The covers: A trio to fight over in this issue. The A cover by Elsa Charretier with colors by Sarah Stern is a great action illustration as Anakin swings his lightsaber to take down the droids attacking him and Padmé, who is standing atop one of the fallen mechanoids, trying to kick the others away. Good image, but the colors make Padmé disappear into the background. The B by Nick Brokenshire is a virtual Who’s Who of aliens chasing after Max Rebo and Azool Phantelle as they try to escape on a tiny speeder. In the background the mighty Jabba the Hutt dominates. Great, fun cover. I love this! The final frontpiece is the RI by Arianna Florean. This has Padmé in the foreground, her pistol drawn. She turns to shoot a unhappy look at Anakin behind her who has a slight smile. Behind the pair is an enormous image of Count Dooku as a projection shooting Force lightning from his hand. This is fantastic! Overall grades: A B-, B A, and RI A+
The stories: “Intermission” Part 2 is by Elsa Charretier and Patrick Colinet. Instead of picking up where Part 1 left off, the writers smartly begin with Artoo trying to convince Threepio to go with him to investigate what their masters are up to, since he thinks Anakin and Padmé are in trouble — and they are! The pair are viewing a holographic message from Count Dooku telling Madame Synata to follow the plan to get senators to join the Separatists. With this knowledge they set out to stop the actress, but things don’t go easily for them. This was entertaining and had a great Anakin moment in the climax, plus a cameo of the Jedi Council. Tales From Wild Space features Nick Brokenshire’s deliriously funny “The Blue Brothers.” Max Rebo is walking through town and everyone stops to stare at him. “Hey that’s the guy!”, “Look, that’s him!”, “Oi! Come back ‘ere!”, and “Gimme my money, creep!” are only a few of the utterances. Confused, and not wanting to be beaten, Max runs off and crashes into a pair of stormtroopers. They think they’ve found someone they’re looking for and plan to take him in until Max’s nose is grabbed by his brother Azool zipping by on a speeder. The chase is on with funny lines and great moments, ending with Jabba’s intervention. I’d love to see Brokenshire return for more adventures. Overall grades: Both A
The art: Elsa Charretier also illustrates her story and she does a fine job. This is a little looser than I’ve seen her draw before, as several of the lines don’t connect and the colorist has to complete the image. For example, check out Threepio on the opening page. This can be found throughout this story. The further Charretier pulls away from the reader, the looser the art gets. There’s a three panel fight scene on page 5 which is set up great, but the characters are rough, with the droids losing all the smoothness of their design. Pages 10 and 11 have Anakin donning some necessary accoutrements that are absolutely killer looking and is such cool foreshadowing. I particularly like the top two panels on 11. Nick Brokenshire also illustrates his own story and it’s awesome. I love the look of the aliens, though I didn’t know Ortolans didn’t have arms. This change in their make up makes Max and his brother additionally alien. Everything about his looks great: the character designs, the speed, the droids, the action, and Jabba. IDW, please get Brokenshire back for more! Overall grades: “Intermission” B and “The Blue Brothers” A+
The colors: Sarah Stern colors “Intermission” and she does a terrific job. I like how the backgrounds are dark for the metallic settings, but the characters are given bright colors to have them stand out. The green gas that enters the story gives the element an appropriately sick feel. Brokenshire also colors his own story and he does a great job on that as well. I love that the Ortolans stand out in every panel on Tatooine because of their vivid blue colors. The desert world is full of beautiful tans and yellows. Page 6 has the greatest amount of colors because it’s a full-page splash of all the characters. Overall grades: “Intermission” A and “The Blue Brothers’ A+
The letters: The sole letterer of the issue is Tom B. Long who creates droid sounds, dialogue, transmission, and Threepio’s speech (all three are the same font), scene settings, and an editorial note. All are easy to read for any reader, though I wish that a different font had been used for the three forms of speech that are visually similar. They are differed by the shape of their balloons, but really should be in a different font. Overall grade: B+
The final line: Some great foreshadowing for Anakin and a riotous outing on Tatooine make this an entertaining issue. There’s plenty of laughs to be had and enjoyable visuals for the little ones, for whom this book is intended, but older fans will gasp at the illustrations on Pages 10 and 11. Overall grade: A
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