THE REVIEW
Jedi Master K'Kruhk, long a fan favorite for his stringent, hard-hitting personality and leathery, hard-hitting appearance, is taking on a truly epic role is recent Star Wars material. Finding his way into diverse comics series running through you-name-it time frames, K'Kruhk has come a long way from his alleged death in heroic defense against Grievous long since aired on the Cartoon Network. Even now, with the advent of Vector upon us, K'Kruhk will no doubt rise into the upper echelon of Star Wars' Expanded Universe, a character Hasbro certainly now owes to figure form.

As Part Three of "Parallels" co-leads Star Wars into 2008, Dark Horse persists in darkening the galaxy, revealing horrible bad guy after horrible bad guy in a society driven by anger, fear, aggression. K'Kruhk, shown in the latest sequences to be a rather balanced, compassionate old soul, has established a new life on a jungle planet, and in this issue still struggles to protect the younglings the cruel Empire now seeks to kill. Trouble, of course, looms...

Our main narrative, covering the disastrous lives and times of the Uhumele's improbable crew, grows ever more frantic; refrain from Tibrin, o ye spacefarers, for if the actions of crime lord Haka are typical, the Ishi Tib are a species to avoid. In "Parallels" Part Three, Captain Heren leads the team to Pizkoss to strike a deal with this Haka fellow, but things go badly for all:

Haka betrays Heren. A crewmember dies. The vile Gotal Lumbra and his cronies run off with the loot (they think). Haka shoots an alien directly in the face. Heren betrays Haka, retroactively. By issue's end, our hero Bomo Greenbark prepares for ruthless torture. Unbeknownst to all, Crys' son Kennan still survives among K'Kruhk's ill-fated band. And in characteristic Star Wars fashion, a great coincidence occurs; Lumbra and cronies crash-land on the jungle moon, and will no doubt murder or at least kidnap all they find.

Dass Jennir remains missing, somewhere confronting Palpatine's New Order and impending galactic chaos.

Dark Times continues to impress. Staying true to the dark and brutal premises of Revenge of the Sith and the ensuing criminality cultivated by Dark Times storycrafter Welles Hartley, writer Mick Harrison pushes all the right genre buttons, interweaving a number of subtle and not-so-subtle literary devices into a recognizable yet uncharted Star Wars spacescape. Since '77 the Empire has haunted us; only now do we see it begin to haunt its victims so long ago and far, far away.

The character of Bomo Greenbark has been crafted into the best kind of fantasy hero, archetypal with innovative qualities (like a hornless Triceratops' head). Seriously, Harrison and the crack team of artists working here and there on Dark Times demonstrate through Bomo the inner discord the truest protagonist should suffer; Bomo shows immense courage and heartbreaking self-sacrifice, yet also vast anger and critical self-doubt. He is a Nosaurian with whom all can identify as well as admire.

The art of "Parallels" seems lighter and crisper than that of previous Dark Times arcs, especially here in Part Three. It's different from Doug Wheatley's fantastic initial interpretation, but not unwelcome. Two things deserve a medal - Chewie, and the cover to this issue. Haka is ready for his close-up. This one (along with issue #2) is my favorite Dark Times cover yet.

Scomp Link:
DARK TIMES #8

Best Line: "More Drink, Girly."

Best image:

Grade: "Looks like somebody's beginning to take an interest in your handiwork."