DARK HORSE BOOKS
WRITERS: The Fillbach Brothers, Justin Lambros, Ryan Kaufman, and Haden Blackman
ARTISTS: The Fillbach Bros. and Rick Lacy
COVER: The Fillbach Bros.
ISBN: 1-59307-402-6; paperback original
Color, $6.95
Dark Horse gets an “A” for effort with Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures. They recently published the fourth volume of the comic book adaptation of Cartoon Network’s “Star Wars: Clone Wars.” The digest-sized series tries in both spirit and design to look like the popular, two-part, animated TV prologue to the 2005 film, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. This time around, two of the stories actually take place during the events depicted in Episode III.
The series writing is designed for young readers – (I’d venture a guess) readers as young as six to nine. The stories aren’t as complicated as even those Marvel published in their long-running Star Wars comic book from the late 70’s to the mid 80’s. This is recognizable Star Wars tales, fast paced but not too intense. The two tales that make up the second half of the book and take place during Episode III are almost as riveting as original Clone Wars TV series.
The art is a mixed bag. Yes, the drawings usually resembles Genndy Tartakovsky’s designs for Clone Wars on the Cartoon Network, but it lacks the crackle and pop of the animation – honestly, the comics are somewhat inferior. The Fillbach Bros. have provided most of the comic book art throughout this series run, and they’ve done a good job, although one of their stories here (“Orders”) is mediocre. Still, Clone Wars Adventures is the perfect Star Wars comic for kids and a good way to introduce comics to kids.
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