Star Wars Comic Vol.1 #2

01 Aug 1999. Cover price £1.25.
28 pages. Full colour.
Titan Magazines.

Edited by John Freeman.

Cover photograph (uncredited).

Contents:

 2 Against the Dark Side text introduction (uncredited). / Contents / Indicia

 3 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, part two, w: Henry Gilroy, based on the story by George Lucas; p: Rodolfo Damaggio, i: Al Williamson, lettering by Steve Dutro, colouring by Dave Nestelle.

r: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (Dark Horse) #01 (May 1999).

13 Star Wars: Episode I - The Gungan Frontier advertisement for computer game.

14 UNTITLED poster; photograph (uncredited).

19 Forbidden Planet advertisement.

20 Star Wars: Episode I - Anakin Skywalker, part two, w: Timothy Truman; p: Steve Crespo, i: George Freeman, lettering by Vickie Williams, colouring by Dave Nestelle.

r: Star Wars: Episode I - Anakin Skywalker Dark Horse) nn (May 1999).

25 Be a Star Wars Insider! competition to win Insider's Guide software.

26 Coming Next Issue

27 Subscribe & Save

28 Collect it. Trade it. Play it. Use the Force... Anywhere advertisement for tar Wars Collectible Card Game.

A photo-cover isn't nearly as effective as the painting adorning the first issue, though it made sense to tie-in to the marketing for the film in such a manner. Less understandable is featuring Jar Jar Binks prominently on the contents page, looking rather gormless - although I'm not sure he had another look, so any image of the character is bound to be a puzzling inclusion.

The film adaptation continues in a remarkably stylish fashion.

Star Wars posters, throughout the history of the franchise, tend to fall into two categories - there are some beautiful, wonderfully evocative images, full of colour and minor details, and there are... well, posters such as Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul battling in a barren desert. It looks like a still from the film, with a softness to the reproduction which doesn't encourage readers to use the image as intended.

It's rather amusing to look at Star Wars comics, as with novels, or computer games, with an eye on what is being referenced. The call-backs, call-forwards, allusions, sly winks, and in-jokes throughout the stories are almost as entertaining as the storylines. In some cases more entertaining. Thankfully Anakin Skywalker, which fills in the life of the titular character prior to the events of the first film in the prequel trilogy, is a fine example good comics.

Art and script are in tune with what had previously appeared, and there are moments of character-development for most of the main cast. While there's nothing groundbreaking here, there are a lot of fine moments ("You're weird, Anakin Skywalker," being a favourite panel) and - of note - a background character who appears to be wearing clothes more often associated with Han Solo.

A perfectly fine, though unexciting, entry in the history of British Star Wars comics.

#01

Star Wars Comic

#03