Tales of the Jedi - The Fall of the Sith Empire #2 (of 5)

Reviewed 11/01/97: Reviews issues #2 - #5 Story This series is definitely unusual... I'd say that the writing is of good technical quality, but the story just didn't grab me. In the end, I just didn't care if the characters lived or died. Naturally the nature of the project has this danger built in much more than those dealing with the movie characters, because the reader isn't predisposed to like the characters. I excused this series on this basis until now. I felt exactly the same way about the X-Wing series (actually, I liked the TOTJ concept much better than X-Wing)... but the good work in 'Battelground Tatooine' and the phenomincal 'Empire's Service' arcs have moved me from bored to excited. I'm not sure exactly what can be done, because clearly DH has committed to linking this series to events in the Jedi Academy novels and will be limited by that focus. The main positives I see are the extensive use of non-humans (even non- bipeds), the ability to show multiple Jedi (with specialties) working together and the newfound ability to get just exactly the right amount of similarities to the movies to tie-in, but not copy. Art While there are no blatent problems, you shouldn't buy this book for the art alone. Pencils and color are average. I like the fact that non-humans are featured, but the quality of design is largely inconsistant. Some are quite good while others are simply earth animal heads with a human body (only slightly better than classic Trek). Summary This arc of TOTJ isn't good enough to be excited about, nor bad enough to be upset about. I suspect that this is why DH has had to plead with its readship for feedback. 5/10. Not recommended.
"EnsViews" are copyright ? 1997-8 by Paul Ens. They are posted to rec.arts.sf.starwars.misc, emailed to Dark Horse Comics and archived on theForce.net. With the exception of Dark Horse Comics Inc, they may not be reprinted without permission. Titles, Cover images, Dark Horse Comics, and the Dark Horse logo are trademarks of Dark Horse Comics Inc. and its respective Licensors.