Star Wars: Knight Errant vol. 2 — Deluge

As you can see, I liked the first volume enough that I didn’t bother waiting until Comic-Con to pick up the second.  “Deluge” continues the fast-paced, high action vibe of the previous series as Jedi Kerra Holt returns to her homeworld to free it from Sith occupation only to find it in the crossfire of Zodoh the Hutt and most of its populace addicted to a new drug.  Fortunately a mercy organization known as Grace Command shows up to save the day and offer some relief to the planet’s citizens.  But are their motives entirely altruistic?  And what is this “Stormdriver” at Zodoh’s command?  These questions, and the broken will of the populace are enough to drive any Jedi to the breaking point even before you consider that the solipsistic Sith Lord Daiman is still out there too.

Writer John Jackson Miller serves up a story with a full plate of action and pacing that doesn’t flag until the very end.  Pretty much everything about the plot is predictable, but it’s handled with such gusto that it doesn’t detract from things too much.  Still, it’d be nice to see more sides to Kerra’s personality in the next arc as she doesn’t get the same kind of development we saw in the first volume.  What is distracting, though, is the three pencillers used to tell the story.  Things start off with a gritty look that’s more in line with the previous volume, and end with a clean, bright style that works on its own terms but is miles away from what we started with.  The cover to this edition, from Joe Quinones, has Kerra with a really goofy look on her face and an image that doesn’t really give you a good idea of what’s inside.  Quibbles aside, it’s still a good read and has me looking forward to more stories with this freelance Jedi.