Customer Reviews

Star Wars - Jedi Council: Acts of War

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`Jedi Council: Acts of War' is a very mixed bag, full of elements good and bad in terms of both artwork and story. As such, it is also a comic about which I have very mixed feelings. The story takes place roughly a year before the events of `The Phantom Menace', and probably shortly before the events of the eBook `Darth Maul: Saboteur.' The art in this comic often has a very cartoonish quality, which I felt didn't mesh particularly well with the Star Wars setting, but the plot was fun if a little unbelievable and misguided.

In this story, Darth Sidious is taking steps to begin finalizing his plans to take over the galaxy. Knowing that the Yinchorri are a violent race which, like Hutts and Toydarians, aren't subject to mind control with the Force, he coerces their intelligentsia caste into having the warrior caste start attacking a few settlements. Sidious knows the Jedi will have no choice but to get involved, killing two birds with one stone - the Yinchorri will end up in no position to bother Sidious when he makes his move, and Jedi will die. When a couple of Jedi who had been sent to investigate are killed, the Jedi Council organizes a team that will head to the Yinchorr system and find their headquarters, stopping the violence. While the Jedi are thus occupied, Sidious has the Yinchorri lead an attack on the Jedi Temple itself, and things escalate from there.

The plot moves at a fair clip and the comic certainly never gets boring, but it is difficult at times to keep track of all the characters. First, there are Sidious and Maul, who we see pretty much sitting around talking and scheming, and then their lackeys. There are Mace Windu, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon who we all saw in the film, as well as the rest of the Jedi Council. But there are also eight or nine new Jedi who are all major characters in this series who are brand new, and once you remember who's named what, the book is practically over. The most important new character is Jedi Master Micah Giett, Ki-Adi-Mundi's predecessor on the Jedi Council. I personally found him obnoxious, unappealing, and just not a likeable character. However, this comic does flesh out the various members of the Council some, and it shows us some camaraderie and coordination between the Jedi which we've only gotten a glimpse of before in the Ongoing series.

There is also a *lot* of action in this series. Lightsaber fights, space battles, ambushes, all kinds of neat stuff. While it's always clear what's going on, as I said before I am not very fond of the cartoonish quality of the art. I also didn't care for the lightsaber art - they just didn't look right, they were too dull. Other comics have handled them much better. In addition, the Jedi and their Force abilities seemed inconsistent throughout the story. One minute four Jedi are being overwhelmed by massive numbers of aggressors, fighting for all they're worth and barely holding their own, while a few pages number an equal number of Jedi facing equal odds are having no trouble holding off the attack simply using the Force. It didn't make sense why they didn't just use the Force in the first place. Speaking of Force use, we finally get to see Yoda in action, and let's just say the little guy doesn't *need* a lightsaber.

Overall, this is a fun, fast-paced Jedi adventure story, with an okay plot, bearable if not great art, and lots of fun, fast action. Recommended.

What better way for peace-loving Jedi MASTERS to act than to go on a genocidal killing rampage against an alien race! The whole mindset of the Jedi Order is thrown in the garbage in Acts of War and it is one of the biggest disappointments in the Star Wars universe. The art work is absolutely horrible, looking more like cartoons than ART. The dialogue is bad, what little of it that there is when the Jedi aren't hacking off limbs and heads. The storyline goes absolutely nowhere. Each page is the same as the last, with the Jedi acting as murderers more than noble peacemakers. Certain little things added to my frustration in this book, like going through hyperspace THROUGH a planet and emerging on the opposite side???? Come on now! Any rookiee fan can disabuse you of that notion very quickly, so I don't see how the writers could have possibly slipped that in. Oh yeah, and in the end they gave Darth Sidious this goofy looking smile that totally made him seem like a baby with a lolli. If you are seeking outstanding artwork, a good storyline and better character development seek out Prelude to Rebellion or Outlander. Those are outstanding in all of those three attributes. If you want cartoons with the intelligence of the mighty morphin power rangers, buy Acts of War.

With the Republican Senate becoming increasingly impotent, a new threat to peace appears in the form of the Yinchorri; a reptilian race whose resistance to Jedi mind control, and possession of a shield against light sabers makes them particularly worrying. But, when Mace Windu leads a group of Jedi to investigate, they find that the Yinchorri are more dangerous than they could have expected. And, unknown to either side, there is one other player in this game, Darth Sidius.

Admittedly, this book suffers from two very real weaknesses. First of all, it has a very weak story that just kind of begins and ends, without having the feel of being a complete story. And secondly, the illustrations of this graphic novel are not of a very high level.

That said, though, my nine-year-old son enjoyed the exciting battle scenes that (for the most part) make up the story of this book. He enjoyed this book, and highly recommends it to you. As for me, I give it a more guarded recommendation.

'Acts of War' is a pretty empty Star Wars read. The Jedi pretty much get messed up with a race of violent aliens and the comic turns into one big fight after another as the Jedi intervene. One reviewer was right in the fact that the Jedi - normally peaceloving and fighters only when need be - step way out of character and pretty much act trigger happy. A few positives about this book is the artwork, which is nice and clean, and the fact that it nicely fits into the Prequel era, seguing right into the next book, 'Prelude to Rebellion'. For Star Wars continuity buffs only.

'Acts of War' is by no means the best or deepest SW comic out there, but it's still quite entertaining. After all, what's cooler than lots of Jedi slicing up even more big awkward lizards nonstop? Well, probably quite a bit of stuff, but at least here they add in a lot of daring rescues, escapes, and other related stuff.

First off, the art. Yes, it is cartoony at times, but this isn't the most dramatic SW comic either. In my opinion its easy to get used to and suits the action-packed story. Secondly, there's always a story. It's pretty well-crafter and gives some background to the world of Yinchorr from Stradley's 'Crimson Empire' comics. It has a very fast pace, pausing only to move bits of story along in between massive Jedi -v- Yinchorri batles. There's a large cast that can take a while to get used to, so it's best to pay attention rather than notice some character right as they get impaled by numerous Yinchorri spears, as did one Jedi whom I will not name. There's also a reasonable amount of detail to the plot that helps add a sense of mystery and surprise. I must admit that I found the ending a bit anti-climactic, but after I went over it a few times I came away a bit more satisfied.

Simply put, this is a fun, enjoyable ride in and out of some nice battles. It's not going to win any awards but it's still and nice action-packed adventure.

For this graphic novel of the Jedis battling a lizard-like group known as the Yinchorri, I would give an A for inking, a B for artwork and a C for writing. The pictures and colors are brighter than usual and I liked that, and though the drawings show less detail than is typical, I liked the artwork too. The weakness here is the story. Mace Windu makes several errors of judgment (and is even reprimanded by Yoda for not consulting the Council); also, there is a LOT of fighting, which I consider the last resort of the Jedi, not the first, yet no attempt is ever made to deal with the Yinchorri other than fighting with them. It makes you wonder how the Jedi are any different than anyone else. The character of Master Giiett is interesting and we do get more information about members of the Jedi Council, which is always welcome.

Even though Mark Cox has been associated with some very mediocre artwork and inking, I like the work done in this comic. I place this comic on my time line at 33.5 years before NH and the artwork is tremendous. Released in june 2001, this is one of the comics that received the new, higher quality production. The cover by Beck is almost photographic.

A couple of other reviewers that I respect didn't care for the art and coloring. I liked it a lot. But they also liked the story more than I did. I also don't see what they didn't like about the light sabers. Oh well. The story had problems, but most dark horse writing is mediocre. But, what we do get is wonderful new material about characters that appear in the movies. I couldn't help but wonder with each new jedi that I meet, how they were going to die when vader and sidious wipe them all out. We also learn more about yoda. We learn about some of his abilities. But we never do learn why he could never master the basic language.

The real test for me was: did my 9 year like it when we read it together, He Did! But then he is a visual

If you liked the PS1 game you'll probably like this book- it feels like a novelized version of Jedi Power Battles. It's a quick read and reveals a few small points about EP1 timeline. The cartoonlike art work is a bit disappointing but its pacing is good for a lightsaber swashbuckling graphic novel.

The biggest weakness in this book is that the only reason there are so many jedi running around hacking and slashing is that "Jedi Council" and "War" are in the title. There really is no reason to get so many Jedi involved in the book. I suspect this was probably intended as the first of many Jedi Council books, with greater depth revealed in later books.

This story was just great in terms of plot, character development, and how well it blended into the Star Wars timeline. I am a hardcore fan, and I learned of the Yinchorri long ago, so I am eager to know just how the Yinchorri were removed to make room for Sidious' plans.

I have only two gripes about this story. The first is Della Vecia's artwork. Everything looks separated and cartoonish, even for a comic book.

The second relates much to the first. Me and other hardcorers know that lightsaber's don't cause bleeding. So why, when their throats are cut by sabers, do Yinchorri warriors grasp at their throats, with blood pouring from the wound? I suppose this is merely because a bloodless jugular wound would look pretty unusual, but it is unrealistic in terms of a lightsaber's properties.

Other than that, the story is very good. I commend Stradley, especially in the surprise creation of the fourth Yinchorri planet, and the scene with the Republic cruiser crashing its way into the enemy base! Though not much character development is present (aside from Micah's death), this is expected, because in Star Wars character development is best viewed from afar; most characters are affected in the long run, after a series of novels or such, but rarely do characters change within a single comic or story.

If you need a comic for the preschoolers and older kids, or if you just want to know more about the Episode I timeline, this is a great read.