Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace  Anakin Skywalker

This is an excellent example of what a tie-in issue should be like. It avoids re-telling events from the main publication (that would be The Phantom Menace) and instead tells an original story but with obvious connections to its predecessor. In this one-shot we are shown a slice of Anakin's life on Tatooine just prior to his meeting with Qui-Gon and Padme. Watto bosses Anakin around, his mother is over-protective and Sebulba threatens him, previewing their adversarial relationship in the movie. Those familiar with the movie will recognize other characters from Tatooine that were seen or mentioned but had little screen time. Here they get a little more story, maybe a little more character development or better explanation of their situation. Its just one more day in Anakin's life, seemingly like every other one he has spent until you turn to those final pages. Anakin looks to the sky and sees a silver starship entering the atmosphere. What could his life be like, he wonders? A life wandering the stars... maybe as a Jedi. He's awakened from his reverie by Watto's shouts. He comes running into the shop and face to face with his destiny. And you probably know what happens next, right?

The creators on this issue have really done a fantastic job putting together a complimentary story to the movie. Timothy Truman took throwaway lines and developed a short, cohesive story that shows a little more of Anakin's personality and of the people he deals with every day. For those not familiar with Star Wars or The Phantom Menace, he gives enough background in his introduction to bring them up to speed. But it's interesting enough that even die-hard Star Wars fans will read and enjoy it.

Steve Crespo is one of comic's best "undiscovered" artists. Star Wars fans know his fantastic work from the X-Wing Rogue Squadron series and he doesn't disappoint here. His crisp clean style makes the images seem to leap off the page, and kudos to colorist Dave Nestelle for his picture perfect colors too. I can't say enough for Steve's story-telling technique, either. As the story flows from panel to panel, the reader will never feel as if he missed a beat. Actions. Emotions. The silent moments of life are all perfectly captured on every page. Let's hope Dark Horse keeps bringing this guy back for Star Wars projects long into the future.

Dark Horse doesn't always publish great stories under the Star Wars line of books, so don't go missing a gem like this. This is a one-shot, that means you don't have to buy another single issue... so go try it already. I give this comic my highest recommendation and a grade of an A+

Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace  Obi-Wan Kenobi

This one-shot has two major points I have to discuss, both of which are crucial to my mixed review. One, Henry Gilroy, writer of "The Phantom Menace" comic adaptation wrote this. And two, Martin Egeland, best known for drawing super-heroes, drew this. Looking at these two points, most people would jump to the conclusion that I'm unhappy with Egeland's art, finding it too cartoonish. They'd be wrong. I surprisingly found his art works very well in this science-fiction universe. Instead it was Henry Gilroy's story I found... well, redundant. Gilroy has chosen to retell the entire story of TPM in a choppy short synopsis. I only have one question: why?

The story begins with at the end of the movie. Obi-Wan kneels before Yoda and begins recounting the series of events leading up to said movie's conclusion. Why would this writer choose to tell the same story twice? If we wanted to read all of this, we could just go buy the comic adaptation he already wrote of the movie (which is pretty good by the way). There are only two new scenes not in the movie appear in this comic book. The first explains why Obi-Wan can't defend himself in the forests of Naboo. His lightsaber was shorted out. Wanna know why? Read the single panel devoted to it in this comic, or read it in the novelization where it also appears. The other new scene involves a Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon and Jar-Jar Binks... and a waterfall. This is a nice new piece and is given a whole page -- that's a compliment, not sarcasm.

Martin Egeland saves the day. That should be the catch-phrase for this one-shot. If not for his story-telling ability this issue would be worthless. But instead we are treated to some fantastic visual images of the undersea chase, the near-escape from the waterfall (which also sort of appears in the TPM CD-ROM game) and the best darn rendition of a lightsaber battle I've ever seen. Many fans thought the fight with Maul at the end was too quick. Well here you get six (count 'em, six!) pages of that lightsaber duel. I'd tell fans just to pick this issue for this. Egeland does a fantastic job translating the heat and excitement of that battle to paper. A big hand once again to Dave Nestelle for his wonderful colors. Any chance we can lock this guy up for all the Star Wars books?

Them's the facts, Jack and Jill. If you don't want to buy "The Phantom Menace" graphic novel, pick up this one-shot. You get a shortened version of the story plus some beautiful artwork, and for one-fourth the price of the graphic novel. Or if you want to relive the excitement you felt in the theater during the final lightsaber duel, this is your comic. But if you're like me and looking for new stories centering around those characters in the new film, this ain't your bag, baby. For art's sake (and we all know Dark Horse's Star Wars comics need more artists like this on their books) I'm gonna give this issue a B-

Read Chad's review of the second part of the series

(Chad Clark is an aspiring actor and fanatic devotee of Rogue Squadron. When he isn't practicing his heart-melting smile, he writes reviews of the comics he reads while basking in the California sunshine. His agent answers his fan mail at chad@echostation.com)

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