Enemy of the Republic

He has the ability to fly through the use of a jetpack. Whether this has the same restricted-flight (short bursts) limitations that Jango Fett's jetpack had is yet to be seen. (Republic #51)

He has an inherent dislike of Jedi and holds no respect for their abilities - "A hundred years, and you Jedi haven't learned any new tricks …" (Republic #51)

More importantly, he is a Jedi-killer - "You know, it's been over a century since I killed a Jedi … and today, I get to kill four of you." (Republic #51)

He is immune to force manipulation (alter mind).

His senses are extremely powerful so it is near on impossible to sneak up on him - (To Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi) "Nice try. But I'm a walking nerve cluster … I can feel your heartbeat from two hundred meters away. You can't sneak up on me!"

He can take a lot of personal damage - Jedi Padawan Zule stabs him on several occasions with her lightsaber, takes a blaster shot through his left eye, and other blaster damage all within the same battle. He still walks away. On another occasion (Republic #53), he forcibly holds a Jedi Master, Jon Antillies, in a pool of molten lava on the planet Queyta. The Jedi is killed, and though Durge loses both hands, he continues to attack other Jedi.

He has a remarkable physiology - Jedi Padawan Zule makes the comment "I severed your spine!" He replies, "No central nervous system. I don't have a spinal cord for you to cut."

Whilst he can follow authority, he is under the command of Asajj Ventress on Ohma-D'un, his enthusiasm in his quest to kill Jedi sometimes brings him into conflict with his superiors. There is a moment of tension between Ventress and Durge (Republic #52), when he takes a shot at Ventress' opponent, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.

In terms of whether he is a droid, an alien or a cyborg still remains a mystery and probably will do so for some time. Though he does refer to himself having some droid-like features (he mentions carbon flush in a wise-crack towards a Clone Trooper).

Durge is an extremely dangerous and powerful adversary for the Republic forces. He has proven that he can take on and kill Jedi Masters without too much difficulty and has a range of arsenal at his disposal. It is clear that Durge will be a prominent character in the Clone Wars for some time to come. He can only guess how many more Jedi will die at his hands.

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Background information about Durge, a new character introduced in DHC ongoing series, Republic #51, is currently sparse. Before discussing him, several of the official sources should be quoted (see Research Note for more info):

The Official Star Wars Site - "Introducing Durge"

"Spotlight: Durge

A long-lived bounty hunter who has replaced Jango Fett as Count Dooku's right-hand man, Durge has long held a grudge against the Mandalorians. Emerging from hibernation after the Battle of Geonosis, the bounty hunter learned that the Mandalorians were all but extinct. Their legacy continued, however, in the form of the Republic's clone troopers, forged from Jango Fett's genetic material. Durge then joined the Confederacy of Independent Systems to enact his revenge upon Jango's clones, and fights alongside Asajj Ventress in the Clone Wars."

Source (outside link): [http://www.starwars.com/collecting/news/2003/03/news20030311.html]

Hasbro.com

"Sneak Peek: Clone Wars Anakin & Durge

So you may be wondering, who is Durge? Durge is a 2,000-year-old bounty hunter who replaces Jango Fett as Count Dooku's right-hand man. A century before the Clone Wars, Durge was captured and tortured by Mandalorian warriors while trying to collect a bounty on their leader. Durge escaped and went into hibernation to recuperate. Shortly after the Battle of Geonosis, Durge awakened seeking revenge only to find that the Mandalorians were all but extinct. Upon learning that the Republic's Clone Troopers were created from Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett, Durge joined the Confederacy to enact his revenge upon Jango's clones."

Source (outside link): [http://starwars.hasbro.com/pl/page.repnews/sec.story/id.113/dn/bh.cfm]

Star Wars Insider #67, page 20

"After the Battle of Geonosis, Count Dooku found a suitable replacement for the deceased Jango Fett in the 2,000-year old bounty hunter Durge. In ancient times, Durge fought alongside the Sith against the Jedi, until the Sith were driven into extinction a millennia before the Battle of Naboo. In the years that followed, Durge established himself as one of the galaxy's greatest bounty hunters until he was defeated by the Mandalorians while attempting to collect a bounty on their leader. Although he was held captive and tortured by the commandos, he escaped and spent a century in hibernation to recover from the ordeal. When he awoke shortly after the Battle of Geonosis, he discovered the Mandalorians had been wiped out almost entirely. Upon learning of Jango Fett's involvement with the creation of the Republic's clone army, Durge joined forces with the Separatists to exact his revenge on the last remnants of the Mandalorians."

www.silverbulletcomicsbooks.com

"A Conversation with Haden Blackman and Brian Ching" by Mike Jozic (Saturday, 26 April 2003)

"JOZIC: In Republic #'s 51 and 52, you introduce a new character called Durge who is kind of a Boba Fett to the Nth degree kind of guy. I'd heard somewhere that he was developed as a joint effort between Lucasfilm, DHC and Hasbro, is that correct?

BLACKMAN: Actually, this was true of both Durge and Asajj Ventress, a dark Jedi character who also appears in #51 for the first time. Lucasfilm wanted to establish two villains to challenge the Jedi during the Clone Wars era. Both villains had to be very tough and memorable. They also needed to be designed for use in multiple sources including comics, novels, cartoons and toys.

The characters started with the visuals - the first concepts for the characters actually came from prequel concept artists at Lucasfilm, though I believe Hasbro had some input as well. I was given the concept art and wrote up their backstories, descriptions of their personalities, and whatever else I could to flesh out the characters. Naming the characters was sort of a group effort at Lucasfilm.

Beyond that, we knew very little about the character. I had only been told that he needed to be a bounty hunter who could be used as a major Confederacy villain. I felt that, in order for him to be taken seriously as a villain, he needed to be able to defeat Jedi. That meant that he also had to be basically superhuman. We haven't revealed much of his backstory, but he is a pretty powerful alien with abilities that make him a perfect foe for the Jedi. He can take a ridiculous amount of punishment, for example. I also established a connection with the Clone Troopers, through a sort of rivalry with Jango."

Source (outside link): [http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/features/105137402377985.htm]

From the information above, it is clear that Durge is something very special. He is at least two thousand years old and fought alongside the Sith (known as "the Brotherhood of Darkness" 1000 years BSW4) for over a thousand years. When the Sith Order was forced into hiding and a new structure was formed by Darth Bane, after the cataclysmic battle of Ruusan (1000 years BSW4), Durge became a successful bounty hunter. He was captured and tortured by a mercenary group known as the Mandalorians, circa 122 years BSW4, whilst attempting to capture their (unnamed) leader.

Escaping from the Mandalorians, Durge went into self-induced hibernation to recuperate his wounds. He awoke a hundred years later, just before the Battle of Geonosis, and immediately set about searching for his previous captors. Discovering that they had been wiped out on Galidraan by a Jedi task force, he was given a new target for his anger by Count Dooku - the Clone Troopers. It is currently unclear how he joined forces with Dooku, but as the Clone Troopers came from genetic material of the last Mandalorian, Jango Fett, and the Clones were under the command of the Jedi Order along with the Republic, Durge had found a new set of victims for his revenge.

Durge will definitely make more appearances, and when new information is available, this section will be updated. According to Dark Horse Comics editor Randy Stradley [1], Durge is taking a momentary hiatus in the ongoing Republic series and will make an appearance sometime after Republic #60. I for one look forward to his return.

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Footnote [01]:

Discussed in "Topic: Star Wars: Republic" Discussion thread on the DHC message boards (outside link):
[http://www.darkhorse.com/community/boards/topic.tpl?_messageID=5008086073970]

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Feature Resources:

Republic #51: The New Face of War, part 1 [March 2003; Publisher: Dark Horse Comics; Writer: Haden Blackman; Pencils: Thomas Giorello; Inks: Curtis Arnold; Colours: Joe Wayne; Letters: Digital Chameloen; Cover Art: Mozart Couto; Designer: David Nestelle; Editor: Randy Stradley]

Republic #52: The New Face of War, part 2 [March 2003; Publisher: Dark Horse Comics; Writer:Haden Blackman; Pencils: Thomas Giorello; Inks: Curtis Arnold; Colours: Joe Wayne; Letters: Digital Chameloen; Cover Art: Brian Ching and Batt; Designer: David Nestelle; Editor: Randy Stradley; Assistant Editor: Jeremy Barlow]

Republic #53: Blast Radius [April 2003; Publisher: Dark Horse Comics; Writer: Haden Blackman; Pencils: Brian Ching; Inks: Joe Weems; Colours: Joe Wayne; Letters: Digital Chameleon; Cover Art: Mozart Couto; Designer: David Nestelle; Editor: Randy Stradley; Assistant Editor: Jeremy Barlow]

Links to Durge discussions on various Star Wars message boards (outside links):

The Official Star Wars website message boards
[http://forums.starwars.com/thread.jsp?forum=24&thread=114050&start=0]

Dark Horse Comics Star Wars message boards
[http://www.darkhorse.com/community/boards/topic.tpl?_messageID=212109412144565]

The Galactic Senate message boards
[http://www.galacticsenate.com/index.php?act=ST&f=8&t=3938&s=6849f47d654e6bdd112744565b821945]

Jedi Council (theForce.net) message boards
[http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=11234640]

silverbulletcomicsbooks.com interview with Haden Blackman and Brian Ching (Saturday, 26 April 2003)
[http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/features/105137402377985.htm]

Research Note: jedimasterED, a moderator on the Jedi Council boards [http://boards.theforce.net/] of theForce.net website [http://www.theforce.net/], has gathered much of the information currently available about Durge in one thread [http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=11234640]. Some of this was unavailable to me when I wrote this article, so I'd like to say thank you to him for posting such a valuable topic to my research :)