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A review by jaredkwheeler
Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, Vol. 9 by W. Haden Blackman
2.0
Star Wars Legends Project #115
Background: Clone Wars Adventures, Volume 9 was released in October of 2007. It consists of four stories in the style of Cartoon Network's animated Clone Wars series: Appetite for Adventure, Salvaged, Life Below, and No Way Out. All four were written and drawn by the [author:Fillbach Brothers|5498466].
Appetite for Adventure is set 4 months after the Battle of Geonosis (22 years before the Battle of Yavin), and features Dexter Jettster on the planet Dractu. Salvaged takes place 19 years before the Battle of Yavin, about a month after events of Revenge of the Sith, with several characters who don't appear elsewhere. Life Below takes place on Coruscant 4 months after Geonosis, starring Quinlan Vos. No Way Out also takes place 4 months after the Battle of Geonosis and features Mace Windu.
Summary: In Appetite for Adventure, Dexter Jettster braves an incredibly hostile world in search of just the right ingredients to bring back to his diner on Coruscant.
In Salvaged, a single clone drifting out in space so long that he missed Order 66 is recovered by a scavenger who happens to be hauling a particularly precious cargo.
In Life Below, Quinlan Vos battles a murderous gang in the sewers of Coruscant.
In No Way Out Mace Windu stumbles upon a lost city that holds a dark and deadly secret.
Review: Please refer to my review of [book:Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, Vol. 1|35438] for some general thoughts that apply to the series as a whole.
I enjoyed most of these stories a bit more than the usual run, with the exception of Life Below. Quinlan Vos is a great character, but I've become wary of stories that feature him because his presence has started to seem like a lazy way of communicating that we're reading a "dark" or "ambiguous" or "gritty" story. This story, though, isn't even as interesting as that, and he's not very well-used here. Some seemingly significant stuff happens, but it doesn't mean much because we don't get any real backstory that would give it dramatic weight. And then there's a little "Ooo, Palpatine so evil!" stinger that doesn't amount to much.
Appetite for Adventure gets off to a great start by rendering its title in "Indiana Jones" font. Almost the entire story is told completely without dialogue, which is a cool gimmick that is deployed really effectively here. And then comes the punchline to bring the whole thing together. I didn't much care for that part, but your mileage may vary . . . Just not my style of humor.
Salvaged is the second-best of the lot, doling out just the right amount of details to set the scene and building to one perfect moment. The only problem with it is that you want more of this story and more of the characters in it. No Way Out, however, is my favorite of these, and certainly the best use of Mace Windu yet. The concept feels like a throwback to some of the really early Star Wars novels of the '80s and the early Dark Horse comics of a decade later, but it's also clearly drawing on other influences. The lost city has this very obvious German Expressionist look to it, and the story deploys several horror movie tropes (some pretty subtle, some less so) that all leads to a pretty satisfying (although poorly explained) denouement. I kind of wish more of the stories were like this, but notably this one has nothing to do with the actual war.
C-
Background: Clone Wars Adventures, Volume 9 was released in October of 2007. It consists of four stories in the style of Cartoon Network's animated Clone Wars series: Appetite for Adventure, Salvaged, Life Below, and No Way Out. All four were written and drawn by the [author:Fillbach Brothers|5498466].
Appetite for Adventure is set 4 months after the Battle of Geonosis (22 years before the Battle of Yavin), and features Dexter Jettster on the planet Dractu. Salvaged takes place 19 years before the Battle of Yavin, about a month after events of Revenge of the Sith, with several characters who don't appear elsewhere. Life Below takes place on Coruscant 4 months after Geonosis, starring Quinlan Vos. No Way Out also takes place 4 months after the Battle of Geonosis and features Mace Windu.
Summary: In Appetite for Adventure, Dexter Jettster braves an incredibly hostile world in search of just the right ingredients to bring back to his diner on Coruscant.
In Salvaged, a single clone drifting out in space so long that he missed Order 66 is recovered by a scavenger who happens to be hauling a particularly precious cargo.
In Life Below, Quinlan Vos battles a murderous gang in the sewers of Coruscant.
In No Way Out Mace Windu stumbles upon a lost city that holds a dark and deadly secret.
Review: Please refer to my review of [book:Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, Vol. 1|35438] for some general thoughts that apply to the series as a whole.
I enjoyed most of these stories a bit more than the usual run, with the exception of Life Below. Quinlan Vos is a great character, but I've become wary of stories that feature him because his presence has started to seem like a lazy way of communicating that we're reading a "dark" or "ambiguous" or "gritty" story. This story, though, isn't even as interesting as that, and he's not very well-used here. Some seemingly significant stuff happens, but it doesn't mean much because we don't get any real backstory that would give it dramatic weight. And then there's a little "Ooo, Palpatine so evil!" stinger that doesn't amount to much.
Appetite for Adventure gets off to a great start by rendering its title in "Indiana Jones" font. Almost the entire story is told completely without dialogue, which is a cool gimmick that is deployed really effectively here. And then comes the punchline to bring the whole thing together. I didn't much care for that part, but your mileage may vary . . . Just not my style of humor.
Salvaged is the second-best of the lot, doling out just the right amount of details to set the scene and building to one perfect moment. The only problem with it is that you want more of this story and more of the characters in it. No Way Out, however, is my favorite of these, and certainly the best use of Mace Windu yet. The concept feels like a throwback to some of the really early Star Wars novels of the '80s and the early Dark Horse comics of a decade later, but it's also clearly drawing on other influences. The lost city has this very obvious German Expressionist look to it, and the story deploys several horror movie tropes (some pretty subtle, some less so) that all leads to a pretty satisfying (although poorly explained) denouement. I kind of wish more of the stories were like this, but notably this one has nothing to do with the actual war.
C-