Customer Reviews

Last Stand on Jabiim (Star Wars: Clone Wars, Vol. 3)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This would have been a very good book if not for one very large blunder on the part of the editors at Dark Horse, who should have sent the script back to writer Haden Blackman with the following written on the cover page in red ink: Why doesn't Anakin feel Obi-Wan die in the Force?

There's a scene here where Obi-Wan is caught in a missile barrage and in the ensuing confusion of battle is never heard from again. He is presumed dead, a quite obvious conclusion under most circumstances. But as we are dealing with beings capable of "feeling" the presence of others in the Force; as we are dealing with Anakin Skywalker, the most powerful Force user in the living memory of the Jedi (which is quite long, as Yoda has lived for nearly a millennia); when we are dealing with two individuals tightly bonded as master and apprentice, and when these two are located only a short physical distance from each other, then the idea that Anakin accepts Obi-Wan's death so quickly and so easily is quite frankly ridiculous. At first I thought perhaps the pair had concocted a ruse enabling Obi-Wan to go underground on some secret mission. That seemed much more likely as we are never shown Anakin mourning the loss of Obi-Wan, even when we get plenty of scenes with other Padawan mourning the death of their masters and pondering on the meaning of life and sacrifice as they prepare to face the next battle in this long-running war.

Obi-Wan's supposed death turns out to be a lazy solution to a plotting problem - how to get rid of the master so that the student can take the lead. On the rain-soaked planet of Jabiim, the inhabitants have divided into factions supporting Republic and Separatist forces, and as the battle drags on the only Jedi left standing are the Padawan. Trained to accept orders from the Jedi, the Republic clone army must follow these apprentices into a last battle against a numerically superior enemy. But rather than waste their forces on Jabiim, Chancellor Palpatine orders a last minute retreat, leaving Anakin in the position of choosing to stay and support the Jabiimi loyal to the Republic, or leave them to be slaughtered by an army of droids.

How much more poignant the decision would have been if Anakin knew Obi-wan was alive in the Force, but missing in action, that when giving the order to evacuate the troops he would be abandoning not only the Jabiimi but his master as well.

As it stands, we're left with a huge whole in the plot that is never adequately explained, in this book or any of the Clone Wars stories that follow. Fortunately, the tale is not an entire waste. Brian Ching is on hand to provide some of the best artwork of the entire Clone Wars series, illustration that is realistic, fluid and cinematic. Where Haden stumbles, Ching soars and the book is almost worth getting for the artwork alone.

For those interested in a follow-up, there is a Second Battle of Jabiim, published as "In The Footsteps Of Their Fathers," which sees Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance visiting the planet many years later to support the Jabiimi resistance against the Empire. See my review of that book on the "In the Shadows of Their Fathers" page.

The third volume of comics from the Star Wars: Clone Wars series takes a dive into the darker themes and elements in the Clone Wars, namely in Anakin's conflict within. Last Stand on Jabiim vividly depicts many of the horrible truths the Jedi face every day in their battles.

Dark Horse comics has done a fantastic job in bringing the Clone Wars to life. Their line of comic books has become one of the most revered and marvelous gateways into the immense Star Wars universe.

Without giving too much away, in Clone Wars Volume 3 you'll find a lot of Dark-themed events and happenings centering around Anakin Skywalker. His path to the Dark Side is paved by events such as those found within this collection, and any fan of the Star Wars Universe simply must dive into the Dark Horse line of Star Wars comic books.

As a huge Star Wars fan myself, I would highly recommend this comic to anyone who has followed this Clone Wars collection. I strongly recommend you begin from, well, the beginning, Clone Wars Volume 1 (The Defense of Kamino) and follow the set chronologically. It really is the best way to read about and essentially know the Clone Wars. If nothing else, these books make great collector's items.

Go out and grab the first two, so you can read Last Stand on Jabiim!!

Overall I really enjoyed this one. It moved as one story throughout the whole thing which I enjoy much more than a bunch of stories that are cut way too short. It concentrated more on Anakin and his mindset and actions, which I enjoyed. The artwork was done extremely well also. My only complaints that kept it from getting five stars, are that the main villain is way to powerful for a non-jedi, (he carries a regular sword, which should be the equivalent of carrying a fork into battle, give me a break), and that on a few instances, the jedi seem to die way too easily.

In the third volume of the Clone Wars series chronicling the Republic issues #54-59, the Republic, along with Anakin and Obi-Wan find themselves on the rainy, muddy tundra of Jabiim where they lead an assault against Alto Stratus, Jabiim's Separatist commander. During the long battle, the Jedi lose many young padawans as well as Zule; Jedi Master Glaive's padawan. During the battle, all are lost aside from Anakin Skywalker; including his mentor and master Obi-Wan. After fighting off the Separatists' Assassin Droids, Anakin betrays the Jabimi rebels by leaving them to fight their own fight and heads to Aargonar with A'Sharad Hett and his padawan in yet another battle with the Separatist forces. However, after escaping the metal clutches of the CIS, they find themselves looking for shelter amongst the harsh desert and A'Sharad finds himself at the mercy of Anakin's anger and hatred against Tusken Raiders.

This volume is strictly covering Republic issues and covers a really neat part of the Clone Wars where we see usage of the Assassin Droids along with the first versions of walkers and chicken walkers. We also see the brief return of Glaive's padawan and more clone battles. Overall, the art is superb like always and the writing is great. This series is highly recommended to anyone who enjoys Star Wars at all!

Jedis are great and all, but I really enjoy the war aspect of this series. Vol 1 was good, Vol 2 started really picking up in the last section, and Vol 3 really gets to it--War! Its the volumes like this one that make me wish they had a series devoted to Clone Troopers, Republic Commandos, and ARCs (esp Alpha). Good inking and artwork. Straight-forward plot, almost near constant action, and it was good to see the Republic actually defeated here. Nice character development for Anakin. This volume has been my favorite so far...looking forward to getting Vol 4.

This is a great series! Absolutely worth to begin an excellent Star Wars series! The art is great and there are a lot of details and things to watch in these magazines.

No, let me rephrase that. This IS the sweetest comic ever. It may be a little bloody but otherwise it's great. I thought for a minute there that Stratus had gotten away with killing the the last Jedi but.... Well you'll just have to read it and find out what I mean.

A great Clone Wars novel which a much darker version of the war. Several battles on a muddy, rainy, planet with every Jedi master dead (or thought to be) and only Padawans and clones left to fight an enemy that has almost every advantage. This would get 5 stars if the short "Catspaw" wasn't included. This short was definitely one of the worst Star Wars issues ever. Apart from that, a very good TPB with lots of action. Also, good cliffhanger at the end.

I thought that the storyline (bloody battle on jabiim) was interesting overall, but this entire book left a few details out, like how Obi - Wan ended up being presumed dead and in what battle his death took place...Oversights like this frustrated me while reading Jabiim, but I felt that the characters were a lot of fun, and Anakin moved a bit closer to the dark...