Star Wars Comic Vol.1 #5

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

Edited by John Freeman.

Photo cover.

Contents:

 2 Escape from Tattoine text introduction (uncredited). / Contents / Indicia

 3 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, part five, 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) #?? (1999).

14 UNTITLED Yoda poster; photograph (uncredited).

19 Explore the Gungan Frontier! competition to win Star Wars Episode I - The Gungan Frontier software.

20 Use the Force advertisement for Lego Star Wars sets.

21 Star Wars: Episode I - Qui-Gon Jinn, part one, w: Ryder Windham; p: Robert Teranishi, i: Chris Chuckry, lettering by Vickie Williams, colouring by Chris Chuckry.

r: Star Wars: Episode I - Qui-Gon Jinn (Dark Horse) nn (May 1999).

24 See and Read the Film advertisement for graphic novel.

25 Communications readers' mail.

26 Coming Next Issue

27 Subscribe & Save

28 Forbidden Planet advertisement.

Of all the covers, it had to be Jar Jar.

While I don't mind CGI, per se, the overt artificiality of the character as perfectly illustrated here (dead eyes, tombstone teeth hanging in a gaping grin, and skin which appears to be modeled after a mummified corpse) is simply too far from anything believably moving around and interacting with human characters. Creepy doesn't begin to describe the character.

Thankfully the Yoda poster presents a more reasoned approach to the utilisation of CGI, showing the Jedi master deep in thought. This is the kind of quality poster which makes Star Wars Comic worth sticking with, as it really is a great image. This installment of the film adaptation isn't as action-packed, with a fair degree of talk, but the pictures are pretty enough to mitigate such a slow and deliberate sequence.

Qui-Gon Jinn, taking the back-up strip position, barely gets a chance to establish itself with a mere three pages included. I know there's a limited number of pages available, but really, three pages is simply begging for mockery. Opening with Anakin's victory at the pod-race, the strip shows what can be achieved with digital colouring, and gives a new slant to a scene from the film.

The appearance of a letters page, even one which has an appeal to readers for assistance with a name more appropriate than Communications, is a welcome sight, and the cing on top is a spectacularly singular vision of Darth Maul by Martin Spiers. Yes, Paul D. Bianco's home-made C-3PO is impressive, but it had already appeared in Star Wars Magazine, SFX, and likely elsewhere.

I've thought about the model a few times over the years, and occasionally pondered on what has happened to the majority of notable Star Wars fan-art. If there's one glaring omission in the celebration of the franchise over the years, it is a exhibition of all the weird things people have made to show their love for the series.

#04

Star Wars Comic

#06