Duel of the Sith: Vader vs Maul

[zechs27.insanejournal.com]

I've been wavering on what to scan and post next. It's something Star Wars, but I can't make up my mind. Either Vader's Quest (which I'm leaning towards given Dave Gibbons art, written by Darko Macan), the Thrawn Trilogy in comic book form, Boba Fett vs Darth Vader in Enemy of the Empire, or the two part Dark Woman story from Star Wars Tales #1-2. Obviously, I'm in a Vader mood for the most part. :P

Was going through some old scans I had on my photobucket and came upon this and the Mark Waid cut of the Red Skull issue that got butchered by Marvel Edtioral (someone from another forum actually used Photoshop put Waid's dialogue in and blank pages for the stuff the missing art and some adjustments in some panels as well). Good stuff and an awesome read.

Still, looking on this I thought what the hey. This fight deserves some love and has to be posted. This is from Star Wars Tales #9, a 64 page issue with this story done by Ron Marz and again another epic fight as drawn by Rich Leonardi (my primary reason for posting this. Geez this dude does awesome fights as shown with Cass vs Slade round 1 and Cass vs Bruce). There's an amusing Kirby-esque Fantastic Four Homage with Vader as Doom vs some poor rebels who meet their fates via the gifts of the Four (scretched to inhuman lengths, burned to death, crushed by rocks, and blasted to nothing). This was posted at the original Scans Daily. Then there's the Darth Maul or Lil Maul story where he destroys half of Coruscant in a quest for a lolipop.

I think I did the math right 16 pages out of this story again out of 64. If I did this wrong please mods warn me and I'll remove the pages to the right limit. As always some music for the mood which only John Williams can deliver (cept maybe Joel McNeely):

So basically the just of this fight is some Dark Side fan boys (er prophets) have decided Darth Vader sucks as a Dark Lord of the Sith (they've watched the prequels like us and are VERY disappointed). They've decided to bring back Darth Maul to life and pit the two Sith Lords against the other.


There's a nice action sequence I had to cut out which Maul take's out Vader's Stormtrooper squad that was with him. I found it amusing when this was homaged in 2003 Clone Wars with Ventress doing the same to Anakin's Clone Squad in Yavin as well.

So here's the fight. Not in it's entrity of course given it's over twenty pages of the two fighting.

























Suck it fan boys er.. Prophets. Palpatine then arrives killing them all.





I remember talking to Marz when I met him at Wizardworld Chicago a few years ago and told him how much I loved this story. So much so I didn't want him to sign it given how warn the darn comic was out of the times I've read it. He seemed tickled by that and told me that this story was originally going to be a mini.

If I ever met the man again I would love to ask him what he would have expanded on and what he had to cut. In any case, would any love to see Marz's other Star Wars stuff besides the Dark Woman story? The dude seems to love the Sith, as he wrote the Darth Maul mini that featured some nice fights as well.

Comments

[crinosg.insanejournal.com]

And Vader pulls a move out of the Yoshimitsu play book. Always a good choice.

[nagaoka.insanejournal.com]

random story: I remember playing Soul Calibur on Dreamcast in Sudden Death mode with Ivy. I get Yoshimitsu as my opponent one round and he does that move right off the bat...for some reason

easiest win ever

[damar148.insanejournal.com]

So technically Maul was better, and Vader had to resort to a trick that could only work because of his cyborg body making it non-fatal.

[jmacq1.insanejournal.com]

Yes, which far and away makes Vader the superior Sith Lord. It isn't about pure martial skill. It's about cunning, too. Doesn't matter that it's a trick...what matters is that Vader's the one that walks away alive.

Plus, Maul once again proves he was too arrogant to ever succeed as a Sith Lord.

[volksjager.insanejournal.com]

I would say Vader was able to touch the dark side deeper. That is a skill as much as any saber technique.

[lonewolf23k.insanejournal.com]

Fighting Dirty is perfectly acceptable for Sith. In fact, it's downright encouraged.

[cmdr_zoom.insanejournal.com]

I'm fully convinced Vader would have done that even if he was all meat.

[sailorlibra.insanejournal.com]

Still the best Vader story I have ever read.

It's really unbelievable how much I love this story: when I first read the description to this post, I kept saying "omigod" until I had confirmed that it was this story. Now I'm happy. :]

[bj_l.insanejournal.com]

Nah, the birthday one was even better.

But in a different way.

[goodfellow_puck.insanejournal.com]

Oh Maul, how I miss you. You were awesome. (Though perhaps a bit too talkative in this version.)

How the heck did they bring him back alive? Dig out the corpse and stitch it together? Cloning? You'd think Vader would have gotten all suspicious of the Emperors re-animation skills and demanded a new Padme...

[aaron_bourque.insanejournal.com]

How the heck did they bring him back alive?

Cloning, and channeling his Sith soul into the clone.

You'd think Vader would have gotten all suspicious of the Emperors re-animation skills and demanded a new Padme.

Vader blinds himself to Palpatine's influence here. Plus, it's doubtful they could have gotten Padme's soul back in . . .

[mullon.insanejournal.com]

Again with the lava flow.

[blaketiger.insanejournal.com]

It's the new Bottomless Pit O Doom!

[aaron_bourque.insanejournal.com]

::does the math:: If the story really is 64 pages, and not padded with ads, you can put 21 (and a third) pages up.

[zechs27.insanejournal.com]

Really? Hmm.... tempting. But I know somebody might post the Vader/F4 part and I rather let them have their say just in case.

[volksjager.insanejournal.com]

Extremely well written, much like the showdown of Skywalker and Skwalker in jedi. The last line is brief but speaks volumes to Anikan/Vader position and the bad choice he made "what could you hate so much that you could beat me ?"


"myself".

[freezer818.insanejournal.com]

And thus, his journey to The Emo Side is complete.

[joysweeper.insanejournal.com]

Gack! Don't do the Thrawn Trilogy! That's mine! It will take forever, of course. Look at the size of that thing! Eighteen comics, seven pages per, focus on following the plot, littering it with links and explanations... but I love Zahn.

I'd suggest posting from Thank The Maker, since I love that one, but it's such a short comic. *shrug* I'm not all that interested in Vader Kills All Opposition stories.

But I like this one. Damn, it sucks to be a Sith.

[aaron_bourque.insanejournal.com]

At least he has to work for it, in this. Which, yeah. Darth Maul vs. Darth Vader should be an epic battle.

[tacobob.insanejournal.com]

Geez, for a guy who said like two words in the movie, he just won't shut up in the comic.

Cool fight. Wonder if this takes place before or after Maul becomes Robocop..er..Robosith.

[zechs27.insanejournal.com]

Actually, he was quiet in the beginning of the issue when he take's out the Stormtroopers and when he appears remaining silent when we're at the point above with the Prophets right before the fight begins.

Honestly, I can see Maul would have a lot to say finding out one of the dude's who replaced him not only knew and was taught by the man who originally killed him, but a former Jedi to boot. So his words are another tool in an attempt to throw Vader off his game.

[(Anonymous)]

I love this story. I wish you could have included the scene with Palpatine though. I love Vader's attitude in that. "I know you set this up,you know I know,and this won't be the first or last time but damnit you're all I've got(unless someone can help me kill you)". Such a twisted relationship.

[zechs27.insanejournal.com]

Well these are old scans. I'm TEMPTED now to scan the ending.

....

Damnit I'm yielding to the dark side.

[zechs27.insanejournal.com]

I've added the Palpatine scene.

[joysweeper.insanejournal.com]

Excellent! I think it's much better with the ending. As far as I can tell the power struggle between Palps and his apprentice came up a lot in the EU, although they apparently kept it under the surface most of the time. And that interests me, all the tests that got sprung on Vader, all the attempts to go behind Palpatine's back.

[midnightvoyager.insanejournal.com]

1. Because it must be said. CRAAAWLING IIIIIIN MY SKIIIIIIIN!

2. Very nice regardless. Used his apparent weakness as an advantage.

[proteus_lives.insanejournal.com]

Great story.

This is one of the stories that defines Vader.

[zechs27.insanejournal.com]

Yeah that it does. Honestly after the prequels it got better. Just to know that deep down inside, Anakin knows what he's doing is truly wrong and yet that is what fuels his powers in the dark side. Plus it showcases all the best and worst elements of him. That he's so darn cunning and he never gives up.

Once he's onto something you gotta disarm or kill him to make him stop coming after ya.

[stig.insanejournal.com]

That wasn't Maul. Maul doesn't talk that much.

[superfan1.insanejournal.com]

That was maul twin brother larry. :)

[stratosfyr.insanejournal.com]

At some point, I saw Darth Vader's helmet from a certain angle and he just looked exactly like a sad scotty dog and now I can't see him any other way and now neither can you.

[zechs27.insanejournal.com]

Curse you! Now I'm seeing it too!!

[salamangkiero.insanejournal.com]

Ronin again??? (actually, good question: was that the first time the visual idea and point of view was used?)

Man, that visual idea never gets old.

Great story on Vader. And I never had a doubt he would win.

[iondan.insanejournal.com]

I highly recommend the novelization of Revenge Of The Sith to anyone who hasn't read it yet. I felt the internal monologues gave the reader a better understanding of how Anakin descends into Vader.