Star Wars Omnibus: Tales of the Jedi, Volume 1

Tales of the Jedi #1–3

by Kevin J. Anderson

Five thousand years before Luke Skywalker's successful assault on the Death Star, the Sith Lord Marka Ragnos ruled the galaxy. That is, until his death ignited a battle for ascension that would spell the end for his empire—and nearly the entire galaxy! It would be another thousand years before two young Jedi novices, Ulic Qel-Droma and Nomi Sunrider, would rise for the cause of justice, first in the case of a Jedi-killing Hutt, and then against a dark Jedi spirit threatening to engulf an entire planet!

Containing the Tales of the Jedi stories The Golden Age of the Sith, The Fall of the Sith Empire, Ulic Qel-Drooma and the Beast Wars of Onderon, and The Saga of Nomi Sunrider, this humongous omnibus is the ultimate introduction to the ancient history of the Star Wars universe!

Genres: Star Wars, Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Comic Book

386 pages, ebook

First published October 30, 2007

About the author

Yes, I have a lot of books, and if this is your first visit to my amazon author page, it can be a little overwhelming. If you are new to my work, let me recommend a few titles as good places to start. I love my Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. series, humorous horror/mysteries, which begin with DEATH WARMED OVER. My steampunk fantasy adventures, CLOCKWORK ANGELS and CLOCKWORK LIVES, written with Neil Peart, legendary drummer from Rush, are two of my very favorite novels ever. And my magnum opus, the science fiction epic The Saga of Seven Suns, begins with HIDDEN EMPIRE. After you've tried those, I hope you'll check out some of my other series.

I have written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and I'm the co-author of the Dune prequels. My original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series and the Nebula Award-nominated Assemblers of Infinity. I have also written several comic books including the Dark Horse Star Wars collection Tales of the Jedi written in collaboration with Tom Veitch, Predator titles (also for Dark Horse), and X-Files titles for Topps.

I serve as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest.

My wife is author Rebecca Moesta. We currently reside near Monument, Colorado.

Reviews

[Malum · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars.

what you get:
"The Golden Age of the Sith": Naga Sadow and the Sith are pretty fun but Gav and Jori are very annoying and their comedy relief constantly falls flat. It's funny to me that almost the entirety of Star Wars history as we know it started because of these two morons getting lost. They also act more like lovers than brother/sister, which seems to happen a lot in the galaxy far, far away...
We also learn about the Great Hyperspace War, which is kind of misnamed because it only lasts for a few hours. Maybe they should have called it the Little Hyperspace Tiff.

Next is "The Beast Wars of Onderon", which feels like someone's D&D campaign. It's just one fight or plot point rushed into another.

Finally, we have "The Saga of Nomi Sunrider". I wasn't holding out much more hope for this volume by the time I reached this story, but it is probably the best of the bunch. We get an extremely interesting and unique Jedi master named Thon, and we also get some girl power with Nomi without making her a Mary Sue.

Overall, this volume had a lot of neat ideas that were marred by clunky dialog, so-so art, sloppy lettering, and nonsensical plot points.

As an example of some of the ridiculousness that hurts this omnibus: there is a scene that closed out one issue that involves one person mistakenly thinking that another person has killed someone. They call this person a murderer and go on about how they must be stopped, all the while chopping at them with a lightsaber and ignoring their pleas for a moment to explain.

Cut to the beginning of the next issue, and there is no fight at all, the person that was attacking is now begging for an explanation, and the person wanting so badly to explain is now running away and refusing to talk...

did the writer paint himself into a corner and have to do an instant retcon or something?

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the part where a city is being attacked and a person (a non Jedi) is like "I need a weapon" and a Jedi master that barely knows her is like "here, take my lightsaber". Wait, What? Doesn't a lightsaber take lots of training to use? Also, I don't think a Jedi would just give one away to a random passerby, especially at a time when he really needs it. It would have been hilarious if she turned it on and immediately cut herself in half with it.

So, anyway, if you like Star Wars then you will likely find something here to enjoy. Just keep in mind that there are better Star Wars comics out there.

[Iset · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now this is a blast from the past. A re-read of a series I’ve read many times before. I have to say right at the outset that I’ve never really liked Kevin J. Anderson’s additions to the Star Wars novel series, whereas I’ve much more enjoyed Tom Veitch’s work in the graphic novels over the years. Anderson is responsible for the Golden Age of the Sith story here, also known as the Great Hyperspace War, whilst Veitch wrote Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon and The Saga of Nomi Sunrider. And one thing I definitely can’t complain about is the length of the story. This collated volume is lengthy enough to satisfy even the hungriest of comic book readers, and in actual fact was so weighty that I had to read it in short bursts at a time.

The Golden Age of the Sith is set 5000 years before the Battle of Yavin (BBY), and sees Force sensitive explorers Gav and Jori Daragon accidentally stumble across the Sith Empire as the descendants of exiled Dark Jedi fight to claim the title of new Dark Lord of the Sith. This has never been one of my favourite stories from the pre-movie era, but I wish it were. The first great conflict between the Republic and the Sith Empire in millennia, the power struggle between Ludo Kressh and Naga Sadow, the luckless explorer siblings Gav and Jori… this should be a good story. And yet I’ve always felt somewhat detached from it. The main problem is that the characters needed to be fleshed out more.

Ludo Kressh and Naga Sadow, and their rivalry, always felt like it could be an intriguing story, a struggle also bound up in their respective backgrounds – Sadow has a more direct bloodline from the original Dark Jedi, whilst Kressh’s ancestors interbred more with the native Sith population. Sadow in particular, as the eventual victor, seems to have the potential to be a really gripping character – sharply intelligent, treacherous, cruel. At least, that’s the Sadow I’ve always imagined. But in this story he comes off as not particularly clever and not particularly interesting. Yes, he does execute a few double-dealings, but they’re not especially ingenious, and they’re usually revealed without fanfare as they unfold, with all the characters somehow surprised that a Sith Lord tricked them. I’ve always wanted more from the character of Naga Sadow than this. He needs to be more intelligent for me to take him seriously as a threat, and he needs to have more personality in order to get me invested as a reader in rooting for him to win the Sith power struggle.

Another problem is that the rest of the Sith are virtually indistinguishable – none of the other Sith Lords seem to have anything that make them stand out at all, and the Sith warriors just throw themselves in waves upon the pikes of the Republic without question. I would really like to see a little more background for the Sith people to explain their fierce devotion to the Dark Lords – in my head I’m imagining a Spartan style upbringing in which children are taken out into the wild from a young age and relentlessly trained into elite warriors – but this needs to be shown or at least referenced in order for us to buy into it, because in most cases an antagonist comes up against resistance from an underling or two who questions their decisions, showing us as the audience that their followers aren’t completely evil or stupid and often giving a chance to show the antagonist’s ruthlessness by disposing of the dissenters. When we don’t see any questioning going on we have a harder time buying into the plausibility of these antagonists’ leadership – unless it can be established that there is a reason why they aren’t questioned, e.g. society of fear, society of martial training, or other.

Gav and Jori Daragon were reasonably well done, but I felt they needed a couple more quiet human moments to make them more sympathetic – I couldn’t care as much as I sensed Anderson wanted me to when Gav sacrificed himself, but maybe I could have if a little more time had been spent on showing the Daragons doing and feeling ordinary human things.

I’ve never been able to decide if the art style is something I dislike, or if I actually want to applaud the artistic genius of. It hearkens back to early-20th century with harsh, garish colours and little subtlety that I admit are not aesthetically pleasing to me. But this old style is also quite effective in evoking that sense of the past. By using a retro art style, the artists highlight the fact that the story itself is set 5000 years BBY, and it does actually succeed rather well in making me feel like this is a completely different time in the Star Wars universe, way in its past. Gav and Jori Daragon, despite being penniless, are garbed in these garish yellow-gold shoulder pads, bracers, and headdresses that are just so reminiscent of 1930s sci-fi Flash Gordon. Of course, this genius falls apart under logic – the Republic was founded in 25,053 BBY, so I would actually expect this kind of style and the job that the Daragons do, mapping out new hyperspace routes on the fringe of known space, circa 20,000 BBY, not c. 5000 BBY – in the following stories in the volume, set c. 4000 BBY, the atmosphere already feels a lot more modern and up to date with the film era.

Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon is a story I’ve always enjoyed far more. It’s considerably shorter than the Golden Age of the Sith, which takes up about three quarters of this volume’s page count, but far more compelling. The cast is kept small, but they feel far more fleshed out, despite the shorter story. A certain degree of stock characters is resorted to – Ulic is brave but rash, Cay is tech-obsessed, Tott is quiet and slightly bookish – but they felt like they had more personality than the like of Naga Sadow, and it was easy to get a handle on their attitudes and motivations. Arca Jeth’s backstory set up was done well, I felt, delivered with suitable character and keeping the interest where often an information dump can be too dry and clumsily dropped into a story. The art style was more up to date than the previous story, but the colours are still somewhat restricted, emphasising that this story is closer in time than the previous one, but still maintaining a certain level of distance. I would have liked just a little more page space devoted to the unfolding Beast War, and Tott’s mastery of beast empathy was a little too convenient, but all in all given its compact nature the story was told well, the characters kept my interest, and it was a tale I enjoyed.

The Saga of Nomi Sunrider by far captured my attention and interest over the other stories – or, I should say, it still does, since this is a much re-read book in my collection. The first story tried to tell a tale of epic and historic proportions, but despite commanding a full 75% of the book simply didn’t have enough room to work with to develop a really thick plot or do more than roughly sketch out its characters. The Beast Wars of Onderon was more interesting, but at only 10% it felt too short; events seemed to happen around the three Jedi without their input, and they too did not have enough time to establish their characters. This story, however, at 15% of the book’s total length, did it best. It doesn’t try to tell a whole self-contained story in limited space. Rather it only attempts to tell an intriguing beginning to a much bigger story, and this is something at which it succeeds marvellously. It sets one character’s personal life struggles onto a background where there are a lot of other self-interested factions directing the action. This makes it feel like the main character is existing in a realistic universe of agency and consequence. And the real heart of the story is Nomi Sunrider’s struggles. In the two previous stories the Jedi characters were just kind of there. They waited for the Sith to come and then fought back, or, in the case of The Beast Wars of Onderon, they tried to unravel a mystery but were largely duped by others who truly controlled the action; but they didn’t grow in and of themselves. Nomi’s struggle feels more gritty and real. The story hits us early with a devastating consequence, which Nomi then has to deal with whilst continuing to be a parent to her child and deciding what path she now wants to take in her life. This is an internal life struggle that we can all empathise with, and what makes this particular story the most gripping and engaging. All the while, it builds up a subtle level of background tension as events far away in the galaxy begin to have a ripple effect and reach the remote planet where Nomi now lives. All praise to the writer and artists on this one – I have to say I liked the art styles best in this story also. There’s nice attention to detail and the environment really looks lived in.

I would give the Saga of Nomi Sunrider 8 out of 10, the Beast Wars of Onderon 7 out of 10, and the Golden Age of the Sith probably 5 out of 10, giving this omnibus as a whole an average combined score of 6.6 recurring out of 10.

[Damon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think these stories are based on some mythology mentioned in the non-canon sequel novels. I liked seeing these olden day characters and I especially liked the sith amulets that were used instead of lightsabers until they were introduced to lightsabers when they clashed again with the jedi.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

Very good comic book/graphic novel. Nice to learn more about the history of the Jedi and the Sith. Would recommend to fans of Star Wars.

Can't wait to read more Star Wars books!!!!

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

How did Anderson keep getting work with Star Wars? His novels were embarrassingly bad, and the graphic novels are no different. What makes it worse is they're full of characters talking WAY too much, just to convey information to the reader that could be presented in other ways, and there were narrative blocks all over the pages to convey everything else. It was like reading comics from the '70s or '80s, but this series started in 1996. Tom Veitch wrote some of the stories, too, but they're just as bad.

Also, seeing "Klaato barada nikto" in Army of Darkness was clever and funny, but seeing three aliens named Klaatu, Barada, and Nikto for some reason just bugged the hell out of me.

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is odd because the collection includes not just work by Anderson on the prequel stuff to the originally published Tales of the Jedi, but the work by Tom Veitch as well. Anderson's pieces about Naga Sadow and the background of the Sith people was meant to flesh out Veitch's original work in which the characters are only referenced. The Veitch stuff is much better than Anderson's work, both in imagination and in quality of writing.

Four thousand years before the birth of Luke Skywalker, the galaxy was a different place. There were thousands of Jedi spread across a fledgling Republic and planets of Sith organized in an expansionist Empire that frequently brushed against each other. The philosophies of both sides are not as well fleshed out as what we're used to and a lot of this world reads like a sword and sorcery type of epic where Sith lords wield Dark Side magic and lightsabers had ornate bone-like hilts hooked up to battery packs. What Veitch and company do successfully is re-imagine a more primitive galaxy. Hyperspace lanes have yet to be tamed, worlds are still unknown and it feels like species are just getting to know one another and work out how they're going to live together. Hidden on new worlds are unique cultures with their own traditions of Force use, good and bad, that have yet to be incorporated into a coherent and dogmatic doctrine.

The writing isn't horrific, but is filled with usual comic-ese. Lots of explanation points for sentences that seem more like statements! and the obligatory "Let me explain what I'm doing in my dialogue because the panel isn't exactly clear." This is less a story about empire and epic space opera conquest than it is an adventure story, and enjoyable one at that. It also fills in gaping holes in the EU mythology explaining the back story of famous historical names dropped in other stories and brings them to life.

[Kenneth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume #1 consists of three stories: The Golden Age of the Sith, Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon, and The Saga of Nomi Sunrider set 3000-4000 years before the Battle of Yavin.

The "Golden Age" is an overwrought story that tells of the invasion of the republic by the Sith empire; the dialogue is stiff, the story jumps unevenly from scene to scene, and the plot twists feel too contrived. Ultimately, they're trying to tell too big of a story in too few pages (even though the war itself consumes 2/3rd of the book). The best parts detail the scheming of the Sith Lords, but unfortunately these conflicts are kludged onto the larger Sith invasion storyline. The whole thing fails as a cohesive story, even though it has entertaining elements.

The Beast Wars of Onderon is a far stronger story, following three Jedi apprentices as they are sent to the world of Onderon to attempt to negotiate an end to its centuries-old conflict between its dominant city state, and the beast lords living outside its walls. I think it works better because it's painting on a smaller canvas, and focusing on the trials of the three apprentices. Good stuff.

The Saga of Nomi Sunrider is an even more intimate story, showing the training of its namesake character at the feet of Jedi Master Thon. Sunrider sees her husband, a Jedi Knight, cut down by thugs, but is urged to take up his mantle by his Force ghost by training with Thon. Over the course of the story she's forced to confront her own fears to save herself, her master and the life of her child.

All in all, the book's worth picking up, particularly for those (like me) who are running Knights of the Old Republic RPG campaigns. "The Golden Age" may be weak, but the other two stories make up for it.

[Tyson Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Not as good as I remembered this to be, from when I read this as a teenager.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aaaaand here we go: the beginning of my attempt to read through all the Legends Star Wars comics. I'm using Wookieepedia's timeline to read stuff in order, except... of course... that I started with Dark Empire.... and Knights of the Old Republic.... and Crimson Empire.... so I was definitely jumping around. ANYWAY... now I'm starting at the "beginning" (still minus the Dawn of the Jedi stuff, but there's not very much of that) with the Sith Empire.

First of all, the artwork is putting me off something fierce. It's just a product of when it was written and what the trends were at the time, I think. It has that really weird color palette - full of pastels and magenta - pretty much like Dark Empire had. The two main characters made a lot of obnoxious and/or idiotic choices too, so it was hard to feel particularly bad about what was happening to them.

I guess it was interesting seeing how the Sith and the dark side got so intertwined and how Sith culture evolved.

The Ulic Qel-Droma storyline was ok. One star on this rating is purely for the Nomi Sunrider story, which was my favorite out of this bunch. On to volume 2...

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

golden age of the sith - ★★★.5
ended up really enjoying this, mostly for the sith politics part! naga sadow was so funny, and i loved seeing all this ancient history written pre-prequels. very fun.

the fall of the sith empire - ★★★?
very short for the story it wants to tell, but a fun (if a bit silly) plotline and cool concepts. so 90s.
slay powerful but nondescript conquering empress? girl power is still girl power even if she's crushing rebellions against her rule

ulic qel-droma - ★★★
ambitious, and a good way to slowly set up this time period. instant replacement arm is so funny though. like come on now.

the saga of nomi sunrider - ★★★
breaking news: single mum becomes a jedi by virtue of picking up a lightsaber and magically wielding! do you think she knows battle meditation? we're only told she does every other page! all this and more from me, local ancient star wars reporter.

[Christian Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some really good things in this story, and some “eh” story decisions, too.

The beginning arc involving the conflict between the Sith is fascinating. There are some really good story elements and some world building that had a lasting effect on Star Wars products ranging from Knights of the Old Republic to the television series. The idea of Jedi Knights being a bit more spread out and almost on their own is cool. So is the fact that they need power packs for their lightsabers. Really cool concept.

However, the story tends to falter a bit as the book continues, particularly involving the stories of Ulic Qel-Droma and Nomi Sunrider.

Volume 2 is an absolute classic, but the story elements presented herein are good enough to warrant a read through!

[Danny Mason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cool idea that's mostly well executed. The design and mythos of the Old Republic is really evocative and provides a great platform for telling new and interesting stories within Star Wars while also giving the setting a real sense of history.

My main problem with the stories collected here is that anytime anyone has a plan of any sort it ends up being ridiculously convoluted to absolutely no benefit to either the characters within the stories or the people reading them. This is a problem in a lot of Star Wars media and I have no idea why.

This particular edition also loses some credit for being in chronological and not release order. I will never back down from the position that this is obviously bad and wrong in almost all cases.

[Juliette Barasch · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars! Definitely going to continue reading in the Legends chronological order.

[Dubzor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this more than anything the franchise has done in the past 20 or so years...first season of Mando excluded.

[Barbara Brabiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun romp with Jedi against the Dark Force

[Ithlilian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of stories and this glimpse into the Star Wars universe. I couldn't put it down initially, and loved that the Sith were made to be interesting and exciting, while the good guys were portrayed as whiny and irritating. Well, they came off as whiny to me, so needless to say, the stories that included the Sith were my favorite. The last story in the collection was my least favorite as I couldn't really connect with the characters. All in all I am glad I read this, and appreciate the extra information I've gained about the wonderful world of Star Wars. I will read as many more of these as I can get my hands on, and I hope that the writing and illustrations stay on this level. Very good.

[pampampampampam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though I’ve loved Star Wars since I was a little kid, I didn’t fall too deeply into Legends/EU material until recently. KOTOR and KOTOR2 are my favorite SW games, though, so I was excited to read the story of Naga Sadow and the Great Hyperspace War, which is the first story in this omnibus.

The heroes (“heroes”?) of the first arc are Gav and Jory Daragon. They’re orphans with no particular skills, a long line of credit, and a penchant for making terrible choices. They also … clutch at each other. A lot. A whole lot. It’s not like they don’t know they’re siblings. And for being So Poor, Jory wears an extremely elaborate outfit with gold armor and a total lack of pants. Like maybe you could sell some of that? Buy some real pants?

Anyway, the Sith never seemed particularly menacing, and the Jedi didn’t seem to have much of a code/order. One of them, Odan-Urr, just … hands off his lightsaber to Jory during a battle. He also looks like a blue horse with no bottom jaw, but that’s beside the point. The narrative jumps around wildly, too. At the end of one issue, Jory is mad at Gav for starting a war and killing their Hutt buddy. She’s yelling at him how she doesn’t want to hear his excuses. JUMP CUT she’s not fighting him, begging him to explain and he runs away. What???

Somehow, the good guys win, and Naga Sadow retreats to lick his wounds. Yay! Although this was the longest story, it was definitely the weakest.

Second story involves the Beast-Riders of Onderon (yesss), headstrong Jedi apprentices (eh), and forbidden love (meh). Ulic Qel-Droma has some pretty epic hair, though. We have some really interesting expository choices, like Ulic’s brother Cay getting his arm chopped off (Star Wars bingo! Loss of limb!) and proceeding to yell, “ULLIIIIIICCC! THEY CUT OFF MY ARRRRRMM!” As if that isn’t in the illustration. Then he immediately starts tinkering with a droid to attach its arm to his still-bleeding stump. As one does. However, it’s fun connecting the dots with this story and the narrative in KOTOR2.

Third story is definitely the best—Nomi Sunrider! Mom, widow, badass. Her Jedi husband is kind of dense and gets himself killed, leaving Nomi and their daughter (who looks like a demon doll, as do most children in comic art) on the run from a Hutt lord. Eventually, Nomi and her daughter become the apprentices of a mysterious alien Jedi who has some unorthodox methods for encouraging Nomi to undertake her training. Nomi’s inner struggles were really well-depicted, and her reluctance to take up a lightsaber felt authentic. She also was slightly better dressed than other female leads. At least her skirt was a full skirt, not just a butt flap.

I think my enjoyment of these was definitely hindered by the art style not being appealing to me. Its VERY retro, with wild color palettes and inordinate amounts of abs on everyone. The Sith Lords and their Sith slaves/acolytes all look like the monkeys from The Wizard of Oz, only pinker. All of the women are drawn … not anatomically correct. One panel literally drew on a woman’s breasts as big circles. That’s not how gravity works, but ok. One of the Hutt’s female cronies is wearing a stick-on backless bra, which is obviously super practical for any combat that might occur.

Am I going to read volume 2? Duh, of course.

[Jamieson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The "Tales of the Jedi" series takes place between 5,000 and 3,986 years before the Battle of Yavin from Star Wars: A New Hope (designated BBY). These take place in the "Legends" universe and thus have no effect on the current Disney era of novels, movies and TV shows. This is Volume 1 of 2 and contains the stories: "The Golden Age of the Sith", "The Fall of the Sith Empire", "Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon" and "The Saga of Nomi Sunrider".

Golden Age of the Sith and Fall of the Sith Empire are really two halves of one story and take place 5,000 BBY. They tell the story of two young hyperspace explorers who accidentally discover the Sith Empire when they arrive in the middle of a funeral procession on Korriban. The two are just the pawns that Naga Sadow (one of two Sith Lords fighting for rule of the Empire) needs to assert his dominance and expand the empire. What follows is political maneuvering among the Sith leading to the Great Hyperspace War that takes up most of the second story. The story here is really good and enjoyable. The art is very eighties/ninties, but works well. The only major thing to note is that while the omnibus collects these stories in chronological order, these two stories were published after the bulk of the series.

The Beast Wars of Onderon and The Saga of Nomi Sunrider were two stories the formed the original Tales of the Jedi miniseries. Both are designed to introduce two main players in the series going forward. As such, they're a bit heavy on the world-building and exposition (especially Beast Riders). The art is fine, and stories are good, however, there are better stories to come in this line. Of the two of these, I found myself liking Nomi Sunrider more.

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this while listening to the "Luke and Leia" theme on repeat. Superb artwork. Lots of magic. Very cool epic battle scenes with alien Triceratops/Elephants and Sith armies vs Jedi. The Knights of the Old Republic arc from 1993 is the real highlight. It has the best artwork of the three arcs. Very imaginative and bizarre designs. Great backstory for Onderon. I love the drawings of Iziz, the Nebulon Ranger, and the scene in which Ulic, Cay and Tott come charging into the wedding down the temple stairs riding Bomas with their lightsabers drawn. Amanoa was a cool spooky villain, I also loved the scene when the flying beast riders came bursting through the throne room window to rescue Galia. It's very dark and violent at times. Especially during the Saga of Nomi Sunrider. She has a somewhat sad story. Nomi Sunrider is a great character. I loved the parts with the pirates and Bogga the Hutt's gang. The Colossus Wasp was an awesome work of imagination and beautifully drawn. The vision of Ood Bnar's holocron which Thon showed to Nomi was another great highlight. Tales of the Jedi perfectly captures the epic feeling you want from the ancient history of the Jedi and the Sith.

[Kate Dostálová · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ocitáme se 5000 let před bitvou u Yanvinu, předtím než se Skywalker stal legendou útokem na Hvězdu smrti. Ještě předtím než bylo vůbec možné pohodlně cestovat hyperprostorem. V samotném začátku mezigalaktického cestování doprovázíme Jori a Gava, kteří hledají nové hyperprostorové cesty na místa, kde by se mohlo dařit obchodu. Zcela náhodou se dostanou do Sithského Impéria a ovlivní tím život v celé galaxii. Nevědomky přispějí k válce mezi Sithským Impériem a Republikou. Pak sledujeme příběh mladého Jedi Ulica Quel-Dromy, který se svými přáteli dostane úkol od svého mistra. Odletí spolu na vzdálenou planetu, kde není nic takové jako se na první pohled zdá. Navíc je zde přítomná Temná síla. Nakonec se seznámíme s Nomi Sunrider, která se má stát Jedi, ale ještě o tom neví a není zcela přesvědčená, že by Jedi být měla. Dojde ale k událostem, které změní její pohled.

Je zajímavé podívat se zpátky do minulosti na to, jak v minulosti žili a bojovali rytíři Jedi.

[MC · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Dark Horse Comics began releasing Omnibus editions of various Star Wars comics, they didn't stop at reissuing collections of the old '70's and '80's Marvel stories. Instead, they also began releasing their own previously published SW stories in these combined editions. The book I am reviewing here is one of these.

In Star Wars Omnibus: Tales of the Jedi, Volume 1, the ancient history of the "galaxy far, far away" is explored. This Omnibus edition is comprised of three individual, but interconnected, stories. Each graphic novel will briefly be reviewed and rated, and then a few closing remarks and rating for the whole work will be given.

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Star Wars: The Golden Age of the Sith

Approximately 5,000 years before the events of the original trilogy, two "hyperspace explorers" (think those who sought water-lanes to deliver goods in real-life for a somewhat analogous parallel) accidentally stumble upon the fabled Sith Empire. In the back-story of the Star Wars
Anyways, two young explorers who stole back their impounded ship to make one last run for glory, wind up in the clutches of a Sith Lord named Naga Sadow. Sadow, while pretending to be a friend, sends Jori Daragon to the Republic with a tracer on her ship, while also corrupting her brother, Gav, to gain his help in conquering the Republic. He does this by playing on the hardship and oppression that the siblings felt after their parents' deaths. Once in Republic space, a brief, but devastating war occurs, one in which Sadow almost conquers the Republic.

Of course, the Republic and Jedi win, largely through the assistance of Jori and a repentant Gav. The story was actually pretty good, if a bit brief and predictable. I would give this comic four stars for a rating.

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Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon

This story is straightforward and simple. A group of young Jedi Apprentices nearing Knighthood are sent on a diplomatic mission to the planet Onderon. In charge is Jedi Ulic, who leads an expedition team to attempt to make peace between the powerful city state there and the "uncivilized" beast-riders of the wilds that constantly attack the city. Ulic is perfectly willing to believe the queen's family is good, until he discovers that she is a Sith acolyte, and that she is repressing the people.

A battle ensues, in which the more powerful, but woefully inexperienced at command, Ulic and his team almost get themselves slaughtered. Ulic's master comes to turn the tide of battle, and Ulic and the Beast-Riders win.

Not the most impressive tale, and the action just seems way, way too quick. Nonetheless, it was a fun read. I give this graphic novel 3 1/2 stars for a rating.

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The Saga of Nomi Sunrider

In this third and final tale in the Omnibus, a young Jedi takes his wife and daughter with him to train under a legendary Jedi Master on a far-off planet. He is also carrying valuable gems that are useful in many applications, including use as focusing crystals for lightsabers. During the trip, a Huttese gangster murders the Jedi for his crystals. The only reason he doesn't get them, and also enslave the Jedi's wife and infant daughter, is because Nomi Sunrider (the wife) is also Force sensitive. In fact, she probably has greater raw talent in the Force than her husband did. She simply never wanted to learn, but preferred a quiet life. Nomi fights off the gangsters, and successfully delivers the crystals to Jedi Master Thonn, who agrees to train Nomi as a Jedi.

Nomi has some real issues with this, though. She is disgusted at how she killed the gangsters, because she hates killing, even though it was in self-defense. So she wants to never touch a lightsaber, or harm a person again. Unfortunately for Nomi, she is a woman of prophecy. She is destined to help the Jedi win a terrible war against the Sith. This prediction makes Nomi even more determined to escape her fate, and never touch a lightsaber again.

This won't last, however, as in the SW universe, prophecies come true whether we like it or not. She does eventually accept her destiny and take up her lightsaber.

Overall, a good story that is more of a personal tale of rising from adversity. The only part that troubles me is that Master Thonn seems to be manipulative and ruthless in forcing Nomi towards beginning proper training to the point that all of Obi-Wan's and Yoda's antics in the original movie trilogy seem quaint and straight-forward by comparison. Definitely a troubling character, and more of an anti-hero, really.

My rating for this final graphic novel is 5 stars.

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Conclusion

In general, I quite enjoyed this read. Where the storyline faltered, the art more than made up for it. The stories in this Omnibus also benefited from being so far before the movies that there was more freedom to explore galactic history, and it really showed in the imaginative scope of the plots. This would be an excellent place for someone to begin at if they wished to start reading the non-Marvel Star Wars comics.

[M Pereira · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was quite a long read to do in a single sitting. It was utterly enthralling. A series of barely connected stories telling deep personal narratives and only slightly doing worldbuilding, the balance is perfect for this star wars story that has a very small relationship with the star wars that is known from the films. I knew of these stories in the late 90s but never read these comics before. I feel like I've finally done something I've meant to do for a very very long time and it was exceptionally satisfying. Although 'legends' is no longer official star wars canon. I feel like these stories and the spirit of this lore will come back someday in the disney star wars.

[Pedro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es divertido leer algunas historias basadas en la Antigua República y sobre algunos personajes y Lords of the Sith que conocía gracias a los videojuegos KOTOR I y II. Sin embargo el ritmo es muy atropellado y los desenlaces son forzados. En parte, esa manera de contar las cosas puede funcionar porque le da un aire de "leyenda", pero en mi opinión desaprovecha la ventaja de ilustrar con detalle la historia antigua del universo expandido de Star Wars.

[Grace Poolman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a tough selection for me to read, that being I typically don't jump for science fiction comic books. However, I would recommend this for my students who would find this engaging. This story features a collection of the three subdivisions. It is slightly different than the original series. There are details that change throughout the book that is different than the original. There were no diverse characters beyond the fictional characters.

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is nothing short of epic. Naga Sadow, Nomi Sunrider and Ulic Qel-Droma all appear in these pages, characters that were like real legends to me as a child - especially since I was not able to get my hands on the comics until adulthood. Myths threading their way through the prose books until I finally found the source. The Tales of the Jedi comics were - still are - so iconic. They will always represent the Republic's ancient history to me, even now in the Disney era.

[Carrie Doss · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art-style of these comics feels so old fashioned to me, even though they were drawn in the 90s. I prefer later Star Wars comics, but this series was informative about the Sith wars and dark side uprisings. Not sure if I would read again, especially since the plot was often obvious or mediocre. Still, it’s a valuable read if readers want to learn more about Jedi history, training, and methodology.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Compared to the TotJ stories set later, it's kind of jarring that these prequel volumes take such a dramatically archaic style. What's really confusing is that it doesn't seem to be deployed in a logical or consistent way. Okay, some of the characters dress like ancient Egyptian queens because it's old-timey. But why do the poor debtors dress just as elaborately as the literal Empress? The Sith have Egyptian tomb architecture because this is ye olde times but what does it tell us about their society? It's frustratingly arbitrary and blunt, where good Star Wars designs take from place and history through a lens that renders them both ancient and timeless.

Narratively, it's quite as rushed and awkwardly squashed as the later volumes. The story of the Sith War on the Republic is over in the blink of an eye. And yet somehow they sew the events up so neatly that there's not really much room for later stories to fill in the cracks. Very uncomfortable plotting IMO. The minor improvement here is that Gav and Jori are semi-relatable protagonists with human emotions and comprehensible motivations. Their situation has tangible stakes and peril and perspectve in a way that nothing else in TotJ bothers to attempt. I felt this most when Jori's warning about the Sith was falling on deaf ears, since apparently I'm hypersensitive to that sort of injustice in fiction, but the whole works more or less the way fiction is supposed to work. It's not good fiction per se, especially when they get smashed into over-the-top arcs in the second volume that could have been good if they had ten volumes to develop, but it's recognizable as fiction.

July 17-21 2011 4 stars [This review will represent, as one book, all of the Tales of the Jedi miniseries.]

Kevin Anderson has the honor, dubious earned, of having written the chronologically earliest tales in the Star Wars Universe: The Golden Age of the Sith and the Fall of the Sith Empire. I'd known the plot and characters and even the ship designs I'd see in these stories for years, since reading the Essential Chronology. It was interesting to see them actually pulled off. The first problem was that reading the comics was little different from reading a summary of them. The characters aren't fleshed out much (for the Daragons) or at all (anyone else), and the plot moves along much more quickly and choppily than in ought to. To be fair, this is probably one of the better products of KJA's hand I've come across. But that is an insult in most contexts. I was surprised to find the art as unenjoyable as the writing - theoretically KJA couldn't bring down the quality of art drawn by whoever he's working with. The aesthetic is strange, un-Star Wars-like (a combination of cyber-Egypt/Rome and some kind of fishy/insectoid ship designs). The Sith look insipid and unappealing. Everything is cluttered and busy. Odan-Urr just looks ugly - and I'm sure that's not his fault!

Tom Veitch's next two entries in the TotJ series benefit significantly from their lack of KJA. However, they still ultimately fail to please, to be what they ought to be. They attempt to tell the story of great, epic wars between the Jedi and the Sith, in the span of a few comics. The really good stories know that characters have to come first, and that you can't cram too much history into your medium. Great wars are best used as a setting for individual tales - like ANH, like the Clone Wars, like KOTOR (the game and the comics), and like Legacy all do. The media around the Galactic Civil War exemplify it best. By attempting to fit stories the size of the GCW into 5 issues of a comic, the creators end up unable to explore the character of the GFFA at the time, unable to provide some meaningful, interesting context for the conflict and the characters (this background is what makes Star Wars). By making their characters avatars of much larger forces, they trivialize the conflicts and hinder the characters' own development.

Dark Lords of the Sith, while it took on KJA as an author, was an improvement over all its predecessors. Getting to see some actual Sith Alchemy at work is pretty sweet. Satal and Aleema's gruesome, depraved personalities are pretty fascinating. It's also interesting to get some sense of what the Jedi Order was like in those days: the Masters sort of sit around and train and the young kids (sometimes) seek permission to go out and do stuff. It doesn't seem so hierarchical. Seeing how powerful Sith spirits are meant to be is interesting, as well. It makes the plot of Jedi Academy seem a bit less stupid, and same for the rumor that the Sith ghosts might be actively opposing the Sith Empire in the time of TOR for some reason. Exar Kun's character is a joke - he was clearly written to fall to the dark side, and he is a terrible person from the very first time we see him, making racist slurs against his fellow padawans. The first thing he does after leaving Master Baas is to seek the Sith teachings. Predictably, he falls to the dark side immediately, with little hesitation. Ulic's fall to the dark side is more interesting. He is clearly starting for a position of genuine goodwill, but, like Anakin Skywalker, he is arrogant, and believes himself capable of walking the dark side path without embracing it in his heart.

[Insert name here · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a fair number of Star Wars graphic novels, and most of them I really bounced off of--I think a lot of the Star Wars extended universe is very mediocre. This is one of the better ones, and has held up to re-readings. I mean, it's no Grant Morrison or Warren Ellis, but that's not fair to the aims of these stories. It's fun and imaginative, and sometimes that's all I want.

[江 丹卯 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wore out the tape listening to the radio-play as a child, and always had the names of the wonderful characters in my heart. Reading the comics was a joyful trip down memory lane.

The reading level and themes are appropriate for ages and genders above seven or so (with an eye towards the mature themes of good, evil, war, fraud, megalomania, sacrifice).

[Richie Arvidson]

Back to basics, some of the earliest stories chronologically in the Star Wars (legends) canon. Published in the 90’s, pre-prequel. Universe has an Age of Exploration feel, ships have sail-looking things, Sith aesthetic based on Egyptian. Separate stories that later weave together, ancient jedi, classic fall, and possibly the very first star-war! Fun adventures, great ending. (includes Omnibus 2)