Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy: A Graphic Novel

Star Wars Disney Canon Graphic Novel

by Alessandro Ferrari

Relive the beginnings of the ultimate tale of good versus evil! Join Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padme Amidala, Yoda, Darth Maul, and the rest of the heroes and villains from the Star Wars universe in this graphic novel collection that retells the prequel trilogy: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. Experience the saga as you never have before!

Genres: Star Wars, Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy

208 pages, Hardcover

First published April 4, 2017

About the author

Alessandro Ferrari, nato nel 1978, è sceneggiatore di fumetti, sceneggiatore di cartoni animati e autore. La sua carriera di sceneggiatore è iniziata nel 2005 durante un corso presso l’Accademia Disney di Milano.
Ha iniziato a scrivere fin da piccolissimo, storie e fumetti, al termine del Liceo ha poi deciso che quello sarebbe stato il suo mestiere.

Alessandro Q. Ferrari è stato ospite al festival Mare di Libri nelle edizioni del 2010 e 2018.

Reviews

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

Nice to have a comic adaptation of the first three films in the Star Wars saga. Very good. Don't know why people don't like Jar Jar Binks very much.

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

[Neil R. Coulter · Rating 1 out of 5]

As my wife said: "I don't know why you do this to yourself."

[Sophie_The_Jedi_Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.75

Okay, this one I significantly enjoyed more than the adaptation of the original trilogy.

I'm pretty sure I know why - I've seen the original SW trilogy many, many times, but I've only seen the prequel trilogy twice. So I wasn't nitpicking this book as much as I was the original trilogy one - since I don't remember each and every scene as well as I do with the original movies, I wasn't taken out of the story every time I noticed a missing line.

(Side note, though: They should've kept "This is where the fun begins" and "Don't try it, Anakin." They kept most of the good ones, but those two are fantastic.)

I don't know exactly why, but I found myself preferring the artwork in this book to the OT. It's still weird at parts - I have no idea what was going on with Qui-Gon's design, and Anakin's look in AotC was weird, but, overall, I didn't dislike this artwork as much as I did with the OT. Anakin's design really worked in RotS, and the aliens and backgrounds throughout this were all very well done.

I really enjoy the storyline of the prequels, and since I haven't watched them as much as the other SW movies, I was actually able to really sink into the plot. However, there was one large flaw - this book didn't have Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor. I know, I know, but still.

As much as I enjoyed diving into the prequels, part of me was still thinking about the movies. This book actually works well as a 200-page summary of the trilogy, and it didn't feel unreadable for people who haven't watched the movies before. It was honestly kind of fun to read this - to go back and experience the movies in under an hour. Part of me did still wish I was watching the movies instead, but this book actually does a pretty good job of summarizing them.

Looking back on the OT, I'm wondering if I was too harsh on it. I didn't love the artwork, and it did cut out all of my favorite lines, but - humblebrag here - maybe I do know the original trilogy too well. I can't deny that a significant part of my enjoyment of this book was from the fact that I don't know the prequels that thoroughly.

Maybe, for people who have seen the prequels more times than I have, this would rub them the same way as the OT book did for me. But, at this point, I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Now I just need to convince my family to have another 10-movie 3-day binger this summer. 3.75/5 stars.

[Cress · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pacing of this was nuts, no time to rest or dwell on anything, but I guess that's what happens when you cram three movies into 214 pages. The art style wasn't my personal favorite but I did really like the way the backgrounds and scenes were drawn. It's a fine adaptation, but I think it could have been done better.

[Riley R · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Samuel Aitkenhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Master Yoda you survived 🤯

[Markku Kesti · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uh. Kolme pitkää elokuvaa tiivistettynä noin 200 sivuun sarjakuvaa. Mitään ei ole saatu lisättyä, elokuvien tarinan ohi ei tarjota mitään, mutta leikattu on valtavasti. Valitettavasti ei kuitenkaan Jar Jar Binksiä. Vaikka elokuvat on nähnyt, juonesta ei tahdo tajuta mitään kun on pitänyt leikata niin paljon pois. Piirrostyyli on kankeaa ja osaa hahmoista ei tahdo tunnistaa. Ja tämä on kuitenkinjulkaistu kovissa kansissa ja suomeksi? No, kai fanikunta on valmis ostamaan mitä tahansa, mitä ikoninen logo koristaa, mutta jos olette koskaan tykänneet Tähtien sodasta, kirjoista, elokuvista tai sarjakuvista tai hyvin kerroituista tarinoista, Tämä EI ole teitä varten. Pistän listalle vuoden paskimmat lukukokemukset ja kiroan kohtaloa jonka takia tämä piti Luke-a (Har har).

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I blame the source material, but this was thoroughly meh...no character development, and it jumped disjointedly from plot point to plot point - basically just illustrating the key scenes from the movies.

On the plus side, reading this was still better than watching the prequels...

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Minus the acting the prequels are a decent set of stories. Kind of bummed they kept some of the script though. Your favorite "I hate sand" bit is here, for example. Otherwise decent.

[lei ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ · Rating 3 out of 5]

i love star wars, but this was waaaaaaay too fast paced. 3 movies in 200 pages was a little wild.

[Jedi Master Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh it was okay. I feel like they skipped over some important things left out some of the best parts and dialogue. And while fight scenes are a big part of the movies, I felt like there were too many of them depicted in great length, when just a few less frames would have worked fine. I mean, I know it's not gonna be exactly like the movie but still, it could have been better.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't too bad of a read. The problem was it followed the quotes from the film to a letter but it skipped over the most important battle and speaking scenes. I don't really understand why they spent time on insignificant scenes but skipped over others.
It is an interesting read though; the graphics were very well-drawn, especially the characters.

[Jacquie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a huge fan of the art in this graphic novel and it’s a super fun compilation of all 3 of the prequel movies! I highly recommend this if you love Star Wars and need something different in your reading routine.

[Maciej · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy: A Graphic Novel" autorstwa Alessandro Ferrariego to komiksowa adaptacja prequelowej trylogii Gwiezdnych Wojen, obejmująca filmy "Mroczne widmo", "Atak klonów" i "Zemsta Sithów". Ta powieść graficzna pozwala nam ponownie przeżyć początki epickiej sagi o walce dobra ze złem, towarzysząc takim postaciom jak Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala, Yoda czy Darth Maul.

Adaptacja stanowi zwięzłe podsumowanie trzech filmów w zaledwie 208 stronach, co niestety skutkuje pominięciem niektórych ważnych momentów i kultowych kwestii.

Pod względem graficznym powieść prezentuje się znośnie. Tła są szczegółowe i dopracowane, a styl rysunku łączy realizm z kreskówkową estetyką rodem z animacji Disney’a. Niemniej jednak, niektóre postacie zostały przedstawione w sposób nieco dziwny – szczególnie Qui-Gon Jinn czy Anakin w "Ataku klonów". Z drugiej strony, Anakin w "Zemście Sithów" został narysowany bardzo przekonująco, a krajobrazy i tła są naprawdę imponujące.

Narracja jest dynamiczna, ale momentami zbyt skokowa. Częste przeskoki między scenami, czasem nawet kilkukrotne na jednej stronie, mogą wprowadzać pewien chaos i utrudniać płynne śledzenie fabuły. Mimo to, dla kogoś, kto chce szybko odświeżyć sobie wydarzenia z prequeli, jest to całkiem wygodne rozwiązanie.

Chociaż książka nie wnosi nic nowego do uniwersum Gwiezdnych Wojen i nie zastąpi pełnego doświadczenia filmowego, to jednak stanowi przyjemną lekturę dla fanów serii. Szczególnie dla tych, którzy cenią sobie graficzne adaptacje i chcą przeżyć sagę w nieco inny sposób.

Podsumowując, "Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy: A Graphic Novel" to znośna, skrótowa adaptacja, która może spodobać się zarówno młodszym, jak i starszym fanom Gwiezdnych Wojen.

Przyjemność 3,6/5
Styl: 3,2/5
Historia: 3/5

Ocena: 3,28/5
goodreads - 3/5
thestorygraph - 3,25/5
lubimyczytac - 6/10

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick Review. Actual rating: 3.5 / 5.

These short adaptations are fun, but often pointless. Seeing a story you've seen over and over, but in a different format.

Whilst the art is not my favourite, I feel as though it works here. This has a bright design, brilliant background art, decent character art and a standard panel layout, which all makes for an easily digestible 20 minute read. I really don't know what to say on this story wise, it's exactly the same as the other adaptations where it's the original story, in the form of spark-notes (Or dot point form), but doesn't add anything we haven't seen before, much like the Original Trilogy Graphic Novel (which was okay) or the Thrawn Trilogy Graphic Novel (which wasn't very good) and unlike the Rogue One Comic Adaptation (which adapts parts from the novel not seen in the film).

I love the era of the prequels and The Clone Wars, and whilst I may not love The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, I still feel like I'd rather watch the Prequel Trilogy rather than read this short version, because if I want the experience, I want the whole experience.

It's fun. It's easy. It's neat. But it's nothing super important.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

So the big question, does this add anything to Star Wars as a whole? Honestly, not really. Did it need to be made? Again no, but I'm very glad it was. What you see is what you get, you are getting a summary of all three prequel movies in only 208 pages. Seeing as they add up to around 7 hours, it's impossible to fit everything into this. This book is not going to be taking its time and chances are some of your favorite moments were cut out. I wish it could have been longer but I still really enjoyed it for what it was. The art style is what drew me in, it's just such a fun and appealing style that is the perfect combination of realistic and cartoon-like. I had picked up the Original trilogy graphic novel years ago in Disney World when I first discovered Star Wars books were a thing and loved it. It was lots of fun finally getting this one too. I'd recommend this for any Star Wars fan who finds the style appealing and likes the idea of getting a quick summary of the prequels - chances are then that you'd have a good time. Not sure how well this would stand on its own for people who never watched the movies but most kids would probably find it fun regardless.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finally finished this. Don't really know why it took me so long.
This graphic novel will be useful for refreshing your memories of prequel without having to re-watch them, because this is exactly what happens in movies, short scene after short scene.
What bothered me: art style - while background looked great, I didn't like the way some of the characters where drawn;
and also, wasn't a big fan of the jumpy way the story was told. On one hand, it helps the narrative to move faster (but it didn't help me to finish it faster :/), but that constant switch between scenes, sometimes 3 times on one page, was too much in places.
What I liked: the fullness of it, you really just have to read this to refresh your memories of the events happening in prequels. And I needed a little reminder before I continue reading other canon comics.
Overall, not bad, but you probably won't find anything new here, if you're a fan.

[holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I will love Star Wars until the day I die, and I really loved the style of the illustrations, but upon turning the final page I was left with a feeling of wishing there had been...something more.

It’s a pretty faithful adaptation, overall. Obviously some bits and pieces had to be cut/shortened in the transition from screen to page, but it’s still sad to see some of my favourite lines missing, or iconic scenes stripped down to a panel or two when others get a full spread (and frankly, they didn’t need it). Unfortunately the location jumps that work so cheekily well in the movies just don’t function as smoothly on in this medium.

All in all, it’s basically a condensed highlights reel of the prequel trilogy. But that said, I’ll still buy it at some point for my personal library because that’s what I do when I love illustrations (and I really loved the size of the book).

[Michael Kikle · Rating 2 out of 5]

As absolutely beautiful as the art is, this "graphic novel" isn't very novelistic. As a matter of fact, many scenes are chopped-up so horrendously that it might be near impossible to figure-out exactly what's going-on. That's why I'd say this is better as a gift for major fans of the prequel films, and certainly not for a newcomer.

But, seriously, the space scenes for Phantom Menace are amazing.

I'm also kind of shocked by how the adapters decided to show violence much more directly. People lose limbs and heads in a nice shot that we never really got in the movies.

Most of those interesting choices and executions are killed, though, by how fast everything is. Everything feels too rushed, due to the chops dealt.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/3, but rounding up to 3 for generosity. I was *really* disappointed in this. I really like the prequels, particularly Episode I, and was hoping to see this take the foundation of those movies and somehow improve on them. Instead, we got some mediocre art design, and lines of dialogue that are all ripped straight from the films. And given that the dialogue isn't always great to begin with, it makes some of the scenes feel rushed since you can't include all of the lines or context. The stories for Episode II and III were especially harmed by this, since that dialogue is probably the worst of the bunch. I would have rather seen a reinterpretation of the movies. Otherwise, this feels just like some fan comic.

[AK 김 승 주 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was awesome! It retells the entire Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. It misses some important parts, but I guess it's just because that would make the book to long. Even that cannot lower this book's rating! These books are great, but you have to watch the movies first otherwise you'll get confused on whether the movie or the books are the more accurate ones (the books are accurate, they just miss some parts of the movies, and they also shorten battle sequences, such as the Duel on Mustafar). This book is great for anyone who likes Star Wars or graphic novels. But watch the movies first. The Original Trilogy is also good, and I can't wait for the Sequel Trilogy to come out!

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The prequel trilogy is best remembered today as a fountain of memes and quotes that happened to have an overly-ambitious story linking them together, hampered by bad acting and Lucas’s refusal to let a script doctor work with his baby as he had in the Original Trilogy era (no Carrie Fisher, no realistic dialogue). Luckily, the bones of the story are still very solid. This graphic novel distillation fares better than the Original Trilogy graphic novel did, because these movies benefit more from being pared down to the raw essentials than the less plot-dense but overall more action-packed OT did.

[Audra · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 stars for the artwork. Zero stars for the adaptation. So, 2.5 .... rounded up. This style worked for the Episode IV, V, VI trilogy because the plot and cast of characters wasn't as complex as this trilogy. The story was so abbreviated that if you didn't already know who everybody was and what they were doing, it would be a bunch of nice pictures depicting confusing scenes and characters who you didn't know. And when you don't know characters, it's hard to care about the story. Even if you are a fan, and know the story, this compilation isn't very enjoyable because it feels like a quick summary thrown together. And, while the artwork is good, it's not enough to make this worthwhile.

[Briana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gotta say, the commitment to making sure these characters look like their movie counterparts was next level.


But that's not really important right now. Can we talk about the story? Can we talk about it's impact on modern cinema because, come on?!

The vet fact that time and time again this franchise is quoted or referenced, the way it's praised or even just kept so impossibly high up on the shelf of fantasy even after all these years is crazy. It's fuckin insane! Can't say I'm mad about that though, I mean real talk, this shit is legit!

Talk about a success story man.

This is a graphic novel bind up of the prequel series (my personal favorite) and it does not disappoint!

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Much like the take on the Original Trilogy, this collection has goofy cartoon artwork that's way too simplistic. The dialogue is exactly from the movies, copy and pasted. The chunks of the story that were skipped left for an even clunkier story. The more exciting aspects such as the light saber duels were reduced to only 2-3 panels that the childish artwork didn't do it any justice. I still think this and the predecessor are best skipped; however this might be a nice way to introduce kids to Star Wars and to comics in general.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this graphic novel adaptation does a fine job of capturing the essence of the prequel trilogy in a family-friendly comic form. All of the key moments and lines of dialog you remember from the films are there. I'm personally not a fan of the character art though, and didn't feel like it really represented the characters all that accurately. Anakin and Padme in particular seemed rather off.

If you're already a fan of Star Wars and of comics, you could do worse than picking this up, but it's not anything special.

[James McIntosh Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic novel is an adaption of the prequel movies: Episodes I -III. I do not like the art style as it makes the characters look very bizarre. Also, it is abridged and the significant exciting scenes are very abrupt.

That being said, it is still a fairly interesting read, especially with the family. It also helps highlight some of the progressions and elements of the story and characters. There were even a few things I noticed that I had forgotten or never even noticed before.

[M.L.D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many scenes cut, which helps with the (dreadful) pacing of the Prequel movies, but alas, this is a faithful adaptation otherwise, keeping all of the story faults and problems. As with the Original Trilogy adaptation, much of the romantic scenes are cut--which might have been OK with Han & Leia's stories in Ep. 4-6, but a big piece of the story in the prequels is the forbidden romance. So, what was already a bewildering romance in the movies becomes even more unfathomable in this adaptation.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Three and a half stars.
This such a fun little graphic novel. Obviously the first three prequels aren’t as good as the original trilogy. The movies at least anyway. This graphic novel was short but I enjoyed the illustrations and how the story was represented. They do a good job picking and choosing the important moments to use in the book. I don’t know what more I can say about this. It was basically what I expected when I borrowed it.

[Reyne Derrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This comic vastly improves on the films. It is something I could not say for its predecessor. Removing much of the jar-jar stuff, and condensing the story and action, focusing only on the story and dialogue really make me reconsider the prequel trilogy. Now I don’t think they are necessarily worth watching in full, but I could almost recommend someone read the first two sections of this story and then watch episode 3 to get the most out of the prequels.