27 years after his apparent death in The Phantom Menace, Darth Maul is about to star in his own Star Wars TV series. Maul – Shadow Lord is set in the immediate aftermath of the epic Clone Wars Season 7 finale, and the first trailer suggests Maul will take on a new Sith apprentice. Maul survived Order 66 thanks to Ahsoka Tano’s unwilling help, when she freed him as a distraction, and now Darth Sidious’ former apprentice is looking for revenge on the Sith Lord who betrayed him.
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Star Wars: Shadows of Maul #1, by Benjamin Percy and Madibek Musabekov, is an official prelude to Shadow Lord. It’s largely set on the planet Janix, a mysterious world that serves as Maul’s base of operations in the aftermath of the Clone Wars. And that means we’re finally coming to understand what happened to Maul after he escaped Order 66.
Darth Maul Headed Straight to Janix After the Empire Was Formed
Shadows of Maul begins with Darth Maul in the “Cina system,” which is entirely new to Star Wars lore; that said, the name has similarities with other planets in the Expansion Region, suggesting it’s a planet in the galaxy’s Expansion Region. This appears to be a smuggler’s hideout, because the base he infiltrates is situated in an asteroid, a common smuggler and pirate trick. It’s notable that Maul has a new double-bladed lightsaber, perhaps indicating he’d stashed a spare here.
It likely took Maul several weeks to get to the Cina system. A smuggler there says he has a stash of chain codes – a reference to a biometric system the Empire established after the end of the Clone Wars. These were introduced in The Bad Batch Season 1, episode 2, and some time must have passed for smugglers and the criminal underworld to need a supply of chain codes. According to the unidentified smuggler, he has already amassed “a hundred different chain codes – all legit.”
“Janix awaits,” Maul declares, preparing to head to the planet he intends to serve as his new base of operations. He has already chosen Janix as his base of operations, the place from which he will build a shadow empire in an attempt to undermine Palpatine. The prelude helps us understand just why this is the case.
Janix is the Perfect Place for Maul to Operate From
Shadows of Maul is really an introduction to Janix, a planet that likely sat outside Republic space and that had already become a center for the galaxy’s various criminal syndicates. At least three of these syndicates have a notable presence on Janix, and they have done a good job compromising local law enforcement. Sector patrol have “enough on their hands,” according to the smuggler, and the comic – which centers on a detective named Brander Lawson – makes it clear most of the police are on bribes. Some police droids have been secretly reprogrammed to work for the syndicates.
The Empire attempted to strike a careful balance with the galaxy’s crime syndicates. Palpatine cared a great deal about order, but he also had strong connections with groups like Black Sun, and didn’t particularly want to waste these resources. He also liked the opportunity to push off-the-books projects; smugglers and syndicates were no doubt a major source for the Sith artifacts he coveted. It helped that these syndicates had no love of the Jedi, meaning he could trust them to turn in Order 66 survivors. Although the Empire would surely expand its influence into Janix, Palpatine wouldn’t want to disrupt it too much.
The core problem, though, lies with Brander Lawson himself. He’s something unusual for Janix; a clean cop, who feels almost like a Commissioner Gordon figure. The problem, of course, is that Janix doesn’t have a Batman to deal with the criminal underworld there; rather, it’s getting a Sith Apprentice who simply wants to control it. There’s a delicate balance between crime and law on Janix, and Lawson and Maul are two hand-grenades thrown into it. The dynamic between Lawson and Maul will clearly be key to Maul – Shadow Lord, which makes the show feel all the more exciting.
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