Star Wars: Darth Maul is a Marvel comic book miniseries. The series, written by Cullen Bunn with art by Luke Ross, began on February 1, 2017. The story focuses on the character of Darth Maul and is set before the events of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, in which the character made his first appearance.
Although it was only a five issue miniseries, concluding its storyline with the release of Darth Maul (2017) 5, Star Wars: Darth Maul later received a single issue sequel in the form of Age of Republic - Darth Maul 1. This issue of the Star Wars: Age of Republic line detailed Maul's feelings after the events of Darth Maul 5, continuing the story of his bloodlust to kill Jedi and returning the character to the world of Malachor, which he had visited in Darth Maul (2017) 2.
Star Wars: Darth Maul is set prior to Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace and explores the origins and early days of Darth Maul, an antagonist in the 1999 prequel trilogy film. Maul, under the tutelage of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, is not yet allowed to engage Jedi in combat, so he spends his time hunting down crime lords. He finds a Jedi Padawan, Eldra Kaitis, in the hands of one such crime lords and takes it as an opportunity to test his skills against a Jedi. The series shows how Maul is tempted by the dark side of the Force, and even how he is almost swayed away from it.
Darth Maul was announced by USA Today on November 14, 2016. In the article, writer Cullen Bunn—who teamed with artist Luke Ross for the comic—said that the series would bridge the different depictions of Maul throughout the Star Wars canon, namely the warrior seen in The Phantom Menace and the cunning strategist of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. In crafting the character before the events of The Phantom Menace, Bunn took inspiration from the character's climactic duel with Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi in the film; the duel showed Jinn meditatively waiting for his encounter with Maul, while the Sith Lord paced impatiently. The comic became an opportunity to sow the seeds of that impatience and anger.
In crafting a protagonist in Eldra Kaitis, Bunn created a character who would have an impact on Maul's life moving forward. He was also able to depict the relationship between Maul and Sidious, and show that Sidious is "not a very warm teacher." Through Maul's encounters with other characters, Bunn found a fascinating line between devotion to the dark side and the light side of the Force. In that, a big part of the story became Maul's devotion to the dark side yet nearly being tempted away from it.
The series began its release with Darth Maul (2017) 1 on February 1, 2017.