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A review by jaredkwheeler
Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones by Henry Gilroy, Chris Horn, Jonathan Hales, George Lucas, Jason Hvam, Ryan Kryssing, Digital Chameleon, Dan Jackson, Dave McCaig, Jan Duursema, David Nestelle
2.0
Star Wars Legends Project #100
Background: Attack of the Clones was released in 4 issues during April/May 2002. The trade paperback was released in April. Like [b:Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace|359856|Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace|Henry Gilroy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403204910s/359856.jpg|349973] (my review), it was written (or "written") by [a:Henry Gilroy|153690|Henry Gilroy|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] with art pencilled by [a:Jan Duursema|20013|Jan Duursema|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Gilroyhas written several other prequel-era comics and served as head writer for season one of the Clone Wars animated series. He has also written some episodes for Rebels, as well as work on many other TV shows. Duursema has worked on many dozens of Star Wars comics, quite a few of which I've discussed already.
Attack of the Clones is, obviously, the comic book adaptation of Episode II, set 22 years before the Battle of Yavin.
Summary: See also [b:Star Wars - Episode II: Attack of the Clones|320361|Star Wars - Episode II Attack of the Clones|R.A. Salvatore|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1355056001s/320361.jpg|558004] (my review)
Review: So, like the novel version, this is basically a rehash, whether skillfully rendered or not, of a pretty subpar story. Much like the comic version of The Phantom Menace, it tends to condense where the novel elaborates. That seemed even more pronounced to me in this case than before . . . there is less than one page of the comic for every minute of the movie's runtime. Not that you'd want it to be longer, I guess. How does that old joke go? "The food at this restaurant is terrible! And such small portions!"
Actually, this was something of an improvement over the comic adaptation of The Phantom Menace, which struck me as a bland cash-grab that strove to reproduce the movie exactly, but in the dullest possible way. Since the writer is the same (both of the comic and of the story), I have to give some credit to the artist . . . Duursema is fantastic in general, and she does some really solid work here.
I was actually about halfway through it when it occurred to me that the art was a lot better than I remembered it being in the previous adaptation, and at the point I checked and saw who the artist was . . . That explained it. She made it feel a lot more like a comic book and less of an attempt to render exact shots from the film with all the stylistic flourish drained away. There were a few missed opportunities. Like I felt that the scene with Anakin in the Tusken village could have gone on a few more panels to great dramatic effect, but this was a big step in the right direction.
That said, I still wouldn't pick this up again. I don't usually get a lot of pleasure out of experiencing the exact same story over and over and over again unless it's really good, and this one just isn't.
C-
Background: Attack of the Clones was released in 4 issues during April/May 2002. The trade paperback was released in April. Like [b:Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace|359856|Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace|Henry Gilroy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403204910s/359856.jpg|349973] (my review), it was written (or "written") by [a:Henry Gilroy|153690|Henry Gilroy|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] with art pencilled by [a:Jan Duursema|20013|Jan Duursema|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. Gilroyhas written several other prequel-era comics and served as head writer for season one of the Clone Wars animated series. He has also written some episodes for Rebels, as well as work on many other TV shows. Duursema has worked on many dozens of Star Wars comics, quite a few of which I've discussed already.
Attack of the Clones is, obviously, the comic book adaptation of Episode II, set 22 years before the Battle of Yavin.
Summary: See also [b:Star Wars - Episode II: Attack of the Clones|320361|Star Wars - Episode II Attack of the Clones|R.A. Salvatore|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1355056001s/320361.jpg|558004] (my review)
Review: So, like the novel version, this is basically a rehash, whether skillfully rendered or not, of a pretty subpar story. Much like the comic version of The Phantom Menace, it tends to condense where the novel elaborates. That seemed even more pronounced to me in this case than before . . . there is less than one page of the comic for every minute of the movie's runtime. Not that you'd want it to be longer, I guess. How does that old joke go? "The food at this restaurant is terrible! And such small portions!"
Actually, this was something of an improvement over the comic adaptation of The Phantom Menace, which struck me as a bland cash-grab that strove to reproduce the movie exactly, but in the dullest possible way. Since the writer is the same (both of the comic and of the story), I have to give some credit to the artist . . . Duursema is fantastic in general, and she does some really solid work here.
I was actually about halfway through it when it occurred to me that the art was a lot better than I remembered it being in the previous adaptation, and at the point I checked and saw who the artist was . . . That explained it. She made it feel a lot more like a comic book and less of an attempt to render exact shots from the film with all the stylistic flourish drained away. There were a few missed opportunities. Like I felt that the scene with Anakin in the Tusken village could have gone on a few more panels to great dramatic effect, but this was a big step in the right direction.
That said, I still wouldn't pick this up again. I don't usually get a lot of pleasure out of experiencing the exact same story over and over and over again unless it's really good, and this one just isn't.
C-