By Various (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN 1-84023-903-4
This fifth collection of stories from the Clone Wars era of the franchise presents another fine set of classy comic stories (from Star Wars: Republic issues 60-62, 64 and the Star Wars: Jedi-Yoda one-shot).
“Dead Ends†by John Ostrander and Brandon Badeaux with Armando Durruthy is an insightful political thriller which sees Princess Leia’s soon to be adoptive father Bail Organa fighting a different sort of battle against the machinations of the evil Palpatine in the halls of the Senate, whilst the same creative team spotlight the eventual emperor himself in “Bloodlinesâ€, a tale of personal seduction.
“Hate and Fear†by Haden Blackman and Tomás Giorello is a more traditional adventure with a captured Obi-Wan Kenobi and friend escaping the dungeons of a dark Jedi warrior queen, and “No Man’s Land†by the same team tells of what happened to Kenobi’s young squire Anakin Skywalker as his master was held captive and the bloody consequences of their eventual reunion.
Yoda’s tale “The Best Blades†written by Jeremy Barlow and illustrated by HOON, Ramiro Montanez and Stacy Michalcewicz is in many ways the weakest one of the bunch, as the diminutive master leads a team to the world ruled by an old friend in an attempt to prevent its succession from the republic, only to find a hotbed of palace intrigue and assassination. The story wanders between political thriller and samurai honour quest but doesn’t know how to get itself comfortably to the inevitable and predictable ending. The over-rendered, manga-derived painted CGI art also serves to blunt any edge of tension that might otherwise leak through, which is a pity, considering how popular the little green sock-monkey has become.
In the main though, this is a rock solid piece of entertainment, which is more than you can honestly claim for the film it devolves from.
© 2004 Lucasfilm Ltd & ™. All rights reserved.