When They Were Brothers (Star Wars: Clone Wars, Vol. 7) [Paperback]

Haden Blackman (Author), Miles Lane (Author), Brian Ching (Author), Nicola Scott (Author)

Book Description

Many on both sides of the Clone Wars have been wounded or killed. But the war has taken its toll on the survivors, too. Consumed by the belief that the Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress still lives, Obi-Wan Kenobi has temporarily forsaken his duties and recruited Anakin Skywalker in his desperate hunt for Ventress. But Anakin believes that Obi-Wan is chasing a ghost - because he himself killed Ventress. And Anakin's doubts about his former Master's quest are not assuaged when, following the trail of the rumors of Ventress' existence, they walk into a trap set by their old enemies, the bounty hunter Durge and Count Dooku! A tale that tests the strengths of the bonds of brotherhood!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The seventh volume in Dark Horse's Clone Wars graphic-novel series collects the five-part miniseries Obsession, a title referring to Obi-Wan Kenobi and his refusal to believe that Count Dooku's assassin Asajj Ventress is truly dead. It's odd to have Anakin be the rational one, and the climactic showdowns, though exciting, have a sort of "all star" feel to them that make the story seem more like a stand-alone diversion rather than being tightly wound into the regular continuity of the Star Wars universe like most of the Clone Wars volumes. But even if When They Were Brothers doesn't quite measure up to that high standard, it still has the dynamic writing and art of SW veterans Hayden Blackman and Brian Ching. Filling out the volume is an Anakin/Obi-Wan story created for Free Comic Book Day 2005. --David Horiuchi

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse; Graphic novel edition (December 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593073968
• ISBN-13: 978-1593073961
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #671,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Writer monkeys with Obi-Wan, Kenobi goes ape, February 18, 2006

By 

Daiho - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: When They Were Brothers (Star Wars: Clone Wars, Vol. 7) (Paperback)

What's cool about Obi-Wan Kenobi is that he's so cool. He's the "Negotiator." He's always in control and except for his bickering with Anakin never displays his frustration, annoyance, or anger. In fact the only time he loses it is when Yoda asks him in "Revenge of the Sith" to go after Darth Vader and again when he finally confronts his former Padawan, whom he doesn't have the courage to strike dead as he lies broiling in lava.

So it's a bit odd to see him in this story completely obsessed over Asajj Ventress, the lately deceased bald-headed villainess and student of dark Jedi arts from earlier Dark Horse Star Wars comics and the Clone Wars cartoons. For reasons never made clear, Obi-wan has a bee in his bonnet and her name is Ventress. He's convinced she's alive somewhere and waiting to pounce, so he goes and beats up a Black Sun don (the Black Sun being the mafia in the Star Wars universe), who says "right, you're obviously a better man than me, come have a drink and I'll tell you everything I know about the Confederacy."

Once you get past those two very improbable bits of the story, things get better, and that's do mostly to the fine work of artist Brian Ching, who illustrates some exciting action sequences that owe a great deal in framing and in detail to "The Revenge of the Sith." "Brothers" occurs just prior to the events of the film and was being written and drawn prior to its release. Ching obviously had access to the movie or the developmental artwork because this story features quite a bit of hardware from the film, from the ships to Grievous' Magna Guards. Much of the framing of the action sequences also appear similar in style to Lucas' work in RotS.

But after all the fighting's done, scripter Haden Blackman has to bring the story to conclusion, at which point the characters and events again become rather contrived. [SPOILERS] What we're presented is the Luke/Vader sequence at the end of "Return of the Jedi," with Obi-wan comforting a dying Ventress, searching for a glimmer of the "good" hidden below layers of evil. Any possible sympathy Blackman manages to evoke for the dying Ventress is thrown back in the reader's face two pages later when we find her contrition - and her death - were feigned and that thanks to Sith meditation techniques she is alive and now on the run from the Jedi _and_ the Confederacy, setting up what I'm guessing might be a possible return in the animated Clone Wars series now in production. [END SPOILERS]

Overall, "When They Were Brothers" is not a complete letdown, but it certainly doesn't live up to its hype as a "must read" story leading into "Revenge of the Sith."

The book finishes out with a 22-page story originally published for Free Comic Book Day, an annual marketing campaign by comic book publishers and retailers in the US. Nothing of any significance happens here, just Obi-Wan and Anakin crash landing on a Confederacy controlled planet, riding around on speeder bikes, and hacking and slashing their way through a battalion of droids. Good for what it's worth, but entirely forgettable.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Action Packed!!!, March 15, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: When They Were Brothers (Star Wars: Clone Wars, Vol. 7) (Paperback)

This book has lots of action. i felt kind of confused with it because the clone wars tv series says that obi-wan kills durge on munnillist. it also said that anakin killed ventress on yavin 4, but in the book it said he killed her on corusant. but over all the book has many suprises and twists. i gave this book a 4 out of 5.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good buy, with some flaws., December 29, 2005

By 

L. Hubbell "Reader of Books" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When They Were Brothers (Star Wars: Clone Wars, Vol. 7) (Paperback)

For a long time I've been waiting for the Obsession story-arc to come to Trade paperback format, seeing as Obsession has all these cool things in it like:
The fate of Durge, the bounty hunter from the clone wars series
The fate of Asajj Ventress
The fate of Alpha-17, the first ARC trooper we were introduced to
General Grievous

So, finally, they've compiled all five of them, but with them, they've added another comic. But before I go there, I had a few complaints about Obsession. One is, the artwork. While not bad in any sense of the word, the artwork has a very pencilled look, which makes it feel a bit rough, unlike the Republic comics.

The other thing is the story. Obi-wan is pretty much completely out of character here. He's obsessed with finding Asajj Ventress, for no apparent reason. Wouldn't he want to stay away from her?

The last comic, which has nothing to do with Obsession, if just a dumb "Free comic book day" comic with artwork that isn't very good, and a story that you should probably see in a Clone Wars Adventures book.

Besides those little things, the main comic is a very good read, and I definitely recommend it.