Star Wars Tales, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Dave Land (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Star Wars Tales | Publication Date: February 20, 2002

Collects sixteen short Star Wars tales featuring droids, Mara Jade, Jedis, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader, Han Solo, and Jabba the Hutt.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse; First Edition edition (February 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569716196
• ISBN-13: 978-1569716199
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #621,493 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, August 31, 2003

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Wars Tales, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

This graphic novel is a collection of some fifteen (if I counted correctly) stories set in the Star Wars universe. These stories range from the silly to the fascinating, while the artwork ranges from the simplistic to the sublime. My personal favorite was Incident at Horn Station, in which an unnamed Jedi frees a world from the grip of a murderous tyrant.

Overall, I thought that this was very good book, one that I highly recommend to any Star Wars fan.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back-story Heaven, September 20, 2005

By 

Blond Sasquatch (Running through the trees) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Wars Tales, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

The Star Wars Tales volumes are collections of back-stories, vignettes, and dramatic graphic-literary renderings of familiar Star Wars characters. Volume 1 is stuffed with great shorts: Lando and his luck with the ladies...oh, yeah and the essential Bespin back-story; the on-going comedic-drama of the life of Villie; the inside story on R5-D4, aka Skippy the Jedi Droid; and even the delightful tale of how Jar-Jar was put into exile. But several Darth Vader stories will make Star Wars fans cringe with delight.

Extinction is the eloquent and brutal tale of Darth Vader hunting a Jedi. The art by Claudio Castellini is the most exquisite representation of high art in comic books. His panel layouts and use of bold lines, dark space, and silhouetts bring subsistence and movement to Vader like in no other manifestation. Character and life breathe off the page and generate an emotional content within the dialogue and duel between Vader and...

The other Darth Vader tale, Moment of Doubt, also delivers character-defining text. The classic comic look is much more subtle but produces a similar brutality in Darth Vader--dismemberment by lightsaber and all.

Other stories include a yarn about a Gamoreean guard from Jabba's palace--good stuff; Mara Jade in a fun one (Vader cameo); a great story about Obi-wan and Qui-gon when Obi-wan is young; and a fantastic and frustrating story about a nameless Jedi.

Han and Chewie take the Empire for a ride in a story that chronicles Han's entree into smuggling for the Rebellion. Lando's story reveals how he acquired Bespin, and the comedic stories don't let down either. Sergio Aragones, Mad Magazine cartoonist and master comic artist, steps in with a funny-one about C-3PO and R2 in a familiar scene.

These tales are fun and rewarding bits and pieces of the Star Wars galaxy. Each story leaves you wanting more--like good food and fine wine.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good... but bad (4 for Star Wars fans), September 8, 2006

By 

Mladen Luketin "Some opinionated guy" (Perth, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Wars Tales, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

These types of anthologies can sometimes be a mixed bag. The stories here range from great to bad, but thankfully never reach terrible. Very few of them get to the excellent stage either.

The book suffers from bizarre choice of flow, where sometimes one story ends on the left page where another picks up on the right, without any aesthetic insertion so as to break the stories up a bit for a smoother read. The covers for the most part are just at the back of the book, and I don't see why they couldn't have just inserted them between the stories, since now we just have to go on the difference of artwork between pages or a clumsy 'the end' bubble ridden in the bottom corner.

This problem is just multiplied when stories seem to end suddenly or without much warning, or its only just gotten intriguing and ends, leaving you tantalised but still hungry.

At times the slick post 90s artwork really kills the story, the Jar-jar Binks story being a prime example where it is near impossible to read because of its extremely cluttered artwork.

The comedy stories are a highlight, particularly the Moff Tarkin piece which references all of the bizarre film discrepancies fans have poked fun at for years (no handrails on the deathstar?), and was a real joy to pick out all of the in-jokes. Theres also a lot of great expanded universe stuff here, which is a real joy for fans (theres even a pretty obscure reference to the old Dark Forces videogame, which was nice to see, and I always like Mara Jade stories).

Another review mentioned the poor binding, and I would have to agree that some of the volumes I saw were actually close to coming un-stuck, but they'll survive for a good two-dozen reads at least.

For die-hard fans of Star Wars and the EU, this would have to be a 4 star recommendeded, but as a comic of its own quality, it rates a 3 and probably not worth the time of those who don't know much about Star Wars, or the EU. I probably fit between the two, being a former Star Wars freak, but it was still satisfying read, and I will pick up another volume down the track.