Because of that, I wanted to go over each of the acts of the BioWare/Dark Horse web comic Threat of Peace. Each act goes into detail about one specific section of what’s going on during the very tentative peace between the Sith Empire and the Republic. Act one, in particular, goes into detail about the Treaty of Coruscant and how the Sith were able to deceive the Republic into doing what they wanted. The description specifically explains it as:

The Sith Empire has scored a series of solid military victories over the Republic, winning control of several critical star systems and seriously damaging the Republic’s logistical supply lines. Overwhelmed but stoic, the Jedi and the Republic Military have succeeded in defending the Core Worlds and have slowed the Empire’s steady advances. In a surprising turn of events, the Empire has now extended an offer of peace to the Galactic Senate. Wary but desperate, the Republic has agreed to engage in ceasefire talks. A large delegation of prominent Senate and the best and brightest of the Jedi are traveling to the planet Alderaan, where they expect to hunker down for lengthy negotiations on the terms of a treaty with a representative from the Sith Dark Council.

However, let’s break it down by issue so that we can really grasp the incredible story that is going on here. I’ve been a fan of Dark Horse’s work with comics for many years now and BioWare is obviously known for their story telling. Put the two together and what you’re going to find is that there is an incredible story. So, here we go.

Issues #1

In the opening issue, we are presented with a little information about what’s been going on over the past few decades. The Galactic Republic are at war with each other obviously. While the Sith are seizing planets on the outer rim, they are unable to push back the Republic closer to the core. For some reason, though, the Sith Empire has proposed a peace treaty of sorts. An Imperial delegation and Republic officials are meeting on Alderaan to discuss peace.

We run into Satele and her master. Satele, interestingly enough, is a descendant of Bastilla Shan from Knights of the Old Republic. Her ability to sense a problem is almost immediately realized. While this meeting is going on, a Lord Angral is leading a Sith fleet straight toward Coruscant. It runs into a Coruscant Security ship and immediately opens fire. Bam, destruction.  Finally, we are introduced to our characters Lieutenant Tavus and Jedi Master Orgus. They witness the initial invasion of Coruscant.

Issue #2

We are immediately introduced to characters Lieutenant Tavus and Jedi Master Orgus. At the time, they are meeting with the Senate, but as they leave, the unexpected happens. They witness the initial invasion of Coruscant. There are dozens of landing ships, all probably carrying Imperial troopers and chances are, Sith as well. The issue opened with Angral giving an order to his soldiers to move forward and “channel your fury, destroy our enemies.” It’s a little odd for him to be preaching this to average soldiers, but the Sith are the Sith. Orgus and Angral clash lightsabers which should turn out to be a rather epic battle.

Issue #3

What we witness in this issue is some good old fashioned comic book lightsaber fighting. They fight, they duck, they slash and in the end, the Jedi loses. While this is going on, the soldiers are probably trying to hold back the onslaught of the Imperial troopers. At the end of the issue, it appears as if Orgus is going to get an early death. Even Angral says “You’ll have the honor of being the first Jedi to die today…” Not likely. Thanks to some luck, Orgus is able to get away because of a ship that crashes. Rather than stay and fight, the Jedi realizes that he has been bested and quickly retreats. Instead of pursuing, Angral allows him to escape to focus on more pressing matters such as killing a Senator.

On Alderaan, the Sith and the Republic are still meeting when a Senator gets a message to the Republic delegation that it was a trick and that they had been betrayed. The information gets off right before Angral kills him. The issue ends with Satele matching lightsabers with one of the Sith lorders there, a Lord Baras.

Issues #4

Some very hard negotiating appears in issue three. What we realize is that the Sith took Coruscant hostage as a method of forcing the Jedi to make a deal that they liked rather than what both parties liked. Despite the fact Satele wants to fight, she is forced to stand down because there is little she can do. Sure, she can kill Baras, but what does that do for Coruscant?

Now that we are back on Coruscant, we, along with Orgus and Tavus, witness the destruction of the Jedi Temple. For whatever reason, this is what gives a Sith purpose: destroying the temple. We move on to experience an order by Master Zym to have Satele apologize to Lord Baras for being so hasty. While her master disagrees, in the end, an order is an order. We witness the true wisdom of Master Zym in ensuring that Master Dar’Nala (Satele’s master) doesn’t get too attached.

Issue #5

This issue is a nice break from the first few issues because it opens with a Wookie and another bounty hunter. We’re now on Dantooine. We’ve got two soldiers and Dalborra, an incredibly well known Wookie bounty hunter. He takes out the two soldiers easily, but is being spied on by another bounty hunter named Braden. He was, at first, ordered to take Dalborra out because he was working for the Sith, but when the Treaty is signed, the contract is closed. Being a rebel, though, Braden decides he wants to try it anyway. Using a concussive ordnance, they blow the area up, knocking him out and Dalborra walks right into him. An easy catch for our Wookie friend.

Issue #6

With the opening of the sixth issue, we are back on Coruscant. This time, Orgus is trying to find out where his Lieutenant friend ran off to when out of nowhere, two walkers appear. For whatever reason, this issue irks me. Orgus gets his ass handed to him in issue three and now here, Orgus says “I can’t hold ‘em for long! Get back!” I don’t know, but this just sounds like he is a bit of a panzy. Maybe I am just looking too deep into it. To the rescue comes Tavus who demonstrates how ferocious a Republic trooper is going to be in the game. His rifle destroys both walkers like they were nothing. After destroying the walkers, they move to the surface and see that the temple has been completely razed. The Jedi Order on Coruscant is no more.

Issue #7

Like issue number five, this one breaks from the Coruscant antics and takes us to Korriban. We are led to believe that the Jedi signed the unfair Treaty of Coruscant because Baras is now back on Korriban. Here, he is given some great credit for what he did on Alderaan from the Dark Council. They want to bestow more power to him, but he declines. Interesting for a Sith to turn down more power.

The best part of the Sith. A fight between two Sith. We can see that Angral is a Sith Warrior, very prone to immense attack and easy to spook. Baras, on the other hand, seems to be a Inquisitor. More about the “way that was meant to be” and less about the fight. In the end, though, the two duke it out, someone gets electrocuted and they concede. Angral makes it clear he has no intentions of never holding back when he has the Jedi in his grasp. Baras replies, “Never again will that be necessary. I assure you.”

We close this issue back on Dantooine where Dalborra is handing over the Republic bounty hunter to some Sith soldiers. However, when the Sith try to take Braden away, Dalborra freaks out and says that he is HIS prisoner. Okay…So, he gets to go to Korriban as well. Lucky him.

Issue #8

What we can begin to realize is that Master Dar’Nala is a bit angry. She hates the fact that Zym is sending them to the outer world to try and help ferry away soldiers. She’d rather be fighting the Sith, a sign that she has a bit of the Dark Side in her all along. She nearly destroys a protocol droid who is there to – for lack of a better word – spy on them to ensure they is “compliance with the treaty.” Dar’Nala obviously isn’t pleased with this and I can guarantee, she’d have destroyed him had he not explained his purpose.

The issue closes on Nar Shaddaa in the Star Cluster Casino (a place I hope to visit in the game). Business comes first in this place and if things are done that hurt the business, people die. Naatu, someone who works for an organization it seems, has been funneling information to the Republic. He is killed for that by Nok, obviously in charge of this motley bunch. And who walks in but Lord Angral who has an “offer which I’ve decided is too good to pass up,” according to Nok.

Issue #9

And finally, the last issue in the Treaty of Coruscant issue of Threat of Peace. This opens with Braden on an Imperial ship en route to Korriban. They are “attacked” by a Republic shit; however, that much is obviously not true. I come to this conclusion because they say “prepare a boarding party for immediate deployment. We need at least one of them alive.” They want a Jedi and they attacked because they knew they could get away with it. Satele runs into some of that boarding party and much to the protocol droid’s dismay (his name is Espee 99), she kills the commandos.

The issue closes with Dar’Nala trying to take down the captain of the Sith ship, but she is detained. She tells Satele to tell the Council that they have been betrayed once again. Fortunately, they get to an escape pod (Satele and Espee 99) and they get off. But, thanks to 99′s great math skills, we learn thee odds of being found: Approximately five hundred thousand years to be found. Lots of patience for Satele.

Conclusion

The truth is, this provides a lot of opportunity for players to understand what the heck went wrong. Because we are going to be starting the game in a cold war period after the Treaty of Coruscant, understanding how it all went down can give a better grasp of how to react to situations. The Sith are not to be trusted obviously. They’ll attack no matter what. The Jedi, on the other hand, are not all pure as we can see in Dar’Nala. She has a bit of a dark streak in her. And what about that deal on Nar Shaddaa. There is a lot of information that is obviously being revealed as time goes on. My next update will be on the second issue of Threat of Peace.

First and foremost, when looking at the first page, it’s apparent that our friend the Trooper, Lieutenant Tavus has left the vicinity of his Jedi ally between issue 4 of Threat of Peace and this one. I’m going to assume he has gone on some destructive runs since he is a Republic Trooper which is his nature. However, what bothers me is that our Jedi friend continues to appear so weak. I understand that the trooper was announced so close to this comic release, so they wanted the soldier to appear so strong, but when the Jedi is fighting those robots, I know that he could have destroyed them. I know we want Jedi not to be unbeatable, but let’s get serious here. He’s constantly getting his butt whipped.

The second page demonstrates again the explosiveness of the trooper. However, what we also learn is that the Sith soldiers have left. Interesting. All that is left are the robots. So, the Sith Army employs robot soldiers as well. Or, at least robot tanks. Interesting. I want to know where the heck everyone went? Why are there no soldiers?

Finally, the third page just shows the wreckage of the Sith onslaught. It was tremendous and the Jedi Temple is gone. Sucks for them. Once again, though, we see that there is no one around. Where are the citizens? Where are the soldiers? Where are any remaining Jedi? Is there anyone alive? Everyone is probably hiding. But once again…Where are the soldiers?

This comic keeps getting better and better, but it does leave some questions I want answered. What’s going on and where is everyone? We’ll just have to wait until the next comic release, I guess. Have you been enjoying the comics? Anything you want to know about them?

However, it is a comic and there is little information about Orgus provided. Maybe he isn’t even a Jedi Master and the Sith Lord is one of the Sith Emperor’s council. I don’t know. I just know that he got his butt handed to him and that is a bit frustrating. That’s okay. When I play as a Jedi, I’ll be sure to pwn my fair share of Sith. Yeah, that’s right…You better watch out!

Even on Alderaan, they are betrayed and it is the lead up to forcing the Republic to sign the Treaty of Coruscant. From looking at this, we see that the Republic may not have wanted to sign it, but after seeing their capital planet destroyed, they had little choice to do it.

I can speculate that in the next issue, we will see that there is more about the Republic being forced to give in to the demands of the Sith. However, what exactly the terms will be we will have to wait and see. More was also released in the Timeline 1 video, but I’ll go into that later on in my post about the first video release.

When looking at the comic, what do you think? Like it? Dislike it? Leave an opinion.

If you haven’t seen it yet, consider reading it here.

The Sith have successfully attacked Coruscant. Oh no! Yeah, we knew that part already. Basically, BioWare and Dark Horse are giving a background history of what happened leading up to the shaky “truce” and what will be the release of the game. We have no idea when this will come, but hey, we can hope. Anyways…Looking at the comic, you’ve got to admit that the story is going to be awesome. First and foremost, who is this Sith Lord? I can’t seem to find anything about him on Wookiepedia, so he must be a BioWare creation. Is he the Sith Emperor or is he just a Sith Lord? Oohh…This is exciting.

Notice how the ships are so boxy? I’m used to really sleek looking ships and then their landing craft are very squarish. Part of me thinks this is appropriate because the Sith Empire has been in hiding preparing their military, so they’re not so much looking for aesthetics, but instead, looking for power. Then again, maybe it’s just the comic artist that has freewill to draw how he/she wishes. I don’t know, though. Then again, this is a collaboration of the two groups, so BioWare has to approve the drawings. Why would they approve anything that isn’t going to be in the game? If this is how the game is going to be, I am PUMPED!

What do you think, though? Is this comic doing justice for the game or is it going to lead us on and then we get upset? I think the comic is just touching on how amazing the game is going to be. I really do hope that the game is as amazing as this comic is. Anything you’d like to see in future comics?

I am torn on the idea of a comic. Part of me goes, “yes, finally, something that I can have to learn more about the universe that we’re talking about.” Then there is that part of me that is frustrated because I feel as if they are trying to string us along and get us more and more hyped up while they continue working on the game. It’s not that I don’t like hype, but it can be incredibly frustrating sitting there wanting so desperately to try the game out only to find that, nope, we don’t even know when the release date is.

You do have to look at that, though, and smile because there is something about it that really can make you appreciate Star Wars. I have always loved the look and feel of Star Wars and at least we know that Dark Horse comics, the company that writes most of the Star Wars comics, is at least making it and will make it look amazing. Since one of BioWare’s writers is doing the writing for it, we know that what he writes is canon to the game which, in my opinion, will definitely help.

Now, there is one thing that this does for me. We’re trying to figure out when The Old Republic will be released. I wonder if by them announcing to do this, they are starting to get close to their goal of releasing the game in a year. When Drew Karpyshyn wrote the first Mass Effect novel, Revelation, a year later, ten months later, the game was released. If we look at this comic as something similar, we COULD see the game released in December. But, that might be pushing it and I might just be desperate to play it.

Regardless…Are you going to read the comic or are you just frustrated that there is no release date yet and just don’t care? Leave a comment and let us know.