the clone wars (the karen traviss book of the film one)

  

Stuck at my parent's place during the June heatwaves, and with Clone Wars Gambit next on the list, I decided to reread Karen Traviss' adaptation of The Clone Wars (2008). When it was released, I felt it was a muscular, urgent telling of a piece of Star Wars media that was neither of those things. I've long felt that this, and No Prisoners, are two unrecognised gems of the EU.

Second time around? Well it is muscular - at 250 pages, this rockets through, and I really like how Traviss uses her signature epigraphs to propel through the parts of the story she's uninterested in exploring (the whole third act Padmé subplot gets condensed into two epigraphs, in a way that works). Traviss also does some good work trying to root TCW into the wider EU (ironic knowing what is to come) and, rather than trying to rescue the paper-thin plot and absurd premise of TCW, instead imbues a handful of the main players with some much-welcomed interiority. 

Except cos it's Karen Traviss, we get some off-beam characterisation of existing characters, and some wild takes. Why is Anakin swearing all the time? Why does his internal monologue consistently refer to Obi-Wan as 'Kenobi', and what on earth is the editor doing here? Does Ventress genuinely believe her parents were 'innocent bystanders'? Does Dooku genuinely believe that Jango Fett was motivated by a sense that the Jedi Order was corrupt, and this was his primary motivation in providing his DNA for the clone army?! You can sense the desperation to commit a major act of character assassination on Obi-Wan here - perhaps the editor was up to something after all. 

clone wars vol 5: the best blades

This is a weird collection and, when I first read it, a real let down after the blistering volumes 3 and 4. For the first quarter of 2004, Republic jumps around a series of slightly thin one-shots. There isn't really a throughline, beyond repeated appearances of Anakin as Ki-Adi-Mundi's Padawan, and beyond Republic 63 (collected in vol 4), nothing serves to progress the overarching plot. My theory is that the Episode III script was about to drop in the writer's inbox (look at the end of Republic 62, and volume 6, where the writers definitely have definitely seen the Episode III script) and they're being cagey.

In my headcanon timeline, Anakin is knighted and The Clone Wars animated series (seen through a foggy window) begins shortly after this collection. I was pleased to read the end of Republic 62, in which Alpha returns to Kamino to train the next generation of clone officers, and Anakin makes the suggestion that they're given names - which neatly explains why Alpha's not around for the next year of the war, and Rex is. Anakin is also much more mature at this point in the comics and much closer to his depiction in The Clone Wars. Bail Organa's arc in Republic 61 also sets up why he's less outwardly hostile to Palpatine in the Karen Miller Clone Wars books.

The only Clone Wars collection without any Jan Duursema, but fear not, she draws all but four issues between now and the end of the run.  

Dead Ends (republic issue 61)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any piece of Star Wars media where a film character is killed off is a red letter day, no? Here it's Finis Valorum who is offed in some. This is interesting, but thin. 

Bloodlines (republic issue 64)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Palpatine maneuvering and manipulation, forming a cute thematic pair with Dead Ends. Does. Good stuff as ever from John Ostrander, but you can't get the sense he's taking a breather before he hits the insane run that is Republic 65 - 77. 

Hate & Fear (republic issue 60)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asajj Ventress' backstory (rote; uninteresting). Love love love the concept of muscle maggots.

  

No Man's Land (republic issue 62)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Y'see the issue is, having gone all in on the "Obi-Wan is presumed dead for quite a long time", the run does kinda have to follow through on his reunion with Anakin... but it's clearly over the plotline at this point, and keen to just wrap things up and move on. So we get this, the most pedestrian and handle-turny way of telling this story. Treading water in comic form; this would've been better as a single page at the end of Hate & Fear ("Obi-Wan and Alpha fly their stolen ship back to Coruscant!"). 

 

Jedi: Yoda 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really didn't like this when I was 16; on a reread, I can appreciate better what its trying to do, but it all feels rather thin and divorced from a wider sense of stakes. I enjoyed how willing to be downbeat it was - it engages with the wider theme of the Jedi colon sub-series, which is what it means to be a Jedi in a time of war, and finds that even Yoda is unable to provide with a coherent or compelling answer to this existential question. I was going to say something mean about the artist's inability to draw Yoda, but I'm really impressed by how visually fleshed out the Sephi are - usually we just get vehicles and tech cribbed from Essential Guides, but here we get unusual and evocative designs for all elements of the Sephi. Chapeau.    

 

clone wars vol 4: light and dark

Double Blind (republic issue 54)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The payoff to Quin's shady activities under his Korto Vos alias. This is a bridge story, moving things between Quin's early Clone Wars appearances and Jedi: Count Dooku (see below!), but it doesn't scrimp on being interesting in itself: we get an issue full of jaw-droppers, including a brilliant misdirection twist at the end. Jan Duursema's art has somehow hit another level, and John Ostrander is at the top of the game.  

Jedi: Aayla Secura

 

To wit: midway through his phenomenal Clone Wars run, Ostrander decides to wrap up Tim Truman's early work on Republic. We last saw Aurra Sing, the Dark Woman (and Tim Truman) back in "The Hunt for Aurra Sing"; I'd assumed they'd all been sent to Mandyville but no, we get a hugely satisfying conclusion which also manages to progress what Ostrander is doing with Quin, Aayla and Tholme. The bit where Tholme asks "What's up with this whole Dark Woman thing?" is a hoot.

Jedi: Count Dooku

 

Makes a nominal attempt to justify the title Jedi: Dooku, but this should really be Jedi: Quinlan Vos. But that's a quibble; I've read this countless times and each time Quin's choices feel both agonizingly in the balance and inevitable. There's little more to say here other than this is truly a creative team firing on all cylinders; sit back and enjoy. Dooku's inner circle is straight from the Ostrander / Duursema rogues gallery hall of fame; file with Kh'aris Fenn and Shogar Tok.

Striking from the Shadows (republic issue 63)

  

Great cover that manages not to be a rug pull, and a plot that isn't afraid to follow through on nastier moments. Subverts the end of Jedi: Dooku and leaves us guessing where Quin's loyalties - up in the air in this one - will land. It's fun seeing Dooku's inner circle vying for primacy, with their stock constantly going up and down.

clone wars vol 3: last stand on jabiim

The Battle of Jabiim (republic issues 55-58)

Staggering stuff; worthy of all the latter day accolades it receives and more. Not one (Obi-Wan is presumed KIA), not two (the Jedi have banded together the orphaned Padawans), but three (the GAR is sent to effectively seize a planet from its inhabitants) A-grade premises woven into a story of great scope and emotional range. Things spiral further and further out of control; everyone can see it happening but nobody can stop it. The Padawan Pack's final stand in issue 3 is unbelievable. "I'll sleep when I'm dead." Such an important piece of Anakin's character arc, too. Haden Blackman's finest work; this is where it's at, folks.

Enemy Lines (republic issue 59)

 

 

 

 

 

 

A worthy coda to the Battle of Jabiim and a story that essentially writes itself following Episode II. The main issue here, and it's quite stark after four great Anakin issues, is that Ostrander doesn't really have much interest in writing Anakin beyond "future Darth Vader". So Anakin comes across as very one-dimensional. Ostrander is interested in writing A'Sharad Hett, however; seeds are being planted here that will take another 160 years to properly mature.

I love how Ostrander is pulling out obscure, existing worlds for these bottle stories. We had Brentaal IV in Jedi: Shaak Ti and this time it's Aargonar. 

clone wars (the genndy tartakovsky one)

 

 We've established that this blog is, ultimately, about what makes good Star Wars. It's a fact that any good Star Wars has to have a moment that makes you say "Hell yeah!". But what if it's only "Hell yeah!" moments. Clone Wars puts this to the test and the answer is some pretty thin stuff. 

The best bits are the Dooku / Ventress arc in the first series and the Anakin / Ventress fight in the second, because both attempt to give the incessant spectacle some sort of character-led heft. The Dantooine episodes are some of the worst Star Wars of all time and has done irreparable damage to the fandom, who largely believe it to be some of the best. 

===

Headcanon parking space: it's clear to me from how it's portrayed that Muunilinst is Obi-Wan's first deployment leading a sizeable army. This tracks with Republic, where he's largely been on strike team missions with Anakin and Alpha. Muunilinst is where Obi-Wan's reputation begins to grow more significantly, and he's increasingly given large commands, leading up to when we next see him in Jabiim. (Cestus Deception don't @ me).

===

Here's my theory of Star Wars conflict geography (Essential Atlas don't @ me). There are two types of spatially coherent conflict:

• Geographically consistent - such as the New Jedi Order, where you can follow the conflict on a map;
  
  
• Topologically consistent - such as the Galactic Civil War. You can't credibly attempt to map the war, but we know that the Empire are concentrated in the Core, the Rebels scattered across the Rim, that the main form of engagement are hit and fade attacks, etc. 

The Clone Wars, as depicted in my reading thus far, are neither. Battles are erupting all across the place, there's no sense of the ebb and flow of the war, and there's little rhyme or reason as to whether a certain planet is aligned with the Republic or the Separatists. None of this is an impediment to good storytelling but it does mean the stories have a strange lack of stake or any real weight.