With today’s rumors that Darth Maul will be appearing in multiple TV shows, including his own series, here is a look at what key Darth Maul issues might get hot.

Before you read further, pls note that I am still in the process of acquiring knowledge about the whole Star Wars franchisee. As such, some information might be incomplete or missing as I can be unaware of them. If you spot anything missing, please leave a comment to let me know.

Darth Maul’s first appearance in comics

Darth Maul has one of those first appearance that is going to invoke debates among the comic community on which issue is his first appearance.

I will show you the exact panels within the 3 comic candidates to let you decide which book you want to take a position on.

Take note that each of these Phantom Menace issues have 2 covers. However, I am not sure how much of each is printed.

 

I consider this to have the weakness book to be considered for being Darth Maul’s first appearance. However, it is not the first time the comic community has gravitate towards such appearance as the first.

The most famous is Jimmy Olsen’s #134. In that issue, Darkseid only appeared on a computer screen but has been regarded as his first appearance. As a result, it is the most expensive of all Darkseid’s first appearance books.

Darth maul in Phantom Menace #1 has a similar appearance but has a bigger panel. Like Darkseid, Darth Maul is also named in that one panel. See the comparisons below.

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Although I personally dislike such first appearances, the market might disagree with me and choose Phantom Menace #1 as Darth Maul’s first appearance.

 

In Phantom Menace #2, we see more of Darth Maul. In fact, one can make a case that this issue can be the first full appearance of the character. He appeared in 6 panels, speaks in 2, and is part of the story.

Below are the 6 panels.

If we ignore the horrible cover, it is hard not to say that this is Darth Maul’s full appearance. In other comics, we have had first appearances of characters that appeared in less panels.

For example, consider the below example of Captain Marvel Vol 7, #14 that the market has decided to be Kamala Khan’s first appearance. I hated this since it is such a weak appearance but no personal preference can affect the market.

Kamala only appeared in this one panel, is not named and did not speak. In addition, the cover is horrible for a Kamala Khan first appearance.

Yet, this issue is considered (price-wise) to be more important than All New Marvel Point One. The latter book has Kamala Khan in a full blown story and also featured her in costume on the cover.

When I had the choice to invest between these 2 books, I decided not to hedge my bets. I went all in with the Marvel Point one book while just buying a single copy of Captain Marvel Vol 7 #17.

Guess which is the $200 book now?

 

The final book to considered in Phantom Menace #3. This book is currently considered to be Darth Maul’s first appearances, probably due to this cool cover. In this issue, he appeared in 11-12 panels, in which most of it is about fighting Qui-Gon.

Personally, I preferred this book to be Darth Maul’s first appearance but the market can disagree with me, like how it did with Kamala Khan.

The safest bet is to buy the the whole set. In this way, you will not be caught out of position in case the market swings, one way or another.

In terms of the ease of finding the books, the Phantom Menace #3 cover shown above is the hardest to find, at least on Ebay.

However, the market has not always take too kindly to photo covers. It is possible that none of the books mentioned above gets any traction. This is something to keep in mind if you want to invest in Darth Maul’s first appearance.

Qi-ra first appearance in comics

In the article that announced the Darth Maul rumor, it is also mentioned that Qi-ra might make an appearance as well.

TheDirect.com

In addition, Qi’ra is expected to feature prominently in the series, played once again by Emilia Clarke…..The inclusion of Qi’ra leaves few other possibilities, giving fans the continuation of the story set up by Solo

The most important news that is the actress, Emilia Clarke, who is famous for her role in Game of Thrones, might play Qi-ra. Her first comic appearance is in the book: Solo: A Star Wars Story Adaptation #1

 

This story has been mentioned before by our resident Star Wars expert, Ross in his video. Although his focus was on the formation of the Han and Chewbacca partnership, it is still a video worth watching.

I have attached it below for your reference.

One thing to note about this book is the relatively low print run of only 25k. In addition, there are 3 variant covers in the ratio of 1:10, 1:25 and 1:50 shown below.

The 1:50 is especially hard to find, as stated by Ross in his video. In addition, the black back cover also makes it a difficult book to get a 9.8.

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Crimson Dawn first appearance in comics

Finally, the article also mentioned the criminal group, Crimson Dawn, lead by Darth Maul.

TheDirect.com

While nothing is certain, all evidence points to the Maul-centric show being about Crimson Dawn, the criminal group that was featured in 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story.

I have checked with Ross on this and below is the book that features their first appearance.

 

The appearance was about 2-3 panels and were in shadows. Beyond this however, I couldn’t find any other comics that featured them.

One good thing about this book is the 12k print run, which is pretty low for a modern book.

Conclusion

Darth Maul is one of the biggest character after the original OGs. If the rumors are true, then it is highly likely that some of these Darth Maul keys might be pretty valuable down the road.