Quirky Cat
Written on Sep 3, 2017
Mace Windu is the latest release for the Star Wars graphic novel series. Unlike a lot of the other series coming out lately, this one is set at the early part of the Clone Wars. Obviously from the title you can tell that the focus is on Mace Windu and the adventures (or misadventures) he had. I personally would have liked to see Mace Windu at a younger age – sometime when he wasn’t quite so sure of himself (like the latest Bond movies, where he was an agent but he hadn’t gotten all the finesse and stealth down just yet).
I was really happy when I saw they were giving Mace Windu his own series. While this ended up being a lot less than I was hoping for, it was still an interesting read. Oddly enough, Mace Windu reminded me a lot of the movie Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Are Dead – mostly thanks to the set of circumstances (a small group getting set off on an odd mission) and the sense of humor and banter encountered (mostly from the droids, though there is some Jedi bantering and humor, which was fun to see).
In this volume, Mace Windu along with three other Jedi he handpicked, head out to a relatively isolated planet for a mission. I was actually really happy to see more of the other Jedi – it feels like so frequently they get overlooked, especially if they’re not on the Jedi Council. I wish there were more series that focused on them (even if I went into it knowing full well they didn’t survive the impending wars).
This story doesn’t really fit in with the context of any of the other Star Wars stories, except for the Clone Wars TV series. The result is that it feels like a one-shot story from the Clone Wars as opposed to a short living in the graphic novels. That was a bit disappointing to realize, especially since I had such high hopes for this series.
The droid humor was fantastic – if you enjoyed the weird banter and comments droids made during the Clone Wars series, then you’ll probably enjoy seeing them here. I actually read everything they said in that stereotypical droid voice the series has. It really helped to enhance the experience for me (perhaps I’m just a little odd in that sense).
All in all this was a decent read. Not great, but not awful either. I do wish it had lived up to my expectations, but considering they were rather high I guess that was unlikely to happen anyway. It’ll be interesting to see if they choose to continue this series, or if they pick up another character to try it with.
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks