Jedi of the Republic – Mace Windu 4

Jedi of the Republic – Mace Windu 4 is the fourth, penultimate issue of the canon comic book miniseries Star Wars: Jedi of the Republic – Mace Windu. The issue was written by Matt Owens, illustrated by Denys Cowan and Edgar Salazar, and published on November 29, 2017 by Marvel Comics.
==Publisher's summary==
Mace's faith in the Jedi path is tested when he is challenged – by one of his own!
==Plot summary==
Many years ago on the planet Mathas, Jedi Master Cyslin Myr tells her Padawan Mace Windu that the people of the planet suffer and have been victim to the Niffin Plague, a malicious disease that attacks the respiratory system over a long period of time and only those born on Mathas. When Windu questions what aid they’re providing for the people, Myr explains that while medical aid isn’t within their purview, an outreach temple has been set up to give emotional and spiritual aid to those who seek it. However, the Jedi are on Mathas due to Jedi Master Kez Velaz, who had been overseeing the outreach program, but has not been heard of in months. Reports indicate that a man called Drooz has taken up the residence and claims to be a Jedi prophet and healer, exploiting the people and their suffering for profit, but he’s actually a heretic. As the two Jedi approach the temple, Myr instructs Mace that they are only there to assess and apprehend, but Mace takes issue with this as Drooz is perverting their sacred teachings to prey upon vulnerable people. Walking amongst the people in need and entering the temple, Myr tells Mace to dissolve his hostility and channel his frustrations into an appropriate emotion as violence is always a last resort.
In the present, Mace Windu and Prosset Dibs engage each other in lightsaber combat, and Mace tries to reason that they are brothers, chosen to walk down the same path, and so he questions how he could throw all of that away. Dibs argues that the Council turned their back on the Jedi teachings, and war for the sake of peace isn’t right, so Mace defends that it’s not the option that they want, but is the only one laid before them. If he has to pick up a weapon to protect what he knows is right, then so be it as they don’t train with lightsabers for no reason. Watching from a safe distance, Rissa pleads to Kit Fisto that fighting against each other isn’t right as they are leaders and help people move forward in this time of war. While Fisto sees her point, he realizes that Dibs is facing a necessary lesson that he may be failing. 
Flashing back to Mathas, one woman stands before Drooz and explains that she’s prayed and done so in his good name, but the Force hasn’t been heeding to her pleas. As she begs Drooz to save her child’s life, the heretic explains that the Force is a complex power of nature and it’s his duty to act as a conduit for its wisdom and potential. He questions if she’s given herself fully to the Force, and when she answers that she’s tried everything but gets no answer from the Force, Drooz announces to the people that they can’t claim to give everything to the Force and then come to the temple looking for handouts. The Force acts according to its own will, and if you please it then you will be blessed. Just then, Cyslin Myr and Mace Windu arrive and confront Drooz who is immediately shocked at the presence of the Jedi. When they question where Master Kez Velaz is, Drooz says that he’s the only Jedi on Mathas and calls out the two Jedi as pretenders and heretics coming to slay him and take advantage of the suffering that they’ve all endured. Drooz flees and orders for his followers to kill them, but when Mace gives pursuit , he throws behind a thermal detonator at the crowd. Myr uses the Force to hold back the destruction and protect the innocent people, and she instructs her Padawan to continue going after Drooz.
Recounting these events in the present, Windu says that he’s experienced what insecurity does to men and how a mind warps in its obsessive quest to fill the void with power. However, the Jedi Order exists to keep this malevolence away from the people and to protect them as peace lies above all else. Dibs, who has his mind blinded by his views, tells Windu that this only solidifies what he knows to be true, and will now cut his ties to forge his own path so that he no longer serves the Council that had only served itself. 
When Mace states that he won’t hesitate to hunt him down, the story flashes back to Mathas where Windu pursues Drooz through the hall of the temple and comes face to face with his Gamorrean guards. Using the Force to guide his actions, Mace swiftly takes them all out in hand to hand combat, but quickly finds himself pinned down by blaster fire from Drooz. The heretic claims that people are scared and stupid and need to be herded and told what to believe in. Mathas is full of them, so he took advantage of this opportunity to gain money, power, and the worship of millions. Using the smoke of the destruction as cover, Mace sneaks up behind Drooz and asks him how he thought he’d get away with twisting faith from poor people before incapacitating him and knocking him to the ground. Holding his ignited lightsaber over the man, Cyslin Myr arrives and tells her padawan to halt as Drooz will atone for his actions, and while she understands his frustrations, they have to be better than their adversaries. 
Mace comes to terms and agrees, and in the present on Hissrich, Mace also knocks Dibs to the ground and finds himself in the same situation. However, remembering the teachings of his master, he stands down and takes Dibs back to their ship where he is restrained and locked up. With the situation resolved, the Jedi are now able to focus on the present matter, which will start with a twofold assault on the Separatist base of operations that can take out both the droids and the harvesters. Putting their plan into motion, Kit Fisto causes a distraction by attacking droids outside of the Separatist base and stating that they’re being raided. 
==Media==
===Editions===
*UPC 759606087617; November 29, 2017; Marvel Comics
**00411; Cover A; Jesús Saiz
**00421; Cover B; Declan Shalvey
**00431; Cover C; Rachelle Rosenberg, Will Sliney
===Cover gallery===
File:JotR-MaceWindu-4.jpg|Cover A
File:Jotr-macewindu-4-no.png|Cover A, unlettered
File:JotR-MaceWindu-4-Shalvey.jpg|Cover B
File:JotR-MaceWindu-4-Shalvey-textless.png|Cover B, unlettered
File:JotR-MaceWindu-4-40th.jpg|Cover C
File:Mace_Windu_4_Star_Wars_40th.png|Cover C, artwork
==Appearances==
==Collections==
*Star Wars: Jedi of the Republic — Mace Windu
==Notes and references==
==External links==
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