Customer Reviews

Star Wars: General Grievous (Star Wars (Dark Horse))

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

 

 

This is not a horrible book, but you might be disappointed if you think you'll be getting a story about General Grievous. As with a lot of Star Wars EU, the focus here is on characters you've never heard of and will probably never hear of again, a group of teenaged Padawan who have lost their masters to General Grievous and who strike out on their own, against the wishes of the Jedi council, to hunt down and assassinate the multi-limbed cyborg. As this story takes place before "Revenge of the Sith," you already know their mission will be a failure, so there's not a lot here to create suspense. And since we know that Grievous can wield as many as six lightsabers at a time, you know too how the Padawan are likely to meet their end.

With over a dozen characters in a such a short book, it's a fairly impossible task to make even a handful unique. Having boxed himself in on the plot, writer Chuck Dixon is left with little to do and the story is carried mostly by the very fine illustrations of Rick Leonardi and Mark Pennington.

If you'd like to read more about Grievous, as of this writing the only sources that contain background on the General himself is the novel "Labyrinth of Evil," and the graphic novel "Star Wars Visionaries," which contains one Grievous story. Both of these books come highly recommended.

General Grievous could have been much better. Excellent art, frequently showing Grievous as frightening and intimidating, as he should be. The dialogue was what really ruined this. Grievous had several cheesy lines such as
"The Mon Calamari are such a disgusting species. Please tell me they are all slain"
and "Let not one of them leave alive".
Apart from that, the plot was very good, with Grievous capturing several Padawans and planning to turn them into cyborgs like him. This TPB was average, so it gets 3 out of 5. Only serious fans should read this. For anyone else looking for a Star Wars graphic novel starring a villain, I'd reccommend the Darth Maul TPB.

The art and story is marginal, and Grievous isn't really the focus of the story (in that we learn nothing new about him), but it is a fun story nonetheless.

As with all Star Wars stories from Star Wars, your enjoyment may come from how much you care about the characters focused on. Here they are disposable Jedi, but it still makes for an interesting read with no real conclusion.

The series, which came out before "Episode III," sold like hotcakes, as readers wanted to get as much info on the characters as they could. The General Grievous here is not the injured one we saw in the movie, but that makes no real difference to the story. What does make a difference is the young padawans he captures. That gives the tale its backbone, and makes it worth reading if only for that.

Not a bad diversion, but there is plenty of room for improvement.

Padawan Flynn Kybo has a plan: have a small Jedi team take out General Greivous. But when the Jedi Council doesn't approve, Kybo leaves the Order with fellow Jedi Master Tone and his apprentice, Codi, and begins the hunt for Greivous.

Some months back, I was on a comic book/graphic novel binge and, being a Star Wars nerd, I picked up a bunch of these at a used bookstore. I wanted something quick to read (and to pass along to fellow Star Wars nerds), so I picked this out.

It's not a bad idea, even if I am sick to death of the Clone Wars era (not the fault of this comic, though, as it was published in 2005, way before we got oversaturated with Clone Wars stories). Three Jedi going rogue to defeat Greivous? Sounds cool!

While holding the title to this trade paperback, Greivous, like Darth Maul in his self-titled comic, doesn't really hold main spotlight. He appears, but mostly in the background of our three Jedi. And let's face it, our three Jedi just ain't that important. We know from the beginning they are going to die (this is set pre-Episode III, so there is no way that they will be successful), so there is little tension in the story. The Jedi themselves are bland. We have our stereotypical human, because all stories have to have a lead human male character, our token females, and token aliens. Yawn.

Even worse, this story throws in Jedi Padawans. I'm that person that really dislikes tossing children into a story for no reason other than to make unnecessary tension (because we all know that somehow our heroes will have to divert their attention from the real goal to save these kids' skins). And the Jedi children here are worse than ever. They talk COMPLETELY unrealistically for their age, which seems to be anywhere from 8 (based on appearance) and 13 (based on the fact they are called "Padawans").

Don't believe me? Here are some examples of the "brilliant" Jedi children dialogue. Please note that, based on the artwork, these kids look like they are eight-year-olds:

"I have noting to fear from a machine."

"Now bury your fear. We're Jedi Padawans. We'll face what the coming days bring with courage...no matter what might happen."

"Bring the Force to bear."

And my personal favorite:

"All the more reason to honor his final command!" (Said to a Jedi Padawan at least twice her age)

[SIDE NOTE: Pretty much all the dialogue in this graphic novel is stilted, along the lines above. It's clunky and awkward, but given the way the movies are, I guess I can't and shouldn't really complain...]

Again, I might not have a problem with these children and this silly plot if A) they acted the age they appeared (age 8) or B) they were much older than the age they appeared. As it is, it combines two attributes I hate: children in books meant to be saved and children that speak WAY, WAY older than their age.

Another thing that really frustrated me about this story was the art. Overall, it wasn't that bad, but there was not a single drawing of Yoda that didn't make him look like some sort of horror creation. There are at least two panels of him where he looks freakish, like a Halloween scare and not like a Jedi Master. It almost makes the puppet from Episode I look...NAAAAAAAAAH!!

In the end, this story is a nice diversion, but it doesn't really impact the timeline. If you want a quick story, this won't be a bad choice. Be prepared, however, for not that much Greivous and really atrocious dialogue.

Brought to you by:
*C.S. Light*

In the General Grievous comic series, you'd think that General Grievous would be the main character. Well, you'd be very wrong. Instead of learning about the General's origins, you learn about Jedi Flynn Kybo and his quest to stop the evil General from causing more death and destruction across the galaxy. The comic basically revolves around Grievous and his campaign to wipe out everything unimportant to his quest to help Dooku rule the galaxy and Flynn's quest to avenge his fallen master. After Grievous captures a bunch of Jedi Younglings, Flynn gathers a crew of anti-Grievous supporters and goes against the Jedi Council and his new master by pursuing Grievous and doing all he can to save the children and put a dent in Grievous' plans.

The comic series was a big disappointment as it wasn't about Grievous' pre-cyborg life or about Grievous becoming the metal monster he is now. It's about this Jedi that I really don't care about and his vengeful adventure that defies just about everything the Jedi stand for. The art is good at times and bad at others and the story is mundane at best. This series should be called Kybo instead of General Grievous as the main character is the Jedi and not the Jedi-killer. Overall, I got this at a very discounted price and I'm still really not happy with it. Skip it if you want because it doesn't really add anything to the Star Wars universe aside from a few MORE characters to keep up with.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 10 stars

My grandson loved this book for Christmas. He reads a lot and loves Star Wars.