As the Clone Wars continue to rock the Star Wars universe, the Republic's forces, led by the Jedi, find themselves drawn ever-deeper into Darth Sidious' evil web. With stories covering all aspects of the Clone Wars - from the trials of the revered Jedi Master Yoda, to the tribulations of the lowliest Clone Troopers fighting on the front lines, to the wicked machinations of the dreaded Count Dooku and General Grievous - these fast-paced tales feature a unique look into the world of Star Wars and at the events that shook the galaxy far, far away...
W. Haden Blackman is a writer who has long worked in the Star Wars universe. He is also the project lead on the MMO Star Wars: Galaxies and the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
The first one in this volume is really good - I didn't remember it as much as I remember other stories, so that ending took me by surprise. It's got Asajj Ventress and Durge in it, and it's really cool.
The next one... yeah, I remember this one. I suppose for a kid who's seen The Clone Wars that this wouldn't feel so dark, but... I didn't watch Clone Wars when I was younger, I just read these. So this clone mission really messed me up for a good while when I first read it. Palpatine...
The third isn't too much - it's just people underestimating Yoda as he does what he does best. It's still a fun story, but it doesn't hit as hard as others have.
The last story is pretty short, it's just Plo Koon and his clones. I do quite like that final line, though - the one at the beginning of this review.
Largely a collection of fun, simple Clone Wars Adventures meant to entertain younger readers. As a kid I ate these up, so it certainly did its job, though three out of the four tales are forgettable as an adult.
The Package, on the other hand, still holds up and is the reason I gave this four stars. Action-packed, fun, and goes right for the gut with its twist. Highly recommend checking out this story in particular.
Probably the most forgettable volume from this Clone Wars comic series I read. The score would be lower but the middle story featuring Republic Commandos is fantastic both in terms of action (Republic Commando fans will love that) and the message of the final pages (definitely will make you dislike Palpatine if you haven't already). It was pretty deep and dark for a Star Wars comic aimed at younger readers.
not as good as the second one but probably better than the first. still not sure what’s going on and i wish the new chapters had more context behind them.
More Clone Wars adventures from during the original cartoon series days. Short and mostly without a lot of dialog, they felt just like the cartoon shorts. What may be my favorite of this comic series featured Sith hopefuls Asajj Ventress and Durge taking on General Grievous before Count Dooku made him leader of the droid army. Two decent episodes with the Clone Troopers, one of which included Jedi Plo Koo. The other episode featured Yoda, but really didn't play out at all like a Yoda story should.
the first story was interesting enough, the second was very deep but the others seemed pointless. didnt love the way plo koon was portrayed either. overall just very average
Please note: This review contains spoilers for all four stories.
Rogue's Gallery was interesting. Asajj Ventress and Durge hunt a…thing…that Dooku assures them is there. Turns out to be a test. Durge, unexpectedly, is the first out of the game. The thing I liked most about the story was the level of Grievous's fighting skill; otherwise it's fairly forgettable.
The Package was probably the deepest story in this volume. A squad of clones is sent to retrieve a package of diplomatic value from Trandoshan bounty hunters who plan to sell it to the Separatists. The clones are told that they will die for the parcel if it comes to it. (They do.) The package turns out to be insignificant.
All right, so it's not the most thematically relevant story, but Stranger in Town was by far and away my favourite story in the volume. A short green alien with pointy ears carries an enormous box on his back into a small village and proceeds to rescue the people from the Separatists, all without saying a word. If not realistic, it was undoubtably hilarious.
One Battle is another of those stories which indicate the inconsistency of Order 66's success. Plo Koon hacks his way through an entire Separatist army. The ending line goes, "One battle, one Jedi." All right, so Master Koon was shot down over Cato Neimoidia, not killed by clones on the battlefield, but with this being an "average" Jedi—
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Opens with a very blah fight between Asajj and Durge and Grievous, nothing to see here. The middle story, though, is where I first thought "hey this format is doing something worth doing." The Package is a piece of wicked, heartwrenching irony that wrings about as much pathos as you can imagine from the confines of these little stories. It's wry and tragic and absolutely takes advantage of the light tone the rest of these stories have established to sell a twist ending with a punch. Yum.
The last story is another entry in the baffling "Badass Yoda" comic type. Who lets these get published? Why is Yoda using a giant gun? It's one of the places where the breezy Jedi action the cartoon established verges into overt gag territory. This feels more like one of those interstitial goof comics they put between the real Marvel comics these days than one of the Clone Wars Adventures proper. Do not like.
Background:Clone Wars Adventures, Volume 3 was released in March 2005. It consists of four stories in the style of Cartoon Network's animated Clone Wars series: Rogue's Gallery, The Package, and A Stranger in Town, and One Battle. All four were pencilled by the Fillbach Brothers, and they also wrote the third one. The first was written by Haden Blackman, the second was written by Ryan Kaufman, and the fourth was written by Tim Mucci. Kaufman has a smattering of random Star Wars credits to his name, including a few other comics and video games like Republic Commando. This is Mucci's only Star Wars work.
Rogue's Gallery is set 6 months after the Battle of Geonosis (22 years before the Battle of Yavin), and features Durge, Asajj Ventress, General Grievous, and Count Dooku. The Package takes place on Ord Mantell around the same time, and the protagonists are clone commandos, with a brief appearance by Chancellor Palpatine. A Stranger in Town also takes place around the same time and stars Yoda. One Battle takes place 4 months after the Battle of Geonosis, on the planet Aridka, and features Plo Koon.
Summary: In Rogue's Gallery, Durge and Asajj Ventress enter Count Dooku's trophy room to deal with a mysterious intruder, and find that they may have finally met their match.
In The Package, two squads of clone commandos give their all to retrieve an item intended for Chancellor Palpatine before it call fall into Separatist hands.
In A Stranger in Town, Yoda walks into a small village bearing a strange burden that confuses and amuses the locals.
In One Battle, Plo Koon appears just in time to save the Republic from defeat as the battle's last surviving clone troopers are on the point of losing hope.
Once again, the stories in this collection aren't actively terrible if you're into this sort of thing, but they're fairly forgettable. I liked the middle two, and didn't much like the others. Rogue's Gallery suffers from the inevitable "Durge problem" . . . by which I mean that it has Durge in it. He's still not a great character as written thus far, and his power is so ill-defined that his presence annoys me. This is a perfect example of that: He has previously defeated multiple Jedi masters with very little trouble. Here, he is dispatched with similar ease by another antagonist, who will himself later be defeated by a Jedi who was easily defeated by Durge . . . Consistency isn't too much to ask for, is it? One Battle has the problem that I've complained about before, except it's even more obvious about it, because this issue is literally what the story is about rather than it just being an annoying detail within a story about something else. The Republic forces are almost all dead and about to be defeated . . . a Jedi drops in and destroys literally thousands of Separatist troops single-handed and with no trouble, leaving one to wonder why the Republic even bothers with an army at all, and how it is that the Separatists haven't already lost. Just nonsense.
The Package is a really nice break from a long string of stories about uber-powerful Force users, and it feels (in stark contrast to basically every other story so far) like there are real stakes and a real cost to the conflict. And it ends with a gut punch that I found very effective. A Stranger in Town is the sort of story I ought to complain about, but it's so obviously not taking itself seriously that there doesn't seem to be a point. It's an example of how to do this right where One Battle is an example of how to do it wrong. It is supremely conscious of the various Western and Kung Fu movie tropes that it is tapping into, and it just revels in them in a way that I really enjoyed. And so goes Volume 3.
It's been a while since I read the first two volumes of this series, but after starting this third one I was instantly transported into the world this series was inspired by.
The first story 'Rogue's Gallery' features some of the fan favorite villains of the prequel era fighting between themselves, which was quite fun, but somehow seemed like a missed opportunity.
'The Package' is clearly the best story in this volume (maybe the best is the series so far) and the twist at the ending is such an enjoyable gut punch reminding us of the overall grimness of the situation.
The third story named 'A Stranger in Town' is kind of like a wild west story featuring Yoda and a bit weird with its action scenes.
'One Battle' is a Plo Koon story which is quite mediocre except for the interesting last line.
Little by little, "Clone Wars Adventures" is growing on me. The Yoda story here is seriocomic and absurd in the way "Samurai Jack" always nailed; a silent Yoda in a Western-esque town... but with a mecha-sized machine gun carried on his back. There's none of the depth or character development that made the canon "Clone Wars" series so good, but this isn't a meal, it's candy. And candy can be good.
I really enjoy this story seeing the general Grevious is my favorite character from the prequels. To say the less he was given a test by Count Dooku which he passed with flying colors. The two others in this issue were involved but were made to look meager. I remain a huge fan of the art style as it is fun and presents a unique perspective. My overall rating of this issue is a 4.9 out of 5.0.
"The Package":
This issue was another home run as it relates to our reveal world and value placed on human life concerning military service. I loved seeing the commandos in action as this is a rare event and they look really cool in this issue. The story line is solid and at least gets you thinking and asking questions. My rating of this issue is a 4.8 out of 5.0.
"A Stranger in Town":
This issue has is structured around humor and is borderline slap sticky. This is not really my style but I still like the art and secondary characters used here. Then there is the great master Yoda who in my opinion never disappoints. This is definitely written for kids but adults can still enjoy this series. My rating for this issue is a 4.5 out of 5.0.
"One Battle":
How cool was it to see Plo Coon in battle well take a look at this issue and you won't be disappointed. I really like the way this art style portrayed him as well. Like the last issue only one Jedi showed up to save the day. I don't know how realistic that is but it had a cool effect in this issue. It was also funny to see Plo speak in his native tongue. I don't know how the Trooper Captain went from not being able to understand him to understanding clearly. My rating for this issue is a 4.5 out of 5.0.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I hadn’t read any of these volumes before and I loved this one! This series is based on the original clone wars series. The stories are short and self contained and really good . Their is a great western themed yoda story and 2 others in this volume
4 stories based on the characters from Cartoon Network's Star Wars Clone Wars. The stories are average fair with decent art similar to the 2D animated series. Definitely made for the kids.
A solid collection of enjoyable stories. One comical story involves Yoda arriving in a town of alien hillbillies, all of whom mock him and his massive cargo. When a droid army arrives, Yoda unlimbers his cargo: a massive cannon, and proceeds to annihilate the droid army and shock his detractors.
The other two stories are very enjoyable. In the first, Count Dooku is testing his new warlord accomplice, General Grievous. He brings in his evil henchmen Asaj Ventress and Durge to investigate an “intrusion” on his ship. Grievous, with a combination of enjoyably evil banter and epic combat ability engages these henchmen in a murderous game of cat-and-mouse (set in some sort of weird museum part of Dooku’s ship).
The other tale is a combination of commando combat and ultimate tragedy. A diplomatic pouch destined for Chancellor Palpatine has been stolen by some mercenaries on Ord Mantell, who plan to sell it to the Separatists. A team of Clone Commandos engages the mercenaries in a series of firefights across town. Somehow these thugs manage to annihilate the entire team until only one mercenary and one clone commando is left. The commando kills his adversary and recovers the pouch. The story ends with a cruel bit of irony: it turns out that the package contains a worthless gift from some diplomat or other, and that Palpatine has received thousands of these sort of things already. Why exactly did the Separatists want it so bad?
Based off CN's Clone Wars cartoons from 2004, this digest novel continues with three stories of our heroes.
This was better than the first two, I think.
In Rogue's Gallery, Ventress and Durge are thwarted by Grievous on his first mission. They're fighting in a Dooku museum, which tickled me. This had more of a CN feel and I could almost see the animation.
The Package focused on the Clones on Ord Mantell, who are there to prevent bounty hunters from selling information to the Separists. On page 45, one of the Trandoshens said "fierfek." THERE WAS CURSING IN A CHILDREN'S BOOK!
Yoda doesn't speak in A Stranger in Town but he sure tells the Separists who's boss with a huge cannon. I was laughing at his nonchalance and at his weaponry.
One Battle was also about the Clones being overwhelmed by droids. Plo Koon comes to the rescue.
Suitable for children aged 8+ and those who have seen the cartoons. There are 4 stories in this volume. Ventress and Durge face off against Grevious, kind of fun. Clone troopers are sent to retrieve a package, this story has a nice twist at the end. Yoda saves a town by himself. Clones are helped by a lone jedi in a battle.
None of these stories are of consequence but all have an element of fun that will appeal to younger readers. A good read.