I feel the “Star Wars” prequel films get a little more stagey and theatrical – or to be harsher, a little sloppier — as they go along, but the comic adaptations are the opposite: They get progressively better. “Episode I: The Phantom Menace” (1999) is a flat retelling, “Episode II: Attack of the Clones” (2002) has vibrant art but […]
The Genndy Tartakovsky “Clone Wars” TV microseries (2003-05) delivered bite-size kinetic tales that served as a testing ground for “The Clone Wars” (2008-14). Its comic-book parallel was the “Clone Wars Adventures” digests (2004-07), in which artists – most often the Fillbach Brothers – and colorists mimic Tartakovsky’s work and the microseries’ energy.
One of the most all-around beautiful pieces of “Star Wars” comic storytelling came toward the end of the Dark Horse run: “Agent of the Empire,” which includes the five-issue arcs “Iron Eclipse” (2011-12) and “Hard Targets” (2012-13). The series is written by elite scribe John Ostrander with gorgeous art by Stephane Roux and Stephane Crety (“Iron Eclipse”) […]
During the Expanded Universe era, the Bantam/Del Rey books and Dark Horse comics didn’t collaborate too often, but when they did, it was often a treat. A prime example is John Jackson Miller’s “Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral” (2012). It spins off from “Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories,” nine novellas that give us […]
“The Clone Wars” digests, like their parent show, came to a premature conclusion in 2013 with Disney’s purchase and rebooting of the franchise. As with the TV show, the digests were starting to be more consistently good when they ended. No. 9, “The Sith Hunters,” which I reviewed in a previous post, is the best and most essential […]
“The Clone Wars” digests continue to deliver a mixed bag of supplementary material to the TV show with Nos. 5-8 (2010-12), featuring good yarns about Aayla Secura and the clones and a strong “Secret Missions” tie-in, but also a shallow Obi-Wan/Anakin/Ahsoka story.
Lincoln Child has already shown his skills in the “sense of place” adventure genre with the likes of “Deep Storm” (the ocean floor), “Terminal Freeze” (the Alaskan tundra) and “The Third Gate” (the swamps of northeast Africa), and he does it again with “Full Wolf Moon” (May, hardcover), set in New York’s Adirondack Mountains and the surrounding […]
Although “The Clone Wars” did try some adult tie-ins, such as the 12-issue comic series and a few novels, it mostly aimed for younger audiences. This is particularly evidenced by the 11 “Clone Wars” digests, sometimes called “graphic novellas.” However, these digests are not as kid-oriented as the “Clone Wars Adventures” digests from earlier in the decade, […]
Movie review: The second film in Scott’s planned “Prometheus” quadrilogy balances world-building with epic horror.
TV shows lost to history (Review): Rob Thomas’ 14-episode series deserves a spot on the short list of great shows about romance.