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Star Wars Legends Epic Collection #10
Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: Rise of the Sith, Vol. 2
An Empire on the rise - a Rebellion on the horizon! The conflict that will grip the galaxy for generations begins here, with an adaptation of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace and tales starring its major players! Anakin Skywalker is a young boy with a dark destiny! Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi has much to learn from his master, Qui-Gon Jinn! Teenage Queen Amidala faces exile! And Sith Lord Darth Maul must strike down the biggest obstacle in his Master's way! Plus: Mace Windu, Yoda, Jar Jar Binks and more!
COLLECTING: STAR WARS (1998) 0-3; STAR WARS: DARTH MAUL 1-4; STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE 1/2, 1-4; STAR WARS: EPISODE I - ANAKIN SKYWALKER, QUEEN AMIDALA, QUI-GON JINN, OBI-WAN KENOBI; MATERIAL FROM STAR WARS (1998) 4-6; STAR WARS TALES 3, 5, 7, 14, 20
COLLECTING: STAR WARS (1998) 0-3; STAR WARS: DARTH MAUL 1-4; STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE 1/2, 1-4; STAR WARS: EPISODE I - ANAKIN SKYWALKER, QUEEN AMIDALA, QUI-GON JINN, OBI-WAN KENOBI; MATERIAL FROM STAR WARS (1998) 4-6; STAR WARS TALES 3, 5, 7, 14, 20
496 pages, Paperback
First published November 14, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 20, 2020
As usual for a comic book omnibus, this collection features great artwork. What sets this apart from similar volumes is the cleaner content: little to no profanity, zero sexual dialogue, no blood or gore, etc.
However, these comics still falter a bit. Mostly, it's because they tend to focus on my least favorite characters from The Phantom Menace, such as Padmé, Jar Jar, and kid Anakin. Since I've been a fan of the franchise, I've been fascinated by Qui-Gon; I wish more of these stories had focused on him. Also, the adaptation of Episode I felt like a mere cash grab.
However, these comics still falter a bit. Mostly, it's because they tend to focus on my least favorite characters from The Phantom Menace, such as Padmé, Jar Jar, and kid Anakin. Since I've been a fan of the franchise, I've been fascinated by Qui-Gon; I wish more of these stories had focused on him. Also, the adaptation of Episode I felt like a mere cash grab.
September 12, 2020
Another collection of Star Wars stories set in the early Prequel era, and including the graphic novelisation of The Phantom Menace. I happen to really like the movie (it is my fourth favourite Star Wars film after The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars, and Rogue One), so the loyal adaptation was absolutely no chore for me to read.
The first story, starring Ki-Adi Mundi, was a curious detective-cum-knight-errant story, but I found the character designs a little off putting. The Cerean women in particular were portrayed visually rather like a combination of the Coneheads and Disney’s Tinkerbell—disconcerting!
The best part of the collection was the Darth Maul story, where his master sent him to sow chaos and disarray among the Black Sun organised crime syndicate. It seems as if Maul has been involved in the galactic underworld throughout all his incarnations.
Recommended to Prequel-era Star Wars fans.
The first story, starring Ki-Adi Mundi, was a curious detective-cum-knight-errant story, but I found the character designs a little off putting. The Cerean women in particular were portrayed visually rather like a combination of the Coneheads and Disney’s Tinkerbell—disconcerting!
The best part of the collection was the Darth Maul story, where his master sent him to sow chaos and disarray among the Black Sun organised crime syndicate. It seems as if Maul has been involved in the galactic underworld throughout all his incarnations.
Recommended to Prequel-era Star Wars fans.
December 11, 2018
The Star Wars Epic Collection line continues with RISE OF THE SITH Volume 2. It collects three graphic novels and five short comics from the Star Wars Tales comics. All these stories take place with a few years before Episode 1: THE PHANTOM MENACE.
"George R Binks" is the most bizarre Tale of this bunch and maybe the most bizarre Tale in the series. It tells the story of a young Jar Jar Binks shipwrecking himself and his parents during a whaling expedition. I won't spoil it, but it's really, really dark and once you read it, you'll be hard pressed to look at Jar Jar the same way again.
"Urchins" finds a young Anakin and his friends discovering a lightsaber in Watto's shop and inadvertently rigging a Podrace with it. The artwork in it is good and it's a fun little story about dark time in a dark character's life.
"Summer's Dream" tells the story of a young man who falls for Princess Amidala and has a summer romance with her in the days before she became Queen of Naboo. Kind of a sad little Tale actually, but provides a more deeper take on Padme's character than the prequel trilogy ever did.
"Single Cell" remains kind of as I'm not sure how important it really is to this collection. It features Nym, a pirate selling weapons to a bounty hunter, Vana, who then turns on him and turns him into the trade federation. Nym and Vana feature prominently in the Starfighter game series and in short miniseries that ties into the games, but never in the movies or even comics that take place during the Clone Wars era.
The first six issues of the STAR WARS (1998) comic series (later called REPUBLIC) make up the story arc "Prelude to Rebellion". The story is about Jedi Knight Ki-Adi-Mundi dealing with the potential of technology being implemented on his otherwise nature based homeworld. His daughter joins a gang of rebellious youngsters who are eager to have technology brought to the peaceful world and soon he finds himself having to rescue her when she gets in over her head. It's a good introduction to this particular comic series and really helps bring to light some of the underlying issues in the Republic that set off the events of Episode 1. I wish there had been more of these kinds of stories in the prequel movies instead of just implying what happened through endless political arguments. A highlight of this collection.
DARTH MAUL is a four issue miniseries about the infamous Sith that takes place shortly before the events of Episode 1. Darth Sidious wants Maul to take on the criminal organization Black Sun, as they pose a threat to his nefarious plans to control the Senate and start the Empire. Maul then spends four issues slaughtering his way through this organization. This miniseries is pure fan service really, there's no deep revelations about Darth Maul here or a complex storyline, it's just a basic action oriented plot. It's awesome and a lot of fun, my favorite in this collection.
"The Death of Captain Tarpals" is a Tale about Jar Jar Binks getting exiled from his hometown. It sets up the scenario where Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan find him in Episode 1. Yet another oddly tragic, kind of disturbing Jar Jar story. I am fully on board with these kind of stories.
This collection concludes with EPISODE 1 ADVENTURES, a collection of one-shot comics related to the four main heroes of THE PHANTOM MENACE. Anakin's story is probably the best of the bunch because it's the one that takes the least amount of disbelief to fit into the actual movie. It seems like a deleted scene or something, whereas Amidala's and Qui-Gon's are just kind of far fetched "this is what happened between scenes" moments. Amidala's story is okay, but it's borderline unreadable with the presence of Jar-Jar Binks as I find the way his dialogue is written to be nauseating. Qui-Gon's is a way to show how badass he is, I guess, but it really just shows terrible of a Jedi he is (in one scene he says 'violence has terrible consequences' and then next scene and rest of the scenes after it have him being violent without consequence). Obi-Wan's story is literally a rehash of the entire movie, no exaggeration. I don't like these comics because they could have been a lot more creative and interesting. I would have liked for them to be about things we didn't see that took place directly before the movie, but they went another, more boring route here.
So, RISE OF THE SITH volume two has the same flaws as it's predecessor, namely that it has only about a quarter of it's content dedicated to an actual Sith lord. It's an okay collection though, better than the first volume, but the EPISODE 1 ADVENTURES were a big part of this collection and were a big let down.
"George R Binks" is the most bizarre Tale of this bunch and maybe the most bizarre Tale in the series. It tells the story of a young Jar Jar Binks shipwrecking himself and his parents during a whaling expedition. I won't spoil it, but it's really, really dark and once you read it, you'll be hard pressed to look at Jar Jar the same way again.
"Urchins" finds a young Anakin and his friends discovering a lightsaber in Watto's shop and inadvertently rigging a Podrace with it. The artwork in it is good and it's a fun little story about dark time in a dark character's life.
"Summer's Dream" tells the story of a young man who falls for Princess Amidala and has a summer romance with her in the days before she became Queen of Naboo. Kind of a sad little Tale actually, but provides a more deeper take on Padme's character than the prequel trilogy ever did.
"Single Cell" remains kind of as I'm not sure how important it really is to this collection. It features Nym, a pirate selling weapons to a bounty hunter, Vana, who then turns on him and turns him into the trade federation. Nym and Vana feature prominently in the Starfighter game series and in short miniseries that ties into the games, but never in the movies or even comics that take place during the Clone Wars era.
The first six issues of the STAR WARS (1998) comic series (later called REPUBLIC) make up the story arc "Prelude to Rebellion". The story is about Jedi Knight Ki-Adi-Mundi dealing with the potential of technology being implemented on his otherwise nature based homeworld. His daughter joins a gang of rebellious youngsters who are eager to have technology brought to the peaceful world and soon he finds himself having to rescue her when she gets in over her head. It's a good introduction to this particular comic series and really helps bring to light some of the underlying issues in the Republic that set off the events of Episode 1. I wish there had been more of these kinds of stories in the prequel movies instead of just implying what happened through endless political arguments. A highlight of this collection.
DARTH MAUL is a four issue miniseries about the infamous Sith that takes place shortly before the events of Episode 1. Darth Sidious wants Maul to take on the criminal organization Black Sun, as they pose a threat to his nefarious plans to control the Senate and start the Empire. Maul then spends four issues slaughtering his way through this organization. This miniseries is pure fan service really, there's no deep revelations about Darth Maul here or a complex storyline, it's just a basic action oriented plot. It's awesome and a lot of fun, my favorite in this collection.
"The Death of Captain Tarpals" is a Tale about Jar Jar Binks getting exiled from his hometown. It sets up the scenario where Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan find him in Episode 1. Yet another oddly tragic, kind of disturbing Jar Jar story. I am fully on board with these kind of stories.
This collection concludes with EPISODE 1 ADVENTURES, a collection of one-shot comics related to the four main heroes of THE PHANTOM MENACE. Anakin's story is probably the best of the bunch because it's the one that takes the least amount of disbelief to fit into the actual movie. It seems like a deleted scene or something, whereas Amidala's and Qui-Gon's are just kind of far fetched "this is what happened between scenes" moments. Amidala's story is okay, but it's borderline unreadable with the presence of Jar-Jar Binks as I find the way his dialogue is written to be nauseating. Qui-Gon's is a way to show how badass he is, I guess, but it really just shows terrible of a Jedi he is (in one scene he says 'violence has terrible consequences' and then next scene and rest of the scenes after it have him being violent without consequence). Obi-Wan's story is literally a rehash of the entire movie, no exaggeration. I don't like these comics because they could have been a lot more creative and interesting. I would have liked for them to be about things we didn't see that took place directly before the movie, but they went another, more boring route here.
So, RISE OF THE SITH volume two has the same flaws as it's predecessor, namely that it has only about a quarter of it's content dedicated to an actual Sith lord. It's an okay collection though, better than the first volume, but the EPISODE 1 ADVENTURES were a big part of this collection and were a big let down.
February 14, 2019
Just scrapes a third star because the Darth Maul comic that fronts the volume is really very good. Otherwise this collection of comics from around the time of The Phantom Menace’s release are very underwhelming.
The opening Ki-Adi-Mundi story seems to be a Star Trek plot with the license plates changed, although it at least brings something new to the narrative. Much of the book is given over to endless retellings of the plot of Episode I, none of which articulate the potential of that story any better than the film.
One for completists only.
The opening Ki-Adi-Mundi story seems to be a Star Trek plot with the license plates changed, although it at least brings something new to the narrative. Much of the book is given over to endless retellings of the plot of Episode I, none of which articulate the potential of that story any better than the film.
One for completists only.
July 20, 2025
I enjoyed this collection, half of which I had read before in my Episode I trade paperback comic.
Episode I: The Phantom Menace is one of my Top 3 Star Wars films, so I love reading adaptations of it. I love seeing new scenes and reading different perspectives of the same events. It's nice to see the old spacer taking an interest in Anakin, encouraging him, and telling Anakin stories about his travels. I can definitely see Watto hiring thugs to prevent Qui-Gon from taking Anakin. I like that the comics depict the deleted scene of Anakin's brawl with Greedo, who I originally thought was meant to be A New Hope's Greedo's father. I like Padme and Jar Jar having an adventure right before the start of the podrace. I also enjoy seeing Obi-Wan's perspective as he recounts events to Master Yoda before Jedi Master makes him a Jedi Knight.
As for the stories that I haven't read before, I thoroughly enjoyed the Prelude to Rebellion arc from the 1998 Star Wars/Star Wars: Republic comics. It was a great way to learn more about Ki-Adi-Mundi. Somehow, I do remember reading "A Summer's Dream", despite never owning the Star Wars Tales issue or any of the other trade paperbacks that included this story. It's nice to see a pre-Anakin love story for Padme, even if it didn't end well. I loved the Darth Maul comics where he takes down Black Sun.
Episode I: The Phantom Menace is one of my Top 3 Star Wars films, so I love reading adaptations of it. I love seeing new scenes and reading different perspectives of the same events. It's nice to see the old spacer taking an interest in Anakin, encouraging him, and telling Anakin stories about his travels. I can definitely see Watto hiring thugs to prevent Qui-Gon from taking Anakin. I like that the comics depict the deleted scene of Anakin's brawl with Greedo, who I originally thought was meant to be A New Hope's Greedo's father. I like Padme and Jar Jar having an adventure right before the start of the podrace. I also enjoy seeing Obi-Wan's perspective as he recounts events to Master Yoda before Jedi Master makes him a Jedi Knight.
As for the stories that I haven't read before, I thoroughly enjoyed the Prelude to Rebellion arc from the 1998 Star Wars/Star Wars: Republic comics. It was a great way to learn more about Ki-Adi-Mundi. Somehow, I do remember reading "A Summer's Dream", despite never owning the Star Wars Tales issue or any of the other trade paperbacks that included this story. It's nice to see a pre-Anakin love story for Padme, even if it didn't end well. I loved the Darth Maul comics where he takes down Black Sun.
June 9, 2024
A solid collections of issues. I really like the way Marvel does these Epic Collections. I don't think this one was as good as the first volume of Rise of the Sith. The standouts in this one were the series about Ki-Adi Mundi and the one with Darth Maul. The "George R. Binks" issue was hilarious, even though it was for humor and not actually canon. I was a vit disappointed in the Phantom Menace adaptation, as it didn't add anything to the story, though I guess that ended up being satisfied by the character one-shots. I think fans of The Phantom Menace in particular will like this collection.
July 30, 2023
Set in 32BBY
Some of the stories here are good, some are great, some are mediocre and some are mundane. But overall I liked most of them, and the artwork was mostly pretty solid.
Recommended for fans, but if you're not already a Star Wars fun this wouldn't be the first thing that I'd give you to read.
Some of the stories here are good, some are great, some are mediocre and some are mundane. But overall I liked most of them, and the artwork was mostly pretty solid.
Recommended for fans, but if you're not already a Star Wars fun this wouldn't be the first thing that I'd give you to read.
January 4, 2019
I enjoyed the first two stories especially the Darth Maul story. Then after that is just a bunch of retelling the events of Phantom Menace from different perspectives. They even throw in the movie adaptation which makes for a redundant read when you go right threw it.
November 30, 2020
So Darth Maul is terrifying but pitiable, and I guess Jar Jar needed another misadventure.
I'll never not find it funny that Ki-Adi-Mundi is a Jedi on the High Council...who has a small harem of wives.
I'll never not find it funny that Ki-Adi-Mundi is a Jedi on the High Council...who has a small harem of wives.
April 24, 2024
If you love the Phantom Menace, this is the set for you. About half of the collection is dedicated to retelling or alternate takes on the first episode, mostly very standard adaptation. The highlight is the Darth Maul miniseries.
January 27, 2020
Kind of a mixed bag. The opening Ki Adi Mundi/Ephant Mon story is insane.
June 16, 2020
This volume of rise of the sith pretty much covers what happens in the Phantom Menace Episode one of the star Wars tri trilogy
September 9, 2021
Mostly consists of different takes of the events of episode 1
September 7, 2025
Good compilation of stories.
October 10, 2022
Didn't enjoy this one as much as the first collection (and getting a hold of this through interlibrary a loan was DIFFICULT I tell you! D:) but I still enjoyed the various stories here (I had already read and enjoyed Prelude to Rebellion) and how a lot of them tied into the bulk of the collection, which centered around episode 1! :)
January 19, 2021
Quite enjoyable with excellent artwork.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews