Star Wars: Visionaries

Star Wars Legends: Comics

by Aaron McBride, Erik Tiemens, Michael Murnane

They've been responsible for some of the most dazzling and awe-inspiring visuals ever put to film, and now the concept artists behind the Star Wars prequels are bringing their considerable talents to comics.

Just in time for Star Wars: Episode III, the wildly gifted mind of the Lucasfilm art department and visual effects powerhouse Industrial Light & Magic come together to tell their own Star Wars tales in this compilation of short stories. Given free reign to explore any and every aspect of the Star Wars universe, each artist offers a new twist or a deeper view into that galaxy far, far away. Nowhere else will you find a more pure or more different look at George Lucas's enduring creation than through the eyes of the Star Wars: Visionaries.

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

131 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2005

Reviews

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read with a bunch of stories throughout many and different eras, with art styles that are not your usual artwork in comics.

The Eyes of Revolution

Set in 29BBY

On this one we get the origin of General Grievous, which was fun to read with some nice artwork to with it, but it was such a short story and the pace was too fast for a story like that to be told. All in all would have wanted more out of it, but nice to see how Grievous was made in a few pages.

Deep Forest

Set in 21BBY

Deep in the forests of Kashyyyk a King must make a decision on who's side to choose. Republic's or the Separatists' side? Tough decisions and Yoda and Nute Gunray both trying to convince the King for Kashyyyk to decide, while he doesn't want any conflict and to take no sides in this war.

His son, young and arrogant trying to prove himself going against a Separatist invasion on Kashyyyk ordered by Count Dooku, and that.. won't end well.

A fun read with a solid story set in the midst of the Clone Wars and great artwork, if you're a fan of
Wookies this is your story.

The Artist of Naboo

Set in 21BBY

Each panel a painting. Each painting a sacrifice.

A short story about a reclusive artist in Naboo who paints, and has dreams, or premonitions, of danger, and Naboo. Great artwork!

Sithisis

Set in 21BBY

Just smell the aroma of the dark side and take in the wonderful artwork.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really glad I stumbled upon a complete copy of this online looking for Darth Maul art.

The stories in this are range from being acid trips to dark interludes and heartbreaking deaths, and each really hooked me. Seeing concept art from Revenge of the Sith turned into some elseworlds and canon/legends adjacent vignettes was really cool.

Aside from the stories, Visionaries is worth the read for the gorgeous art alone. In particular, Ryan Church's Celestia Galactica Photographia made me feel like I was in a genuine museum gallery. The pieces are just beautiful.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited for this book and had a lot of hope for it, since this was put together by the creative team behind Revenge of the Sith. Unfortunately, most of these stories fell flat. A couple of these were standouts, most specifically the General Grievous origin story. If it wasn’t for some seriously cool art in a ton of different styles, this would be rated a decent bit lower.

[J.M. Giovine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following the tradition of the Legends comic books, Visionaries is an anthology of short stories (11, to be exact), and each one narrates and shows a certain relevant event, mostly related to events connected to Revenge of the Sith, since this was published by that time. Some stories really came out of nowhere, but there’s a considerable collection that includes a new duel between Obi Wan and Maul, the origins of Grievous and his path on hunting the Jedi, a tale that pretty much predicts the destiny of Padme and Alderaan, and a take on one of the characters still lost in the pantheon of Legends, Durge. For starters, the main attractive element from this book is definitely its art; since some of the main workers from Episode III were brought back to collaborate, we have names such as Aaron McBride, Erik Tiemens, Michael Murnane, Derek Thompson, Alex Jaeger, among others. Also, credit due, all these artist are also the ones providing the respective text to their own stories, which provides a higher value to each one of this eleven short-tales. The first tale is probably the one people will remember the most; the return of Darth Maul who’s seeking to hunt a toddler Luke, in order to confront Obi Wan once and for all. While interesting regarding McBride’s art (and offering a design on Maul that was brought back by Filoni on his tv-show), the tale its pretty much abrupt and sporadic. How did he survived? How he acquired those cybernetic implants? How did he know about Luke and Obi Wan’s whereabouts? Its just a pretty long action sequences that looks pretty and intense. The artist of Naboo was created by Tiemens, and it portrays and artist from that planet who encounters with Padme, so he’s starting to envision her, painting her until a vision strikes him, pretty much predicting her faith by the end of Episode III. Next, Michael Murnane gives us a tale about Wat Tambor, one of the main Separatist Leaders and I got to say, it is perhaps the must unsettling piece in the whole anthology, narrating its story from Tambor’s own mind, even giving us a glimpse at his actual appearance underneath his armor. It’s psychedelic but otherwise confusing to stare at and there’s not much of an actual substance. Derek Thompson, then, is the responsible for giving us an entirely visual story, displaying a strange and terrifying ritual performed by Darth Sidious. Perhaps the most unnerving tale in the whole book. M. Zachary Sherman, then, delivers Entrenched, along Alex Jaeger, which could be my favorite tale in the whole anthology, only from a visual standpoint, since Sherman’s art is really clean and neat depicting the story it tries to tell, about a Rebel soldier who’s about to fight in the Hoth invasion, so he writes an holo-letter to his family. Touching and emotional, it was a good mix, since we’re not able to see this perspective in either films. Stephan Martiniere’s The Fourth Precept, which its another 100% visual story, and perhaps the most representative out of the whole Anthology, and my second favorite visual-tale; it basically showcases a full fight between light and dark, perhaps as a recreation of the creation of the Force. Prototypes is a story by Robert E. Barnes and basically tales the origins of the Bounty Hunter introduced in the 2003 Clone Wars animated tv-series by Genndy Tartakovsky, Durge; its interesting and it delivers a glimpse at what the conflict between Jedi, Sith and Mandalorians was, in the times from the Old Republic and the infamous war between these warriors and Force Wielders, but from a small scale-perspective, and while the art isn’t as neat or defined, its still interesting to appreciate, especially since some of these tales concerned heavily in connecting both, Episode 3 with the animated series at the time. Then we have just a pair of pictures by Feng Zhu, which are only a fanart in order to promote the Imperial Forces; nothing special and pretty forgettable set of art pieces. Deep Forest, on the other hand, is a little glimpse at how the conflict between the Wookies at Kashyyk and the Separatist Alliance was caused, and this was written and illustrated by Sang Jun Lee, which pretty much made justice to how aggressive and savage the Wookies are in their world as warriors. Celestia Galactica is not a story but a set of conceptual art, pretty much collecting designs for almost the whole saga at the time, and these illustration were made by Ryan Church (whose art is in the cover). These pieces are wonderful and really encapsulates the whole power behind the world inside the saga. Perhaps the best designer after Ralph McQuarrie. Then we have the final (and my personal favorite in both, story and art display) take, The Eyes of Revolution, which is summing up the origin of Grievious back when he was a Kaleesh General at Kalee, who was deceived by Count Dooku in order to get disfigured so he could be reinforced with bionic implants, becoming the General of the Droid Army of the Separatist Alliance. It was illustrated by Warren Fu, who was one of the responsible for the creation and design of Grievous for the final film. I guess as a whole, these stories are special in their own respective way. Even inside the former Legends trademark, some of the elements shown in them became relevant for the new Canon, and some of these stories really have power in them. Like I said, the element that will stand stronger from this collection will be the art pieces, since each one of these artist has a unique and peculiar style to them, and you can clearly see their influence outside this comic book, in each concept art for these films. I wish Lucasfilm could keep this tradition of releasing anthologies based on the work by their recent newcomer artists, not only on the newer films, but from the tv-shows, both, live-action and animated. I really appreciate the work put in this book, and while I didn’t feel completely invested in every single story presented, I was interested from a visual standpoint. I respect an artist that offers a way of expressing a vision in both ways: narrative and artistically. Classic Star Wars fans would appreciate the work inside this collection.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories from the Star Wars universe that mostly take place before Episode 3. They were all very different from one another and none of them connected so that took a little getting used to as most comics I've read flow. There were a few that really confused me and I had no connection to them at all but there were also two standouts.

The first one being a tale between Obi-Wan and Darth Maul. Enemies from episode 1, you knew their tale was far from over, esp with the reveal that Maul was not dead in canon. These are two very powerful characters and to see them face off once more was on an epic level.

The other standout was the origins of General Grievous. In the live action films we barely get to know him. But if you watch Clone Wars, he's a much bigger part of the war. But one of my questions was always, how did he come to be this way? Well, in this tale we finally got it. So many questions answered and it was pretty fascinating.

I love how expansive the Star Wars universe has gotten and it's only going to continue to grow.

[Dominic · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only wish Doug Chiang had had a chance to contribute to this

[Kai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Star Wars: Visionaries is a very detailed and eventful graphic novel. Myself, being a huge Star Wars fan, i loved the book. The book has 6-8 stories in it depicts the events that happened between episodes 3 and 4, and the wars that took place that were not shown in the movies. Each story is very dark, since after episode 3 the star wars series became full of terror. I really enjoyed this book, but i felt as if there could have been more stories or even made the ones in the book longer. The art is beautiful. it just makes you want to look at the pictures alone and skip all the dialogue. I wouldn't rate it a 5/5 book but i definitely liked it, i would recommend it to other Star Wars lovers.

[Jesse · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a neat idea for an anthology comic, they're all star wars stories illustrated (and written by?) the concept artists who worked on Episode III. In execution though, it was mostly crap. 90% of them were weird stuff without any recognizable characters, or boring prequel claptrap that meant nothing. There were two standouts though, an impressionistic story about an artist on Naboo who foresaw Amidala's children and her troubles, and an in-the-trenches story of a soldier on Hoth that threaded the continuity of Empire Strikes back really well. But two good stories does not a great book make. Oh well.

[Iset · Rating 3 out of 5]

A volume based on discard concept art for Episode III, I was looking forwards to this... and was honestly disappointed. Each story is so incredibly short, in some cases there's no room to tell a coherent tale, with some raising far more questions than they answer and some coming across as utterly baffling. That's not to say I didn't enjoy any of them; The Artist of Naboo, for example was quite striking, even though it felt like the story had been awkwardly tacked on in order to explain the pictures after the fact. And even stories I didn't enjoy at all, such as that featuring Wat Tambor, were visually interesting and thought-provoking.

I'm going to give the volume half marks. The stories are hit and miss, but the intriguing imagery saves it. That said, I can't see myself hanging on to this one.

5 out of 10

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

With the artistic talents behind this book, this truly is a feast for the eyes. It’s a shame, then, that the brain is left starved. All style and no substance, most of these stories are self-indulgent and nonsensical. They may well be sub textural meanings behind each pretty picture, but I'll leave that to the pontificating art critics. The standouts were the Darth Maul, Grievous and Hoth stories, which I enjoyed. This would have been better as a book of beautiful pictures.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

My friends and I used to have a saying that everything dark horse touches turns to shit. But that was very much NOT the case with this one. It was really great! SUCH beautiful art work! I think the idea of having the concept designers do a comic work really well. The one with Padme was my favourite as it was so beautiful. A few things have been done before or since (another battle with Maul and Obiwan) but overall it was really enjoyable and a great find at the Oxfam. Definitely recommended.

[Graham Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some weird stories that didn't do it for me but there's a lot to like about this volume. And all things considered it's influential, or at least the non-canon story that ended up inspiring a lot of Maul's post-Phantom Menace stories in Canon.

[Raymond St. Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointed!

Only two stories was worth the purchase and I'm even wondering if worth the price. Most the art stories are lame not worth reading! These are way to short. I would give this an avoid... maybe I should consider a refund?

[Alec Watkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some if the stories are kind of weak, but the art is fantastic (of course), so it gets a pass.

[Christopher Lutz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The General Grievous tale as well as the story of the rebel trooper on Hoth are by far the standouts of this comic.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's alright.

[Stephen Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some nice concept art and a couple of interesting tales, but I’ll soon forget that I ever read this.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the artwork was amazing. But the stories... some of them didn't even make sense. I liked the Artist of Naboo story, and I was all in with Entrenched right until the end (boo).

[Darren-lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the artwork alone... It was phenomenal...

[Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting to see different concepts and stories of star wars.

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this collection are interesting and other parts are cool, but none of the stories (or art stills) really stood out for me.

[Tasso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arte. Solo así lo puedo describir.

[Erick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cada historia es visualmente hermosa, me llegó una de ellas.
Regresenme a cuando me gustaba Star Wars :'c

[Bighomer]

It's Star Wars.

[Jan Santanius · Rating 5 out of 5]

READ THIS COMIC IT IS SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO GOOD

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

Star Wars Legends Project #295

Background: Star Wars: Visionaries was published in March of 2005. It features 11 stories or vignettes written and drawn by concept artists who worked on Revenge of the Sith.

Star Wars: Visionaries features stories during a variety of time periods. Some could fit into canon, while others clearly do not. There are a variety of characters and locations.

Summary: It was their job to let their imaginations run wild during the planning stages of George Lucas's final Star Wars film, but a lot of their favorite ideas never made it into the film. Here, these 11 talented and accomplished artists are given one chance to tell any story they want within the Star Wars universe.

Review: The quality of these stories, and even the degree to which they qualify as what you'd call a "story" is kind of all over the place. The collection is too varied to really have much to say about it in general terms, and discussing some of the entries in any detail would kind of make the point of experiencing them yourself moot. I did enjoy some of them, and several of them, less so . . . but it was interesting in every case to see a particular and distinctive artistic vision at play in one of the largest sandboxes in fiction. I'd probably have appreciated this more before the release of the Star Wars: Visions series, which kind of made this exercise look shabby by comparison. But it's worth checking out if you're at all intrigued by the concept.

C

[Mikael · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an anthology and therefore half of the stories are good and half bad. In this case the first story is frikking amazing and should have been used for the Clone Wars animated series there is also one about the troops on Hoth that's good but the rest are drugged out fever dreams.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

A graphic novel with unused ideas from the concept artists for Star Wars Episode III. Sign me up. I really liked this. There was an oddball idea or two, but there was some very cool things here. Most of them probably didn't fit the tone of Star Wars (or at least of the prequels).

I really liked the Darth Maul return and show down with Ben on Tatooine. Would have been a cool deleted scene, though probably a lot of cgi work just for an extra. And seeing the Emporer do a vampire-like rebirth (though much darker and creepier) would have really brought home the scary alien nature of the Sith and their practices. They're left mostly a mystery in Star Wars. But this is probably another expensive side road.

While the wookie story was cool, I don't think I'm ready for talking wookies (even with subtitles). The scene would have been too confusing with no dialogue. All and all an inspiring read.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains stories by people who made concept art for Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. While some of the material is noncanon, there are interesting interpretations of the galaxy far, far away, such as a private moment in the life of Darth Sidious in "Sithisis." The artwork is out of this world! (Pun intended.) "The Artist of Naboo" in particular looks like a gallery of paintings. While his backstory is far-fetched in "Old Wounds," this depiction of Darth Maul appears to be the inspiration behind his appearance in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Readers can return to Kashyyyk halfway through the Clone Wars in "Deep Forest." "Entrenched" is an interesting view of the Battle of Hoth in Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Striked Back. "The Eyes of Revolution" reveals how General Grievous became a cyborg. A quick must-read for Star Wars fans!

[Magenta Cooly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Darth...
Maul's...
DEATH.