of the Coaxium Ultra and he’ll get her out of this predicament, and with little choice in the matter she agrees.
He tells the pursuing vessels who he is, and how the speeder is under his protection, a move that works as the vessels peel off and leave. Mace and Azita believe the situation has ended when one of the two ships suddenly explodes into flame, followed by the second. Then the reveal – the ships have been destroyed by the Anzellan bounty hunter Yaya Shram and when Mace tells Shram that the speeder is udner his protection, the hunter says he doesn’t care as he’s working for Jabba the Hutt.
We realise that Yaya is leading a swarm of vessels, and with their chances of escape shrinking, Mace decides to do something utterly crazy but very Jedi and leap from the speeder to the nearest ship, climb aboard and ignite the purple. He begins attacking the ships, taking many of them down before Yaya tells him he’s incurred the wrath of Jabba the Hutt and Yaya Shram, both of whom Mace claims he’s never heard of as the Anzellan speeds away. Hopping back onto the speeder as the final ship self-destructs, they arrive at Radial Spaceport and Azita first gives away the speeder and then makes sure Mace verbally confirms that she’ll get paid once they arrive on Coruscant.
We conclude as they arrive at a sharship, about to step aboard but are blocked by the Dusk Weavers of the Had’le Path, ending another action-packed and intriguing issue that shows the stoic Mace and his powers off to their best effect, the voice of Samuel L. Jackson ringing in your ears. There’s not a lot of plot in this issue – they get in a speeder, are attacked, escape and arrive at a spaceport – but that does allow for some character development of Azita, who allows us to see what Mace’s childhood could have looked like on Haruun Kal. Engaging artwork and a snappy script is building a story that has certainly got this reader keen for the fourth and final issue.
