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A Brand New Character Steals the Spotlight from Darth Maul’s Own Story – Star Wars: Shadow of Maul #1 Review

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Warning: Spoilers for Star Wars: Shadow of Maul #2

Shadow of Maul takes us to a new planet called Janix. The story follows the captain of the local tactical defence force, Brander Lawson, and his droid nicknamed Two Boots, as he investigates crime lords operating in the planet’s capital city, and navigates corruption amongst his own ranks. It’s an interesting crime-mystery story, but has one glaring omission; Maul, the titular character of the book, is missing from it save the last two pages. Maul’s main story will take place in the show this book is a prequel to, but it seems Maul doesn’t have much to do here.

Title: Star Wars: Shadow of Maul #1

Writer: Benjamin Percy

Artist: Madibek Musabekov

Colourist: Luis Guerrero

Letterer: Joe Caramagna

Cover Artist: Derrick Chew

First Appearance of: Brander Lawson, 2B0T, Clariveen Ruhl, Klyce, Hendrix, Jam Jam, and Fraxmoor.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Timeline: 18 BBY

Shadow of Maul takes place in 18 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin), one year after the end of The Clone Wars, but still during the height of the Great Jedi Purge when the Inquisitors are hunting down the surviving Jedi of Order 66. After escaping Republic captivity of on the Venator-class Star Destroyer, Tribunal, Maul returned to the underworld, planning to rebuild his empire. Post The Bad Batch TV show, the Empire is still in their early days, and are still a minimal threat, allowing syndicates like Maul’s Shadow Collective to grow and rise in power amongst the shadows.

Maul is Still a Looming Threat, But Has Yet to Make Any Big Moves

As I said before, Shadow of Maul is the prequel comic series to the upcoming Disney+ show titled Maul – Shadow Lord with the first two episodes releasing April 6th, 2026. Maul – Shadow Lord bridges the gaps of Maul’s story between the events of The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. It seems they’re saving the majority of Maul’s plan for the show, and using the comic to get him to where he needs to be when episode one starts. Maul doesn’t seem like he has much to do, the only thing he does in issue one is secure transportation to Janix.

Sadly, because of Maul’s minimal involvement in issue one, it feels like I was duped out of the Maul story I was looking forward to. Instead, this series seems to be developing new character Brander Lawson, who will make his animated debut in Maul – Shadow Lord. That’s not to say that Captain Lawson’s story is not interesting and well told, it’s just not what I was expecting. Looking at the covers for the next few issues, it seems that Lawson’s story will continue to be the focus, and Maul will continue to operate in the background.

Captain Brander Lawson’s Story is Unexpected, Yet Interesting

Ignoring the glaring exclusion of Maul, the story told in issue one of this comic is quite interesting. After a sting goes wrong, Brander Lawson is assigned a new team. Sure one of the officers under his lead is a mole, Captain Lawson sets up a trap, but the mole is assassinated by a third party, and now Lawson is being pressed by internal investigations. Lawson is an archetypal police officer with questionable morals, believing that things can’t get done without breaking a few rules. Him and his buddy cop droid TB0T have a dynamic that reminds me of Cassian Andor and K-2S0’S bantering.

Though I enjoy Captain Lawson’s do-what-has-to-be-done attitude, I do think he could’ve done well with some changes to his physical appearance. He stands out from the rest of his colleagues, wearing a brown jacket over his uniform, but I think they could have gone a step further and given him a Cad Bane like hat to resemble the style of wild west rangers, which I think would match his personality much better. I’m interested to see how he faces off against Maul. I assume he’ll learn about Maul in this series, but I don’t think they’ll meet until the show.

Star Wars: Shadow of Maul #1 is available now! – Star Wars: Shadow Of Maul #1

Next Week’s Comic Review:

  • Imperial Guardians #1
Ms. Marvel in Inglorious X-Force number one

Ms. Marvel May be the Most Important Mutant For Mutant/Human Peace – Inglorious X-Force #2 Review

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Warning: Spoilers for Inglorious X-Force #2

Inglorious X-Force follows Nathan Summers AKA Cable as he time travels to our future to stop the assassination of the President of the United States who is Kamala Khan AKA Ms. Marvel. However, something goes wrong, Cable is too late, and he is sent to present the day where he gathers a team consisting of all the people he believes to be the suspects to Kamala’s murder. As he leads the team on missions, he rules out suspects, but Cable fears he may be training the murderer to do the job he set out to stop in the first place.

Cover A for the inglorious x force number two

Title: Inglorious X-Force (2026) #2

Writer: Tim Seeley

Artist: Michael Sta. Maria

Colourist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.

Letterer: Joe Caramagna

Cover Artist: R. B. Silva

First Appearance of: Kali

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I picked up Inglorious X-Force because Ms. Marvel is my all-time favourite Marvel character, and this is the run she currently resides in. Though it’s not a Kamala Khan focused book, she’s one of the main leads in the story. When she made her debut in the MCU as a mutant rather than an inhuman, I was unsure about her character direction, but the comics have proved me wrong, and I love Kamala as a member of the X-Men. In this issue of Inglorious X-Force, Ms. Marvel proves why she could be the most important mutant in the X-Men’s history.

Ms. Marvel’s No Kill Rule is Why She’s So Important

Ms. Marvel initially declines Cable’s offer to join his new X-Force team due to their history of espionage, black ops, assassinations. She even stops X-Force member Akihiro AKA Hellverine from killing one of the villains she’s fighting. Inglorious X-Force #2 creates a little more of a moral dilemma when X-Force faces off against an undead enemy in the form of zombies. Though the rest of the team kill with no problem, Kamala still attempts a less lethal approach, which leads to Cable trapping her in a telepathy bubble to protect her, but takes her out of the fight.

The zombie leader, Barberry Boone, gets the upper hand over X-Force, so Ms. Marvel uses her new mutant powers to create a distraction and allows Hellverine to put Boone in a lethal position. Placing herself in front of Hellverine, Kamala convinces him not to kill Boone. Archangel questions Cable as to why he would drop a rookie into the deep end like this. Cable tells the team that Kamala took a risk by sticking to her code in such a dangerous situation, and this would be the reason that both humans and mutants would follow her as President of the United States.

Ms. Marvel is More Than Just a Mutant, She’s a Leader

Ms. Marvel is no stranger to leadership. Before she joined the X-Men, she founded and led The Champions, who separated from The Avengers after her disagreement with their rash mentality during The Second Superhuman Civil War. Once again, Kamala’s dedication to her code was able to convince Hellverine not to kill, and it’s that persuasion and zeal that will help her take her leadership to the next level and lead a country. Cable sees Kamala as the future of human/mutant peace, so if she is, she would be one of the most important mutant in their history.

In the comics, Ms. Marvel has come a long way to reach the level of importance she has now. Making her mark as an Inhuman, an Avenger, leading her own team of young heroes as a Champion, and now a member of multiple X-Men teams, I believe Kamala Khan is ready to take on the next step and lead a country. She is the right person to bring an age of mutant/human peace. I could even see them bringing this new importance to Kamala’s MCU counterpart, but she still has a long way to go before she gains the same potential.

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