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A review by jaredkwheeler
Slaves of the Republic by Henry Gilroy
3.0
Star Wars Legends Project #146
Background: Slaves of the Republic was released in six issues from September 2008 to May 2009. The trade paperback was published in December of 2009. It was first arc in Dark Horse's 12-issue "Clone Wars" run of comics (a run that was supposed to only consist of these 6 issues, but which was extended based on their success). The story was written by [a:Henry Gilroy|153690|Henry Gilroy|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] with art by [a:Scott Hepburn|1953865|Scott Hepburn|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], [a:Ramón Pérez|18210|Ramón Pérez|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1417177333p2/18210.jpg], and [a:Lucas Marangon|452069|Lucas Marangon|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Gilroy was the head writer during the first season of The Clone Wars animated series. Hepburn also drew for the three Clone Wars issues that followed this arc, and he did the Vector storyline for Knights of the Old Republic. Perez has a smattering of other Star Wars work, including the "Crash Course" Clone Wars graphic novella. Marangon is best-known for his hilarious "Tag and Bink" run of comics.
Slaves of the Republic is set over a year after the Battle of Geonosis (21 years before the Battle of Yavin). The main characters are Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan. This story arc was later adapted for a 3-part series of episodes, with some significant differences, during the 4th season of The Clone Wars.
Summary: After Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan lead an invasion on the Togrutan colony world of Kiros, they find that the colonists, millions of them, have mysteriously vanished. Suspecting that Count Dooku has sold them into slavery, they go undercover as smugglers in order to infiltrate the Zygerrian slave empire and free the lost people.
Review: I watched the episodes of The Clone Wars show based on this arc shortly after reading it, and while I could recount to you some of the differences between the two stories, I almost immediately lost track of which differences belonged to what source. There's probably some interesting material to be mined from parsing out the differences between the two versions, but that's not something I care to get into here.
With 3 different artists working on it, the art is a bit uneven, but it's not a major distraction from the story. At least, it isn't more of a distraction than some of the logistic questions that come up as you go along. The show is actually worse in this respect, but anyway . . . despite several references to a sizable number of colonists to be rescued, we never get a sense that the numbers are more than a hundred or so. There's a problem of scale, not uncommon to Star Wars, but made worse here by the fact that they reference numbers they have no hope of showing.
Minor complaints like that aside, there's some really good stuff here. There are one or two particularly fine action set-pieces. Ahsoka, as usual, gets the best role, though there's a nice segment that involves Obi-Wan forced to bury his natural Jedi instincts in order to protect the innocent. Anakin's segment is the weakest, which is weird on a few counts. On a surface level, there's a long, draggy bit where Anakin first pretending to be a slaver in order to get close to the Zygerrian queen, and then later is forced to remain in that role in order to keep his friends safe. It's this latter bit that is particularly baffling. Anakin and the queen have a totally bizarre relationship that makes very little narrative sense, and doesn't follow from any character development that I could identify.
Digging a little deeper, Anakin's story is the biggest missed opportunity of all. The title is a sharp reference to the Jedi and their status within the government they serve, as well as to the missing colonists, and their is rich material to be mined there. The story pays lip service to Anakin's past as a slave and the obviously personal nature of this mission to him, but then it proceeds to effectively do nothing with any of that. Anakin barely seems to struggle at all in playing nice with the slavers, both undercover and as their sort-of hostage. The best the arc can do is a bittersweet exchange between Anakin and Ahsoka at the end, a glimpse of a future we wish had come to pass.
I almost wonder if the story wouldn't have worked far better had Anakin and Obi-Wan swapped places. Obi-Wan is caught-out first pulling the kind of stunt I'd have expected Anakin to pull, and Anakin meanwhile handles himself with the suave, cool detachment I'd expect from Obi-Wan. Overall, I'd say the story also runs a bit too long considering how little it does with some of the opportunities it has. It's not half-bad, but could have been far better.
B-
Background: Slaves of the Republic was released in six issues from September 2008 to May 2009. The trade paperback was published in December of 2009. It was first arc in Dark Horse's 12-issue "Clone Wars" run of comics (a run that was supposed to only consist of these 6 issues, but which was extended based on their success). The story was written by [a:Henry Gilroy|153690|Henry Gilroy|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] with art by [a:Scott Hepburn|1953865|Scott Hepburn|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], [a:Ramón Pérez|18210|Ramón Pérez|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1417177333p2/18210.jpg], and [a:Lucas Marangon|452069|Lucas Marangon|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Gilroy was the head writer during the first season of The Clone Wars animated series. Hepburn also drew for the three Clone Wars issues that followed this arc, and he did the Vector storyline for Knights of the Old Republic. Perez has a smattering of other Star Wars work, including the "Crash Course" Clone Wars graphic novella. Marangon is best-known for his hilarious "Tag and Bink" run of comics.
Slaves of the Republic is set over a year after the Battle of Geonosis (21 years before the Battle of Yavin). The main characters are Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan. This story arc was later adapted for a 3-part series of episodes, with some significant differences, during the 4th season of The Clone Wars.
Summary: After Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan lead an invasion on the Togrutan colony world of Kiros, they find that the colonists, millions of them, have mysteriously vanished. Suspecting that Count Dooku has sold them into slavery, they go undercover as smugglers in order to infiltrate the Zygerrian slave empire and free the lost people.
Review: I watched the episodes of The Clone Wars show based on this arc shortly after reading it, and while I could recount to you some of the differences between the two stories, I almost immediately lost track of which differences belonged to what source. There's probably some interesting material to be mined from parsing out the differences between the two versions, but that's not something I care to get into here.
With 3 different artists working on it, the art is a bit uneven, but it's not a major distraction from the story. At least, it isn't more of a distraction than some of the logistic questions that come up as you go along. The show is actually worse in this respect, but anyway . . . despite several references to a sizable number of colonists to be rescued, we never get a sense that the numbers are more than a hundred or so. There's a problem of scale, not uncommon to Star Wars, but made worse here by the fact that they reference numbers they have no hope of showing.
Minor complaints like that aside, there's some really good stuff here. There are one or two particularly fine action set-pieces. Ahsoka, as usual, gets the best role, though there's a nice segment that involves Obi-Wan forced to bury his natural Jedi instincts in order to protect the innocent. Anakin's segment is the weakest, which is weird on a few counts. On a surface level, there's a long, draggy bit where Anakin first pretending to be a slaver in order to get close to the Zygerrian queen, and then later is forced to remain in that role in order to keep his friends safe. It's this latter bit that is particularly baffling. Anakin and the queen have a totally bizarre relationship that makes very little narrative sense, and doesn't follow from any character development that I could identify.
Digging a little deeper, Anakin's story is the biggest missed opportunity of all. The title is a sharp reference to the Jedi and their status within the government they serve, as well as to the missing colonists, and their is rich material to be mined there. The story pays lip service to Anakin's past as a slave and the obviously personal nature of this mission to him, but then it proceeds to effectively do nothing with any of that. Anakin barely seems to struggle at all in playing nice with the slavers, both undercover and as their sort-of hostage. The best the arc can do is a bittersweet exchange between Anakin and Ahsoka at the end, a glimpse of a future we wish had come to pass.
I almost wonder if the story wouldn't have worked far better had Anakin and Obi-Wan swapped places. Obi-Wan is caught-out first pulling the kind of stunt I'd have expected Anakin to pull, and Anakin meanwhile handles himself with the suave, cool detachment I'd expect from Obi-Wan. Overall, I'd say the story also runs a bit too long considering how little it does with some of the opportunities it has. It's not half-bad, but could have been far better.
B-