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jaredkwheeler's review
3.0
Star Wars Legends Project #151
Background: Defenders of the Lost Temple was released in March of 2013, the tenth in a series of 11 graphic novellas connected to The Clone Wars animated show. It was written by [a:Justin Aclin|2763591|Justin Aclin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1383063161p2/2763591.jpg] with art by [a:Ben Bates|3423006|Ben Bates|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png]. Aclin wrote a couple of these Clone Wars novellas, but this is Bates's only Star Wars work.
Defenders of the Lost Temple takes place between seasons 4 and 5 of The Clone Wars (20 years before the Battle of Yavin). The main characters are a couple of one-off Jedi and a squad of clone troopers. The only recurring character is Pre Vizsla.
Summary: Jedi Master B'ink Utrila and her apprentice Rennax are on the hunt for a lost, booby-trapped Jedi Temple containing the fabled Gauntlet of Kressh, an artifact that renders the wearer invincible. Unfortunately, they aren't the only ones who want it . . .
Review: There comes a point in a series where it gets a bit tiresome to see yet another stand-alone story where "stand-alone" means "has no ramifications or significance to any larger events." And, while I certainly don't want to complain that this story doesn't focus (yet again) on Anakin or Obi-Wan, I'd like to see some secondary characters actually developed rather than spun through the infinite revolving door of disposable characters. I appreciate that there's some effort here to make a few interesting (albeit obscure) connections to the larger universe, but why create and develop characters that we're for sure never going to see again? Why not pick some characters we've seen before and do something with them?
I'm being somewhat unfair in not reviewing this story by itself on its own terms. And in that respect, it does a bit better. The art is cool (though some of the character design leans a bit anime) and there's an attempt to go a bit deeper than just stringing a bunch of action together. This story also does a good job of giving the clones some actual personality and agency within the story, which enriches things. The temple defenses are pretty original, and clever, and the resolution isn't as predictable as you might think. It's a bit forgettable, but it's entertaining.
C+
Background: Defenders of the Lost Temple was released in March of 2013, the tenth in a series of 11 graphic novellas connected to The Clone Wars animated show. It was written by [a:Justin Aclin|2763591|Justin Aclin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1383063161p2/2763591.jpg] with art by [a:Ben Bates|3423006|Ben Bates|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png]. Aclin wrote a couple of these Clone Wars novellas, but this is Bates's only Star Wars work.
Defenders of the Lost Temple takes place between seasons 4 and 5 of The Clone Wars (20 years before the Battle of Yavin). The main characters are a couple of one-off Jedi and a squad of clone troopers. The only recurring character is Pre Vizsla.
Summary: Jedi Master B'ink Utrila and her apprentice Rennax are on the hunt for a lost, booby-trapped Jedi Temple containing the fabled Gauntlet of Kressh, an artifact that renders the wearer invincible. Unfortunately, they aren't the only ones who want it . . .
Review: There comes a point in a series where it gets a bit tiresome to see yet another stand-alone story where "stand-alone" means "has no ramifications or significance to any larger events." And, while I certainly don't want to complain that this story doesn't focus (yet again) on Anakin or Obi-Wan, I'd like to see some secondary characters actually developed rather than spun through the infinite revolving door of disposable characters. I appreciate that there's some effort here to make a few interesting (albeit obscure) connections to the larger universe, but why create and develop characters that we're for sure never going to see again? Why not pick some characters we've seen before and do something with them?
I'm being somewhat unfair in not reviewing this story by itself on its own terms. And in that respect, it does a bit better. The art is cool (though some of the character design leans a bit anime) and there's an attempt to go a bit deeper than just stringing a bunch of action together. This story also does a good job of giving the clones some actual personality and agency within the story, which enriches things. The temple defenses are pretty original, and clever, and the resolution isn't as predictable as you might think. It's a bit forgettable, but it's entertaining.
C+
shirezu's review
1.0
*This is a review of an advanced copy provided by NetGalley*
WTF were they thinking with this. This is a dialogue free comic and whilst that can work here it just failed. I had no idea who they were, what they were doing, why they were there. In dialogue free comics the artwork has to portray everything but the artwork just wasn't detailed enough to do it. It felt disjointed and confusing. It's a sad state the Star Wars universe has become.
WTF were they thinking with this. This is a dialogue free comic and whilst that can work here it just failed. I had no idea who they were, what they were doing, why they were there. In dialogue free comics the artwork has to portray everything but the artwork just wasn't detailed enough to do it. It felt disjointed and confusing. It's a sad state the Star Wars universe has become.
rivulet027's review
5.0
I absolutely adore this comic. I first saw a few panels on Tumblr with Glitch, as a force sensitive clone, and Rennax, as a padawan working with him. It looked very interesting. I’m so grateful that I was able to find a copy through my local library. I think I’ve read this five or six times and I’m sad it’s time to return it. It’s a lovely one shot comic.
This story states that it falls between the fourth and fifth seasons of the clones wars. Two Jedi and four clones travel to a lost Jedi temple on Draay 2, which is a moon in the outer rim, to confirm that a Sith artifact, the Gauntlet of Kressh the Younger, is hidden within. The characters are Master B’ink Utrila, Padawan Rennax Omani, Lieutenant Law, Glitch, Horn, and Cannon. When they find the temple Glitch says it looks familiar, that he might have seen it in a vision. Cannon points out that they saw the temple in the debrief. Utrila and Omani use the force to open the door and Law asks them to stand back as he sends a lamp droid in before his men. They don’t see which way they’re supposed to go so Utrila and Omani attempt to use the force to guide them.
Meanwhile Cannon asks Horn about the Death Watch symbol on his helmet. Horn’s opinion is: “Death Watch are the most dangerous Mandalorian warriors in the galaxy and I’m one of the deadliest clones of a great Mandalorian warrior.” Every now and then a character comes along that reminds you that despite looking like they’re in their late teens and early twenties a lot of these men have only been alive for ten years. Horn is that character. Cannon attempts to be the voice of reason, even if he mocks Glitch in the process, saying he barely passed and comparing him to a faulty weapon. Glitch is also attempting to use the force to guide him and then he steps on the trigger for the guard droid. Everyone attacks the guard droid except Glitch who attempts to use the force to stop it. This makes Utrila realize she and Omani should be using the force to stop the guard droid by moving the part that shuts it down. The guard droid was in front of a wall which has several holes in it that can fit a lightsaber. Only one of the holes will open the temple, choose the wrong one and the whole temple comes crashing down around you (foreshadowing). Utrila borrows one of Omani’s lightsabers (she has two: a green and a blue) and opens the temple. They send the lamp droid down the stairs and are excited to explore the rest of the temple. Utrila advises Omani, “Use the force to sense danger before it reaches us.” Omani looks back at Glitch and asks how to use the force to do that. Utrila answers, “The force flows through all living things...with it we may be able to sense the echoes of those who’ve come through here before”. Then she chides Omani that she should’ve learned this as a youngling while Omani is looking back to make sure that Glitch was listening. Personally I liked Omani’s teaching style and was sad that Utrila didn’t catch on.
They find a carving and stop to study it. Utrila sends Glitch to tell Law and the others to wait for them while they study the carving. While he heads down the dark hall to find them Glitch starts repeating, “The force flows through me.” He finds Law, Cannon, and Horn in a room that has what looks like a large column that’s glowing. Cannon touches it and it starts coming apart revealing that it’s a bunch of Sarls (they look like giant pill bugs with glowing red areas) clinging together around the gauntlet. The Sarls attack Blasters aren’t working on them. Glitch says he senses the dark side is at work. Cannon points out that this doesn’t count as a premonition because it’s happening right now. Utrila and Omani arrive to save their men and discover that their lightsabers don’t work on the Sarls either. They decide that exposure to the gauntlet has made them invulnerable. Utrila attempts to grab the gauntlet, but the moment she touches it her eyes go wide and she begins to scream at them to fall back to the hallway. They do and the Sarls hide converge to hide the gauntlet again.
Once they regroup in the hallway Law wants to know how they move the gauntlet. Utrila says they’re not going to, that when she touched it she was overwhelmed by it’s dark side power and that it’s too dangerous for them to move. She reminds them that their objective was to confirm that the gauntlet was here. She hugs herself and looks frightened as they make their way up the stairs. She decides that they’ll camp here tonight and that she’ll contact the Council in the morning in the hopes that they’ll know what to do. Rennax seals the chamber, makes sure that Utrila is comfortable and that the men are setting up their campsite. She asks Utrila to let her take the first watch and asks Glitch to go with her.
Glitch and Omani find a high spot to watch everything as they have a heart to heart. Glitch asks why she’s being so nice to him and Omani asks if he knows how long she’s been training to be a Jedi. She says it was before she had a choice in the matter. Then she says, “No one asked if I’d be okay fighting in a war in a few years. I was born to be a warrior...no matter what it is that I want to be”. She asks Glitch why he thinks she’s being nice to him. He says she noticed her listening to him and Utrila. She smiles and asks him what he’s hoping to find out. He asks if she thinks a clone could feel the force or if he’s faulty or as crazy as everyone tells him he is. She reminds him that the Jedi can do incredible things, then says, “But all of us are bound together by it.” She asks what he thinks and he says he worries that he’s just a clone, born and programmed to fight. She points out, “The fact that you’d worry about that proves you’re not…” Then she gets cut off as Death Watch arrives, they’re searching for the gauntlet too. Pre Vizsla said that finding the Jedi here is what is going to lead them to it. Pre Vizsla tells them, “Once I have the gauntlet, I’ll be untouchable and unstoppable and then I can have my revenge on Dooku, the Jedi, the whole galaxy”. They capture Glitch and Omani and tie them together. Omani has dropped one of her lightsabers, but still has one. Omani tells Glitch to lean forward as she uses the force to pass him one of her lightsabers, which he uses to cut the rope. Omani dives for her lightsaber and tells Glitch to warn the others. Omani gets knocked out as Glitch runs screaming towards the temple.
Everyone wakes up to see an explosion and Glitch being thrown by it. Then Death Watch comes in holding Omani hostage. The troopers and Utrila drop their weapons. Pre Vizsla sees Horn’s helmet and tells him, “Those markings...you fancy yourself a member of Death Watch, tool of Jedi?” Pre Vizsla hands Horn a blaster and tells him that if he kills Utrila he can join them. Horn says he can’t and he won’t and hands the blaster back. Pre Vizsla tells him, “I thought as much...just another pale imitation” as he holds the blaster to Horn’s head. Glitch shouts and then turns on Omani’s lightsaber. Pre Vizsla laughs and mocks Glitch for thinking he’s a Jedi as he pulls out the Darksaber. They fight. Glitch keeps falling back until he can set off the guard droid. This proves to be the distraction Utrila needs to grab Omani and run while the rest of the men follow. The Death Watch members attack the guard droid as Pre Vizsla and Glitch continue to fight. Pre Vizsla taunts Glitch about his want to be Jedi as they get closer to the wall with the holes in it and Glitch responds, “No, if I were a Jedi I’d know the correct hole to choose.” Glitch slams the lightsaber into the wrong hole and the temple starts crumbling. Death Watch runs. Omani screams for Glitch, but Utrila tells her that they have to get out. Outside a blaster fight starts. Pre Vizsla decides there’s no tactical reason to keep engaging in battle and Death Watch leaves. Utrila, Omani, Law, Cannon, and Horn look down at the destroyed temple. Utrila thanks Glitch. Horn throws his helmet at the temple as he says, “So long Glitch, you were a terrible clone trooper, but you were a great man”.
Then they’re at the spaceport. Utrila and Omani are saying goodbye to each other. Omani has decided to leave the Jedi Order. She says she’s going home to see her family. When she asks if Utrila will send someone to guard the temple, Utrila says she doesn’t think she will.
The next scene is the rubble of the temple. And hand wearing the Gauntlet of Kressh the Younger pops out. Glitch crawls out of the rubble. He pulls off the gauntlet, then finds a rock that fits inside of it. He throws the whole thing into a nearby river. He takes off his helmet and says, “Oh, I see, the force flows, it flows through everything” as he takes in the river and the canyon it goes through.
I really liked that ambiguous ending, that they don’t tell you if Glitch is force sensitive or not. It’s really nice that they left it up to the reader to decide.
This story states that it falls between the fourth and fifth seasons of the clones wars. Two Jedi and four clones travel to a lost Jedi temple on Draay 2, which is a moon in the outer rim, to confirm that a Sith artifact, the Gauntlet of Kressh the Younger, is hidden within. The characters are Master B’ink Utrila, Padawan Rennax Omani, Lieutenant Law, Glitch, Horn, and Cannon. When they find the temple Glitch says it looks familiar, that he might have seen it in a vision. Cannon points out that they saw the temple in the debrief. Utrila and Omani use the force to open the door and Law asks them to stand back as he sends a lamp droid in before his men. They don’t see which way they’re supposed to go so Utrila and Omani attempt to use the force to guide them.
Meanwhile Cannon asks Horn about the Death Watch symbol on his helmet. Horn’s opinion is: “Death Watch are the most dangerous Mandalorian warriors in the galaxy and I’m one of the deadliest clones of a great Mandalorian warrior.” Every now and then a character comes along that reminds you that despite looking like they’re in their late teens and early twenties a lot of these men have only been alive for ten years. Horn is that character. Cannon attempts to be the voice of reason, even if he mocks Glitch in the process, saying he barely passed and comparing him to a faulty weapon. Glitch is also attempting to use the force to guide him and then he steps on the trigger for the guard droid. Everyone attacks the guard droid except Glitch who attempts to use the force to stop it. This makes Utrila realize she and Omani should be using the force to stop the guard droid by moving the part that shuts it down. The guard droid was in front of a wall which has several holes in it that can fit a lightsaber. Only one of the holes will open the temple, choose the wrong one and the whole temple comes crashing down around you (foreshadowing). Utrila borrows one of Omani’s lightsabers (she has two: a green and a blue) and opens the temple. They send the lamp droid down the stairs and are excited to explore the rest of the temple. Utrila advises Omani, “Use the force to sense danger before it reaches us.” Omani looks back at Glitch and asks how to use the force to do that. Utrila answers, “The force flows through all living things...with it we may be able to sense the echoes of those who’ve come through here before”. Then she chides Omani that she should’ve learned this as a youngling while Omani is looking back to make sure that Glitch was listening. Personally I liked Omani’s teaching style and was sad that Utrila didn’t catch on.
They find a carving and stop to study it. Utrila sends Glitch to tell Law and the others to wait for them while they study the carving. While he heads down the dark hall to find them Glitch starts repeating, “The force flows through me.” He finds Law, Cannon, and Horn in a room that has what looks like a large column that’s glowing. Cannon touches it and it starts coming apart revealing that it’s a bunch of Sarls (they look like giant pill bugs with glowing red areas) clinging together around the gauntlet. The Sarls attack Blasters aren’t working on them. Glitch says he senses the dark side is at work. Cannon points out that this doesn’t count as a premonition because it’s happening right now. Utrila and Omani arrive to save their men and discover that their lightsabers don’t work on the Sarls either. They decide that exposure to the gauntlet has made them invulnerable. Utrila attempts to grab the gauntlet, but the moment she touches it her eyes go wide and she begins to scream at them to fall back to the hallway. They do and the Sarls hide converge to hide the gauntlet again.
Once they regroup in the hallway Law wants to know how they move the gauntlet. Utrila says they’re not going to, that when she touched it she was overwhelmed by it’s dark side power and that it’s too dangerous for them to move. She reminds them that their objective was to confirm that the gauntlet was here. She hugs herself and looks frightened as they make their way up the stairs. She decides that they’ll camp here tonight and that she’ll contact the Council in the morning in the hopes that they’ll know what to do. Rennax seals the chamber, makes sure that Utrila is comfortable and that the men are setting up their campsite. She asks Utrila to let her take the first watch and asks Glitch to go with her.
Glitch and Omani find a high spot to watch everything as they have a heart to heart. Glitch asks why she’s being so nice to him and Omani asks if he knows how long she’s been training to be a Jedi. She says it was before she had a choice in the matter. Then she says, “No one asked if I’d be okay fighting in a war in a few years. I was born to be a warrior...no matter what it is that I want to be”. She asks Glitch why he thinks she’s being nice to him. He says she noticed her listening to him and Utrila. She smiles and asks him what he’s hoping to find out. He asks if she thinks a clone could feel the force or if he’s faulty or as crazy as everyone tells him he is. She reminds him that the Jedi can do incredible things, then says, “But all of us are bound together by it.” She asks what he thinks and he says he worries that he’s just a clone, born and programmed to fight. She points out, “The fact that you’d worry about that proves you’re not…” Then she gets cut off as Death Watch arrives, they’re searching for the gauntlet too. Pre Vizsla said that finding the Jedi here is what is going to lead them to it. Pre Vizsla tells them, “Once I have the gauntlet, I’ll be untouchable and unstoppable and then I can have my revenge on Dooku, the Jedi, the whole galaxy”. They capture Glitch and Omani and tie them together. Omani has dropped one of her lightsabers, but still has one. Omani tells Glitch to lean forward as she uses the force to pass him one of her lightsabers, which he uses to cut the rope. Omani dives for her lightsaber and tells Glitch to warn the others. Omani gets knocked out as Glitch runs screaming towards the temple.
Everyone wakes up to see an explosion and Glitch being thrown by it. Then Death Watch comes in holding Omani hostage. The troopers and Utrila drop their weapons. Pre Vizsla sees Horn’s helmet and tells him, “Those markings...you fancy yourself a member of Death Watch, tool of Jedi?” Pre Vizsla hands Horn a blaster and tells him that if he kills Utrila he can join them. Horn says he can’t and he won’t and hands the blaster back. Pre Vizsla tells him, “I thought as much...just another pale imitation” as he holds the blaster to Horn’s head. Glitch shouts and then turns on Omani’s lightsaber. Pre Vizsla laughs and mocks Glitch for thinking he’s a Jedi as he pulls out the Darksaber. They fight. Glitch keeps falling back until he can set off the guard droid. This proves to be the distraction Utrila needs to grab Omani and run while the rest of the men follow. The Death Watch members attack the guard droid as Pre Vizsla and Glitch continue to fight. Pre Vizsla taunts Glitch about his want to be Jedi as they get closer to the wall with the holes in it and Glitch responds, “No, if I were a Jedi I’d know the correct hole to choose.” Glitch slams the lightsaber into the wrong hole and the temple starts crumbling. Death Watch runs. Omani screams for Glitch, but Utrila tells her that they have to get out. Outside a blaster fight starts. Pre Vizsla decides there’s no tactical reason to keep engaging in battle and Death Watch leaves. Utrila, Omani, Law, Cannon, and Horn look down at the destroyed temple. Utrila thanks Glitch. Horn throws his helmet at the temple as he says, “So long Glitch, you were a terrible clone trooper, but you were a great man”.
Then they’re at the spaceport. Utrila and Omani are saying goodbye to each other. Omani has decided to leave the Jedi Order. She says she’s going home to see her family. When she asks if Utrila will send someone to guard the temple, Utrila says she doesn’t think she will.
The next scene is the rubble of the temple. And hand wearing the Gauntlet of Kressh the Younger pops out. Glitch crawls out of the rubble. He pulls off the gauntlet, then finds a rock that fits inside of it. He throws the whole thing into a nearby river. He takes off his helmet and says, “Oh, I see, the force flows, it flows through everything” as he takes in the river and the canyon it goes through.
I really liked that ambiguous ending, that they don’t tell you if Glitch is force sensitive or not. It’s really nice that they left it up to the reader to decide.
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