Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Darth Maul: Black, White & Red #1
Summary
- Darth Maul faces a powerful Force cult, the Final Occultation, in the new Darth Maul: Black, White & Red #1.
- The cult’s chaotic dark magic poses a threat even to the Dark Lords of the Sith.
- This issue introduces a subtle rift between Maul and Sidious due to their opposing perspectives over this horrifying Force cult.
Darth Maul’s new Star Wars series has officially kicked off with a horror-filled nightmare fest of a first issue. Starring the popular Sith apprentice of Darth Sidious, Darth Maul: Black, White & Red is the next anthology series set in the galaxy far, far away following Marvel’s epic Darth Vader series which was released at the beginning of 2024. Now, the first issue of this new Darth Maul series has been released just ahead of The Phantom Menace’s 25th anniversary.
Coming from Marvel Comics, Darth Maul: Black, White & Red #1 from Benjamin Percy and Stefano Raffaele. Set before the events of the Phantom Menace and the start of the Skywalker saga, Darth Sidious sends his Sith apprentice on a never-before-seen mission, one that pits Maul against a dangerous Force cult known as the Final Occultation, wielding powers that threaten the Sith Lords themselves. Hailing their power as chaotic and incorporeal dark magic, Darth Sidious sends Maul to a derelict prison ship where thousands of anguished and pained screams are being transmitted.
Willingly putting himself directly in the sights of the Final Occultation, Darth Maul gets more than he bargained for once he makes it to the ship, and witnesses their power first-hand in Darth Maul: Black, White & Red #1.
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Darth Maul’s New Series Begins With Dark Side Nightmares
Who Are The Final Occultation?
Essentially, all bets are off once Darth Maul is aboard this overrun prison ship. Facing each member of the leading Trinity of the Final Occultation, Maul’s mind increasingly falls more at risk of being torn apart by nightmares and terror-filled madness. While the Sith use the dark side of the Force in the name of order to control and subjugate others, the Final Occultation is pure chaos. The issue confirms that the cult draws upon the netherworld of the Force with extremely volatile powers, seeking only discord.
With unsurprising Sith heresy, Darth Sidious finds the chaos of the Final Occultation fascinating, wanting one of these leaders to be captured and interrogated to learn more about their power. However, Maul correctly deduces that this Force cult is in direct opposition to the tenets and beliefs of the Sith themselves. As such, this first issue confirms a subtle rift between the Sith master and his apprentice due to their opposing perspectives which culminate at the issue’s end.
Facing each member of the Force cult’s leaders, Maul first takes on Heldi Cerebron who nearly breaks his mind using her powers sourced from the “netherworld of the Force”. All Maul can do is fall back on his Sith training, concentrating on the key principles of control and order amid the Final Occultation’s desire for pure chaos and anarchy. Maul also faces Vasik Aldritch as well as the Force cult’s formless and unnamed third leader who refers to themselves only as an “emissary of chaos”.
Darth Maul: Black, White & Red #1 (2024) |
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When Is Darth Maul: Black, White & Red Set In The Star Wars Timeline?
Why Weren’t The Jedi Involved?
With the Final Occultation seeking to create a rift of madness that would plunge all into chaos, Maul was surprisingly the only one standing in the way of complete galactic anarchy. As such, one has to wonder why the Jedi Order did not sense this major dark side threat, though perhaps it’s a testament to Sidious and Maul’s quick response to the Force cult which threatened to expose their own activities in the shadows. Likewise, perhaps they were able to mask their presence from the light side, just as Palpatine masked his own dark powers from the Jedi for years.
Set before The Phantom Menace, Sidious being discovered before he was ready to reveal himself would have proved disastrous to all his carefully laid plans for galactic dominance. As such, this makes this new comic a very exciting story, one that reveals more about Sidious and Maul’s relationship before Maul’s defeat at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Phantom Menace, only to return during the Clone Wars as a rival to Sidious/Palpatine. While future issues of this anthology series will be their own self-contained stories, it’s safe to assume that most will probably be set before The Phantom Menace as well.
Darth Maul’s First Issue Confirms There Are Worse Things Than The Sith
At Least The Sith Seek Order Through The Darkness
On the whole, it’s quite surprising to be introduced to a Force cult in the Star Wars canon that seems to have been even more dangerous and bad for the galaxy than the Sith Lords. While Sidious/Palpatine eventually brings forth an oppressive Galactic Empire as seen in the original trilogy, at least there was a structure of order to be had (and was certainly enforced). In contrast, the Final Occultation wanted nothing more than absolute pain and pure chaos with anarchy spreading across the entire universe.
This issue proves there are absolutely far worse beings in the
Star Wars
galaxy than the Dark Lords of the Sith.
With that in mind, Darth Maul: Black, White & Red #1 is an incredibly dynamic first issue for this new series, providing a unique story from Percy while also offering stunning blood-red and nightmare-fueled artwork by Raffaele. Working simultaneously, this issue proves there are absolutely far worse beings in the Star Wars galaxy than the Dark Lords of the Sith.
Darth Maul: Black, White & Red #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.
Darth Maul
Palpatine’s apprentice, Darth Maul was nothing more than a tool to winnow down the ranks of the Jedi ahead of Darth Sidious’ true plans. Discarded after he was defeated by Obi-Wan Kenobi on Naboo, Darth Maul swore revenge against all those he blamed for his past struggles – Jedi and Sith alike. Maul tended to operate within the shadows, running various syndicates, and even established himself as a true rival for Palpatine on at least one occasion. He was eventually killed by Obi-Wan in a duel on Tatooine.
- Race
- Zabrak
- Alliance
- Sith/Shadow Collective, Crimson Dawn