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jaredkwheeler's review against another edition
1.0
Star Wars Legends Project #200
Background: Droids: Season of Revolt was released in December of 1996, collecting the 4-issue series of the same title (September-December 1995). It was written by [a:Jan Strnad|17734|Jan Strnad|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1350228415p2/17734.jpg] and drawn by [a:Bill Hughes|92384|Bill Hughes|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Strnad also wrote Prelude to Rebellion (my review), the arc that launched the Republic run of comics, and 2 storylines for X-Wing.
Season of Revolt takes place shortly after Rebellion (my review) (5.5 years before the Battle of Yavin). The main characters are C-3PO and R2-D2. A few other characters had minor roles in the previous story arc.
Summary: After leading a droid rebellion and taking down their archnemesis, Olag Greck, Threepio is hoping a quiet run on an Ithorian herdship will provide some much-needed peace. Fat chance. This particular ship, it turns out, is the source of a group of beings known as "smilers," sentients who have been pacified by the herb savorium to make them the perfect slaves. Now, an evil dictator wants to get his hands on the stuff, and Artoo's been infected with a virus that compels him to protect smilers from harm. Threepio won't be getting that vacation any time soon.
Review: Well, I tried, but I can't really do justice to how deeply stupid this story is. It's almost criminal how terrible it is, though it does answer the question "Can Jan Strnad write a worse story than Prelude to Rebellion?" I wouldn't have believed it, but here it is. It's the kind of story that makes you wonder at the lack of quality control. Was there no idea so bad that an Expanded Universe editor in the mid-'90s would squash it?
There's a lot wrong here that I could talk about . . . practically everything. But obviously the central element is the key problem: The "smilers." The main one is called "Smiley." (Kill me now.) The story is totally inconsistent in giving an impression of how many smilers there are or where they all are, but the Ithorian who hired Threepio has declared himself their official protector. He's responsible for the virus that forces droids to endanger themselves in order to protect smilers . . . which is important, because smilers are apparently a lot like lemmings, mindlessly and happily hurling themselves to their doom. Except for when they seem to definitely have an at least half-baked sense of self-preservation. Generally, they seem to frolic with carefree happiness, without any particular interest in what anyone is saying or doing around them. Supposedly, though, despite their total disregard for safety and the fact that they don't actually seem to listen to anything anyone says, they're somehow also ideal slaves for dangerous work. So it's a bad idea that looks totally dumb in every single panel where it appears, and it's not even internally consistent.
This is just about the bottom of the barrel.
F
Background: Droids: Season of Revolt was released in December of 1996, collecting the 4-issue series of the same title (September-December 1995). It was written by [a:Jan Strnad|17734|Jan Strnad|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1350228415p2/17734.jpg] and drawn by [a:Bill Hughes|92384|Bill Hughes|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Strnad also wrote Prelude to Rebellion (my review), the arc that launched the Republic run of comics, and 2 storylines for X-Wing.
Season of Revolt takes place shortly after Rebellion (my review) (5.5 years before the Battle of Yavin). The main characters are C-3PO and R2-D2. A few other characters had minor roles in the previous story arc.
Summary: After leading a droid rebellion and taking down their archnemesis, Olag Greck, Threepio is hoping a quiet run on an Ithorian herdship will provide some much-needed peace. Fat chance. This particular ship, it turns out, is the source of a group of beings known as "smilers," sentients who have been pacified by the herb savorium to make them the perfect slaves. Now, an evil dictator wants to get his hands on the stuff, and Artoo's been infected with a virus that compels him to protect smilers from harm. Threepio won't be getting that vacation any time soon.
Review: Well, I tried, but I can't really do justice to how deeply stupid this story is. It's almost criminal how terrible it is, though it does answer the question "Can Jan Strnad write a worse story than Prelude to Rebellion?" I wouldn't have believed it, but here it is. It's the kind of story that makes you wonder at the lack of quality control. Was there no idea so bad that an Expanded Universe editor in the mid-'90s would squash it?
There's a lot wrong here that I could talk about . . . practically everything. But obviously the central element is the key problem: The "smilers." The main one is called "Smiley." (Kill me now.) The story is totally inconsistent in giving an impression of how many smilers there are or where they all are, but the Ithorian who hired Threepio has declared himself their official protector. He's responsible for the virus that forces droids to endanger themselves in order to protect smilers . . . which is important, because smilers are apparently a lot like lemmings, mindlessly and happily hurling themselves to their doom. Except for when they seem to definitely have an at least half-baked sense of self-preservation. Generally, they seem to frolic with carefree happiness, without any particular interest in what anyone is saying or doing around them. Supposedly, though, despite their total disregard for safety and the fact that they don't actually seem to listen to anything anyone says, they're somehow also ideal slaves for dangerous work. So it's a bad idea that looks totally dumb in every single panel where it appears, and it's not even internally consistent.
This is just about the bottom of the barrel.
F
wyrmbergmalcolm's review against another edition
3.0
This actually had some pretty good concepts, stuff I've seen elsewhere, but not with the focus that this story has. For a 'simplistic' Droids story, this was a lot deeper than I'd anticipated. Some interesting, if predictable, twist and turns along the way, this is one of the better Droids stories I have read.
The artwork was pretty good for a Boxtree though one character is discoloured in two panels where they're inexplicably green.
The artwork was pretty good for a Boxtree though one character is discoloured in two panels where they're inexplicably green.
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