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A review by neilrcoulter
Star Wars: Kanan, Vol. 2: First Blood by Greg Weisman
2.0
Kind of a bland, convoluted story. Instead of following Kanan's story when he's in exile after the Clone Wars, this one goes back to when he first becomes Depa Billaba's padawan--which means that most of this story is set during my least favorite Star Wars era: prequels/Clone Wars. There's an awkward frame gimmick that switches back and forth between the flashback and some adventure that the Ghost crew is having, but it never makes much sense to me. The finale is some adventure that Kanan and Ezra have, involving some other characters I don't know, and I wasn't even sure if it happens before or after Kanan is in the bacta tank earlier in the book.
This story includes a couple of connections to other stories--most notably, explaining a tiny bit more about Fenn Rau, the Mandalorian who appears in season two of Rebels (but why include him only in one panel?). It also features a scene with Rae Sloane, who the new canon is pushing really hard even though she's not a very interesting character.
The humor doesn't work in this book. A reference to meiloorun fruit in a Star Wars book is good fun, but when meilooruns become a running gag that appear every ten pages or so, it really wears thin. But not as thin as the running gag of the young Kanan not wanting to be called "kid"--even though he is a kid. Or the running gag of Kanan saying "Never mind," which never has much payoff.
I enjoyed the first Kanan graphic novel, but reading the second volume makes it clear why Lucasfilm pulled the plug on the series. A lot of bad choices made this series fizzle out well before it ended. Too bad, but I do hope for more Rebels-related graphic novels in the future.
This story includes a couple of connections to other stories--most notably, explaining a tiny bit more about Fenn Rau, the Mandalorian who appears in season two of Rebels (but why include him only in one panel?). It also features a scene with Rae Sloane, who the new canon is pushing really hard even though she's not a very interesting character.
The humor doesn't work in this book. A reference to meiloorun fruit in a Star Wars book is good fun, but when meilooruns become a running gag that appear every ten pages or so, it really wears thin. But not as thin as the running gag of the young Kanan not wanting to be called "kid"--even though he is a kid. Or the running gag of Kanan saying "Never mind," which never has much payoff.
I enjoyed the first Kanan graphic novel, but reading the second volume makes it clear why Lucasfilm pulled the plug on the series. A lot of bad choices made this series fizzle out well before it ended. Too bad, but I do hope for more Rebels-related graphic novels in the future.