Star Wars - Crimson Empire Vol. 2: Council of Blood by Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley (Comicbook Review)

The odd thing about Crimson Empire is that, despite the cliffhanger ending, it was ultimately a complete story. Kanos had beheaded his arch-foe, the New Republic had claimed a world, and he slipped back into the shadows to continue his personal war. While it was clear that the authors desired a trilogy, after such a definitive end it seemed like the sort of move which brings the likes of the Matrix sequels to mind.

Thankfully, it seems as if Richardson and Stradley took a long hard look at what worked with their first volume, and asked one another "What can we do next that we couldn't do there?"

Synopsis

In the wake of Jax's death, the Empire's growing instabilities have led to a council taking power. Rather than a single dominant leader, a variety of generals, politicians, bankers and even aliens now have a voice within the Remnant. However, politics and backstabbing are still rife within this turbulent time. Despite his oath of vengeance, little has been seen nor heard from Kir Kanos in months, yet when Imperial leaders start to die with only the Royal Guard's symbol left at the scene, it seems as if his personal crusade is far from over. Amid this, operating on her own, Mirith Sinn has taken to hunting Kanos in a desperate attempt to bring him to justice.

The Good

A major strength of the original Crimson Empire was its apparent simplicity. Along with rapidly bringing the reader up to speed on current events within the first act, it was a streamlined experience. The focus was placed on a few key characters above all others, the full history of those involved was told through flashbacks and it led to a definitive final scene. Due to its nature as a sequel, Council of Blood couldn't quite follow that same format. It instead, rather than trying to rehash the same exact format, questioned what the previous book couldn't do and what they could build upon with a sequel.

The big point in its favour immediately is how the book broadens its focus without ever losing track of events. You have three major worlds with separate concurrent stories, and the comic bouncing back and forth between each of them in turn. This is used to build up the villains, but also to much more easily handle the complex schemes at work. Rather than simply killing the Dark Lord and leaving it at that, Crimson Empire took the opportunity to ask "What next?" With Jax dead, the Empire has left a massive power vacuum, and others beyond the Imperials and New Republic would seek to take advantage of that. We see multiple details of just how Jax was previously holding the Empire together and the problems his death creates with internal feuds flaring up, and enemies seeking to capitalize on his end. 

While the actual politics in question is far from deep or truly detailed (look to A Song of Ice and Fire to see how well it can be handled in a fictional setting) it's enough to give the comic more substance than you might expect. The figures involved are big, bold or are presented to work through others so it's easy to follow, even when several separate conspiracies start to collide with one another. It's a "wheels within wheels" situation, closer to what you would expect from the Houses of Dune over star wars. Due to this, the sudden murders and the obvious threats on display, it sidesteps many of the immediate issues which turned people off the politics within the prequels.

Better yet, rather than discussing the actual actions themselves or outlining the possible threats, it manages to fill in the reader exactly as it's taking place. Depicting and fleshing out one after another after bombshell after bombshell is dropped, including a rather sinister figure who is seeking to further distabilise the Empire's power. One who will become very prominent later on in the New Jedi Order.

The switch from guerilla combat to cloak and dagger work is one which definitely benefited the story on the whole. While it admittedly lost the inherent simplicity of the original - and that's the last time we'll discuss that point to avoid hammering it into the ground - it gained far more substance for many characters to work with. This is most evident with Mirith Sinn, who is given substantially more to do here. Whereas the original comic presented her as an obviously competent figure but never gave her a chance to shine, here she's clearly among the New Republic's best agents. While her role is initially unclear, the fact she so easily adapts to her environment and only fails at one moment due to a turn of events no one could have predicted gives a far more positive impression of her skills. Furthermore, when she is involved in frontline fighting, she's obviously lagging behind Kanos but stands head and shoulders above almost everyone else. It's a great change of pace, and a fantastic way of utilising a skilled character without the protagonist utterly overshadowing them. 

The comic's use of Kanos himself is certainly curious, as it seems not know quite what to do with them. Then again, that goes doubly so for Kanos himself. While he still has a clear objective and a goal in mind, much of the force which drove him is gone, and he's somewhat unfocused. It's actually a surprising moment of real life hitting the story, as Jax was the focus of his duty-bound hatred for so many years. With him gone, he lacks some of the rage which kept his determination going to the point where he questions a few of his life goals. It's not enough to redeem the character abruptly, nor even to add a lighter shade of grey, but it reflects somewhat on the "What next?" focus of the book. The impact of this on Kanos' life is evident even in the final pages, and it takes speaking for some time with Sinn before he comes to terms with the situation in question.

Of course, for all this, the book benefits from a massive amount of action. From running gun battles to starship engagements and airborne assaults on an enemy fortress, any time you start to adjust to a new status quo it throws something new into the mix. It helps to prevent the book from dragging and even when it seems to calm down for a time, you always know that something large, violent and likely explosive is going to come out of the woodwork. It's not utterly random nor even unheralded, but you can never quite tell just what might play out unless you're paying close attention to the comic's events. The heightened nature of the combat allows it to also be more evenly distributed throughout Council of Blood. So whereas we had two large battles during the second act of the first volume, here there's far more variety to the combat and intense fighting.

Another bonus in the book's favour is the artwork. While he was always skilled, Paul Gulacy seems to have settled into the exact tone of the comic's darker nature and has paid more attention to the finer details. You can pick out minute qualities, small signs of age and use on items, but without sacrificing bold style of the series. There is also a much broader variety of aliens on hand. Rather than having brief cantina-style appearances early on, the more prominent number of aliens here helps to make the galaxy seem more varied and ultimately fleshed out. The more subtle expressions and ability to convey a broader variety of emotions through the individual panels certainly makes the story all the stronger. As does the capacity to focus upon multiple figures within running battles over the more singular combat we had previously. 

Unfortunately, while the tale took a few steps forward, there's no denying it took one or two back as well.

The Bad

You likely noticed that, for all the praise offered to the comic, little time was spent discussing Kanos himself. The truth is that, while he still plays a very prominent part, much of the time he is out of focus. In a Batman Returns move, the writing team seemed much more invested in exploring the shifting dynamic between the villains over the main character. As such it takes quite some time before he truly gets involved in the story, and even then it doesn't quite reach the legendary quality built up about him in the initial story. It's not that his skills have diminished or even that he's being presented in a worse light, but there are fewer opportunities for him to pull off the spectacular victories of the first tale. 

Along with the above factor, another notable issue is that the story seems to skip a point in their development. Kanos' turn makes sense as outlined above, but some of Sinn's development takes place off-screen. While the book dangles the possibility of her vendetta over the tale for a time, she eventually admits that her hatred had died away some time ago. Yet, even counting for this or a few reasons she might have started to forgive Kanos, it's a stark contrast to the ending of the previous book. It's only made all the worse by that most frustrating of tropes, where the story tries to push a romantic link between the two leads. It doesn't come completely out of nowhere, but when combined with the previous events, it becomes egregiously out of place. 

Another definite issue is how the comic can't decide whether or not it wishes to be a stand-alone chapter or leave events for later tales. While it quickly and quite satisfactorily ends a few key figures within the story, others disappear for another day. This certainly makes a great deal of sense in one case, but when it comes to others it has the story just peter out. There's little in the way of a truly climactic ending, and what we get is definitely rushed, bereft of the sense of finality it needs. Because of this, it lacks the impact of the previous book and fails to end on a high note, leaving the promise of more but failing to satisfy you. 

Yet perhaps the most frustrating flaw the comic unfortunately suffers from a few idiot plot moments to try an encourage it to follow certain paths. These are largely minor or are handled in a way which either a character's overconfidence or inept nature could excuse them. On a few occasions, it becomes quite questionable though, such as one moment which treats Kanos as if he was unaware of the Empire's worst excesses of tyranny. Or at least those of Vader himself, which unfortunately contradicts much of what we saw in the first volume. This is partially thanks to the ambition of the book requiring such conveniences, but it's hard to justify or accept them when they create obvious problems rather than bypassing them. In fact, the only thing which does prevent these points from marking down the book further is thanks to the pacing diverting your attention away from them, or disguising them within some otherwise well executed scenes of character development. 

The Verdict

While there are certainly a few apparent flaws with Council of Blood, the overall story still works extremely well. The fact that Richardson and Stradley didn't rest on their laurels, and understood the need to push to new boundaries without betraying what came before. Something which, to be honest, the franchise needs a lot more of these days. Overall, it had some interesting politics, dealt with the repercussions of the past events well, and the action was still solid despite a lack of a major duel. It set up events for new adventures with some interesting new players, and a strong final chapter overall. Unfortunately, we ended up with Empire Lost, but that's a rant for another time.

Verdict: 7.5 out of 10