I hate the clone war dark horse series and I'm stopping here. I got the A'sharad Hett backstory and I'm turning away from the series until I can enjoy it. Don't get me wrong, it's probably good, like characterization, story, plot, suspense, action, ethos, pathos, logos etc. There is just one thing that infuriates me reading this series: How pathetic the Jedi are and how meaningless their deaths are.It is utterly ridiculous. The force is apparently no ally to any Jedi in the Clone Wars. In fact I...

If I had to point out my only real problem with the relative perfection that was Dave Filoni's Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, it's that the show is not at all a realistic depiction of war. And I know that may sound ridiculous to say. But really, it is hard to name an episode of the show in which the Republic doesn't come out of a battle victorious--which for me, looses the show many points in terms of believability. How is it possible that the Clone Wars went on for three years with its one...

This is a very good volume, considering Republic/Clone Wars is such a meh series out of the epic collection of Dark Horse. I loved how this story echoed Rogue One so much, depicting dark, realistic, wartime violence. I was also happy to see the apparent debut timeline-wise of the AT-AT walker. That was a real treat.The only two problems with the story is the ridiculous name of the villain, Alto Stratus (a play on the altostratus cloud) and the stupid comic book trick of showing a character's sup...

This volume contains issues 55-59 of the Star Wars: Republic comics. It is the "Battle of Jabiim" parts 1-4, and "Enemy Lines." From the title, it is obvious that the major battle of Jabiim is the highlight. This is an iconic battle on a planet that had no faith in the Republic and seeks to destroy the Jedi regiment that has been on the planet for some time. It is a constant blood bath between the clone army and the residents of the planet, and being trapped with no reinforcements due to a major...

These comics gain extra brownie points for daring to go where Lucas' prequels and the otherwise excellent Clone Wars TV series won't, thanks to the "this needs to be suitable for kids" mentality. The Last Stand on Jabiim is an excellent mult-part story that sees Anakin suffer great loss as the republic are defeated, fellow Padawans die and he can neither handle the resulting fallout or deal with his prejudices and hate. War is about death and loss and these comics show Jedi being courageous, her...

Volume 3 returns both the artwork and the storyline back to the high standards of Volume 1. Compelling and well-executed. Instead of the prequels, they should have put these stories and the prequel stories together in some sort of made-for-TV serial, these stories flesh out and give substance to characters and situations the prequels left 2-dimensional and unexplored.

Three stories in this one.Blood and Rain is really more of a teaser setting up the meat of this volume, which is the middle story and its set piece conflict. That said, I think it does its job fairly well. It builds the intrigue of this alien world, where the flavour of the week is rain. Okay, I mean, that doesn’t sound very exciting. But the near constant rain and storms make conflict a huge drag, especially on the logistics side, so I buy in to the tension that this planet has to offer. The st...

The war is now having major casualties, padawans now have to be Generals. Anakin has to work with a Tusken Jedi. The Tusken jedi storyline is the highlight of this book as Anakin has to work with someone he blames for his mothers death. This is a good character led story, and adds to Anakin's path to the dark side. A good read.

4,5. Well pencilled, but most of all well thought and written, including the dialogues. I am impressed how suggestively the vision of war is shown in this comic, gritty, dark, bringing not glory or hope, but mud and blood, death of loved ones, despair and uncomfortable realizations about one's motivations and actions in extreme situations. While reading this comic I had once again before my eyes harrowing scenes from Stanley Kubrick's 'Paths of Glory' about World War I. I liked all the interacti...

Issues #55-58

The wars continue as the Jedi battle on Jabiim, and then move on to another system after a costly retreat. We get to look a bit more at Anakin's character. Personally, I like these stories of the final days of the Republic, even if I do not like Anakin per se, who is often too bratty. There is a brief appearance by Bariss Offee, the healer from the Medstar novels (which I reviewed here). My favorite character was the Tusken jedi master this time. And this volume does feature a cliff hanger, whic...

Exceptional. I loved reading this story. Jabiim was truly an example of a great defeat and the consequences that come from such a defeat were so real and hard-hitting. The afterward with Anakin and Asharad Hett was also very interesting. With the close of the story being an interesting cliffhanger. B

This story really hits home the futility and waste of war. The fact that it all takes place on a rain-spattered mud-ball with nothing really noteworthy adds to this feeling. After losing Obi-Wan Kenobi (we know he's okay 'cos he's in A New Hope) Anakin Skywalker finds himself part of the now masterless Padawan Pack comprising of some new and familiar faces. The 'story' really is more of an endless series of skirmished where such-and-such dies and the named characters are whittled down.With one o...

Last Stand on Jabiim - 1 starsI'm not sure if this was just a poor outline or what. They're going for a real dreary trench warfare tone here, with lots of senseless death and tragedy, so they pump up the roster with a ton of two-bit Jedi, mostly Padawans. They use small moments of friendship and romance to get investment quickly but none of them really feel convincing. The art is dreary to match the tone, with a constant rain and a blue color palette. On the other hand there's an oddly quirky cl...

It's always a refreshing surprise to me when I see that other writers can take the raw material handed to them by the movies and reform it into something believable, tragic, and interesting. This volume explores the fall of Anakin Skywalker and the lack of remorse about his actions on Tatooine in Episode II that mark how far he's fallen to the dark side.

I think that Star Wars: Clone Wars, Volume 3: Last Stand on Jabim is probably the best of the Clone Wars graphic novels that I have read this far. It really gets into the absolute horror of what a total civil war entails, with citizens fighting against each other, and each using the atrocities of the other as motivation to keep on fighting.In retrospect, with the revelation that it was the Sith who were orchestrating the war and directing both sides, this just goes to emphasise how absolutely po...

The series carries on the pace set in earlier books which means they are cutting through swathes of Jedi it seems almost on every other page but for once they are showing the true cost of the war - not just in destroying droids or shooting clones but the physiological and moral casualties on every side. It starts to give you the true scale of what everyone is really fighting for. Considering this is only volume 3 out of 9 - then either even great events are to to come or there are disappointment...

Star Wars Legends Project #122 Background: Last Stand on Jabiim, released in February of 2004, collects issues 55-59 of Republic: Republic: The Battle of Jabiim (4 issues, July-December 2003) was written by Haden Blackman and pencilled by Brian Ching and Republic: Enemy Lines (1 issue, December 2003) was written by John Ostrander with art by Jan Duursema. (Aside from this collective title to that 4-part series, those 4 issues were also individually titled The Rainmakers, Stormchasers, Lightni

The problem with the Dark Horse clone wars comics is that they try extra hard to be "dark" and "gritty" and yet consist of 80 percent fighting which makes them very simplistic superhero comics and totally lacking the complexity of the "kids cartoon" which covered the same material. Which is such a shame. Still reading it in German is good practice.

This entire series of Clone Wars trade paperbacks are really cool. Some are better than others. It cost me over $100 to buy them all. My friend Nathan has borrowed them all twice! that says something. Important part of Star Wars history is fully documented in these graphic novels. I must read. Highly recommended. Start from the beginning.