Customer Reviews

Star Wars Tales, Vol. 1

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Other reviewers go over the stories in their reviews so let me simply say that as a fan of Star Wars since 1977, this compiled comic and the others do not dissappoint. They provide interesting glimpses into the galaxy far, far away beyond the movies. The quality of the stories and the artwork vary from tale to tale, but overall very good and I like the variety. And they are the perfect length for reading to my son at bed time. Win win situation! :oD

Recommended for fans of the franchise.

If anything, this first volume is even more entertaining than Volume 2. The spoofs are funny, the serious stories deep and interesting, and overall it stays true to the spirit of Star Wars. My favorite was probably the one detailing Darth Vader's conflict with the Dark Woman, but I could find something awesome about every story in this volume. This is a comic book, but it's well put together and durable, so it gets a definite five stars from me. Good for all ages.

I was disappointed with this graphic novel. There was only really one good story, I thought and one comical one. The rest were just weird and made me think they were outside the Star Wars universe (though one can clearly see they used creatures familiar to that universe). But the whole feeling to the majority of the stories were so outside my field of Star Wars enjoyment. I'm glad I was able to get this used for a decent price because I would have been upset if I paid full price for it.

Let's start with what this book comes down to: an over-priced comic book...but a good one! The quality of book itself, from the glossy sheen of the pages and the thickness of the paper tell the reader that this is well-made; it won't be falling apart anytime soon.

There are a variety of stories within, each from the point of view of a different artist and writer, giving the reader a sense that the next story is something unique and interesting.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone because even with Amazon's awesome prices, this series of comic book collections is still over-priced. When you finish reading it you'll realize that the stuble on your chin hasn't even STARTED to re-grow since you shaved last! In other words, it is a very short read for the price.

I thought I would delve into this "TALES" series, as it caught my eye at the nearest "giant bookstore," but after series two (2) I decided to stop and continue with the cheaper (and longer reads) $7.99 Star Wars novels.

Great comic, some tales are very interesting, I loved especially 2 or 3 of them. However, I must say the binding it's not the best possible: I couldn't finish my comic the first time and it just fell apart.
Globally, it's 4 star for me.

The first story Extinction, is almost worth the purchase price by itself. We Mara Jade, the Emperor, Vader and a tremendous, 15 page light saber fight.

The second story takes us back to Qui-Gon and Obiwan shortly before QGs death.

The pencils very in quality from 2 stars for some stories, to 3.5 for others. The inking varies from 2 stars to 4. None of the artwork is exceptional. The strength of the book is that there are stories that will interest you, and passable artwork. To bad that the fact that different artists were assembled into one book of stories din't produce a higher quality product due to the competition along! It didn't seem to. By the looks of it, some were trying to complete their work faster, not better.

At 224 this is a large comic. Since Dark horse has had trouble producing comics with good binding I was concerned about this offering. The one I have is OK, but these were made in china, where the binding problems exist. The older ones made in Canada were OK.

It was fun to read some of these with my son. For most people I think they will consider these to be 2 to 3 stars in quality, I'll round up to 3 since my son enjoyed them.

Even the most jaded fan will love this collection! The stories range from poignant to absurd (but funny!), and the Darth Vader/Dark Woman tale by Ron Marz is required reading. A top-notch collection that every SW fan should have.