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bradland's review against another edition
3.0
It is what it is. The film in comic book form. For what it is its good, except in the lightsaber fight scene panels there is no sense of fast paced action as the sabers are drawn like all three duellers are posing for a picture!
jaredkwheeler's review against another edition
2.0
Star Wars Legends Project #68
Background: Episode I: The Phantom Menace was released in 4 issues during May 1999. The trade paperback was released the same month. It was ostensibly written by [a:Henry Gilroy|153690|Henry Gilroy|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] (though the story is credited to George Lucas, and the comic sticks almost line-for-line to the film, so it's unclear to me what he wrote) with art pencilled by [a:Rodolfo Damaggio|206021|Rodolfo Damaggio|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Gilroy's other work includes a dozen or so prequel-era comics (including the adaptation of Episode II: Attack of the Clones), and he was head writer for the first season of the Clone Wars animated series and has written several episodes of the Rebels TV series. Outside of Star Wars, Gilroy has written for a variety (i.e. dozens) of other shows and projects, including the animated Batman, Taz-Mania, Lilo & Stitch, etc. Damaggio has also worked for show business, doing concept art and storyboards for movies like Jurassic Park III, Episode II, Iron Man, and Green Lantern. His other comics work includes quite a few Batman titles.
The Phantom Menace is, of course, the comic book adaptation of Episode I, set 32 years before the Battle of Yavin.
Summary: See also [b:Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace|34941|Star Wars - Episode I The Phantom Menace|Terry Brooks|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349115978s/34941.jpg|3304766] (my review)
Review: I feel like Terry Brooks' novelization of The Phantom Menace is a good example of how to elevate a story that is decidedly subpar into something that is at least readable, and even enjoyable on some level. This comic seems like it went the other direction. If you like Episode I, you'll like this comic version of it . . . but really you should just rewatch the movie because this isn't going to give you that different of an experience. If you don't like Episode I, reading this may well be a form of torture.
There are a lot of different ways to do adaptation . . . The novel takes an approach that gets us inside the characters heads and expands on a few key scenes and situations that provide a lot more depth to what we see in the movie. The comic takes a much more slavishly literal approach, replicating virtually every line of dialogue from the film verbatim, and opting for very non-stylized, realistic visuals. It's not so much that this makes it bad or of low-quality, as it is just really, extremely boring.
Of course, I say that the comic is basically exactly like the film . . . But there are some key differences that seem to totally sacrifice narrative coherence for no apparent reason. Obviously there is no expectation that anyone would be reading this without having seen the film, but even so. I don't want to spend the next several paragraphs detailing every example of what I'm talking about, but basically, there are some bits of dialogue snipped out of the middle of conversations that leave an obvious hole and the action scenes are truncated and often incoherent.
In particular, the podrace scene is reduced to a mere four pages, and it's impossible to tell what's going on if you haven't seen the film. Several moments in the climactic final battle suffer the same fate (most notably the scene where Padme turns the tables on Viceroy Nute Gunray in the throne room). There are also some weird visual choices . . . For instance, the Gungan's blue energy balls here look like irregularly-shaped and slightly-radioactive pink hailstones ranging widely from bowling ball to exercise ball in size. Also, the laser walls that separate the lightsaber combatants in the final duel are rendered here as a couple of horizontal bars at about chest and head height, making it kind of unclear why Obi-Wan doesn't just duck slightly and walk under to join the other two. Also, during the funeral at the end, Obi-Wan informs Anakin that the council has approved his training, but on the next page Obi-Wan has the discussion with Yoda about what the council said. Kind of confusing.
Overall, this feels like so many of the other attempts to cash in with tie-in products to Episode I back in 1999. Purely redundant, there's nothing of any real interest about it.
D
Background: Episode I: The Phantom Menace was released in 4 issues during May 1999. The trade paperback was released the same month. It was ostensibly written by [a:Henry Gilroy|153690|Henry Gilroy|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] (though the story is credited to George Lucas, and the comic sticks almost line-for-line to the film, so it's unclear to me what he wrote) with art pencilled by [a:Rodolfo Damaggio|206021|Rodolfo Damaggio|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Gilroy's other work includes a dozen or so prequel-era comics (including the adaptation of Episode II: Attack of the Clones), and he was head writer for the first season of the Clone Wars animated series and has written several episodes of the Rebels TV series. Outside of Star Wars, Gilroy has written for a variety (i.e. dozens) of other shows and projects, including the animated Batman, Taz-Mania, Lilo & Stitch, etc. Damaggio has also worked for show business, doing concept art and storyboards for movies like Jurassic Park III, Episode II, Iron Man, and Green Lantern. His other comics work includes quite a few Batman titles.
The Phantom Menace is, of course, the comic book adaptation of Episode I, set 32 years before the Battle of Yavin.
Summary: See also [b:Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace|34941|Star Wars - Episode I The Phantom Menace|Terry Brooks|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349115978s/34941.jpg|3304766] (my review)
Review: I feel like Terry Brooks' novelization of The Phantom Menace is a good example of how to elevate a story that is decidedly subpar into something that is at least readable, and even enjoyable on some level. This comic seems like it went the other direction. If you like Episode I, you'll like this comic version of it . . . but really you should just rewatch the movie because this isn't going to give you that different of an experience. If you don't like Episode I, reading this may well be a form of torture.
There are a lot of different ways to do adaptation . . . The novel takes an approach that gets us inside the characters heads and expands on a few key scenes and situations that provide a lot more depth to what we see in the movie. The comic takes a much more slavishly literal approach, replicating virtually every line of dialogue from the film verbatim, and opting for very non-stylized, realistic visuals. It's not so much that this makes it bad or of low-quality, as it is just really, extremely boring.
Of course, I say that the comic is basically exactly like the film . . . But there are some key differences that seem to totally sacrifice narrative coherence for no apparent reason. Obviously there is no expectation that anyone would be reading this without having seen the film, but even so. I don't want to spend the next several paragraphs detailing every example of what I'm talking about, but basically, there are some bits of dialogue snipped out of the middle of conversations that leave an obvious hole and the action scenes are truncated and often incoherent.
In particular, the podrace scene is reduced to a mere four pages, and it's impossible to tell what's going on if you haven't seen the film. Several moments in the climactic final battle suffer the same fate (most notably the scene where Padme turns the tables on Viceroy Nute Gunray in the throne room). There are also some weird visual choices . . . For instance, the Gungan's blue energy balls here look like irregularly-shaped and slightly-radioactive pink hailstones ranging widely from bowling ball to exercise ball in size. Also, the laser walls that separate the lightsaber combatants in the final duel are rendered here as a couple of horizontal bars at about chest and head height, making it kind of unclear why Obi-Wan doesn't just duck slightly and walk under to join the other two. Also, during the funeral at the end, Obi-Wan informs Anakin that the council has approved his training, but on the next page Obi-Wan has the discussion with Yoda about what the council said. Kind of confusing.
Overall, this feels like so many of the other attempts to cash in with tie-in products to Episode I back in 1999. Purely redundant, there's nothing of any real interest about it.
D
quigonchuy's review against another edition
2.0
I love the prequels, and I honestly don't feel like this graphic novel adaptation added much. It's even more choppy than the movie, and leaves out a lot. Not a huge fan of the art style either, though I know that's subjective.
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