Comics Obi-Wan and Anakin #2 (of 5)

I just realized the GFFA was sorely lacking in the steampunk zeppelin gunship department. What have we missed out on?

 

This is looking good.

Jedi as super heroes, not just jerks!

 

Looks pretty. I'm waiting for the trade, but I love the art, and the Zeppelin. Should be a good read, really liked Soule's Lando book and so am looking forward to the new characters he introduces in this. And Kenobi is always cool.

 

I'm hoping this series winds up like Lando - a genuinely important moment in its protagonists' lives and not just an episodic excerpt from The Adventures of Obi-Wan and Anakin - but honestly, the art has me sold either way.

 

July for the trade.

 

Yup, the downside of waiting for trades, lots of waiting.

 

Easy solution to that: Buy more trades.

(Seriously, I'm likely following about 90 series, but of those only 30 have a known trade release date at any one time, so across the months, it's in the region of 6-7 trades at a time. Most series will only ever rack up 2 trades / 1 OHC a year with the bigger deluxe hardbacks being every 2 years, so it can, with online discounts, be surprisingly affordable.)

 

I agree with this. I'm catching up on Canon this year (really the next couple months) and will be buying the first volume of DV and SW tomorrow. Seeing as it's a fast read I'll finish those quick. I'll read some other stuff and then pick up volumes 2 and by that time Lando will have been out, and Kanan vol. 2 soon after (I've already read volume 1 a couple weeks back). So more or less between the comics and novels I'll always have something to look forward to.

 

Anybody pick this one up yet?

 

Yep, pretty good (especially the Emperor/Vader flashback) and kind of going in the direction I assumed it would. Also it fittingly enough has a pretty strong Jedi Quest/ Jedi Apprentice vibe, though I would still have really favoured if they made it a Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan story.

 

Yes. Art is fantastic once again. Put the plot points under some spoiler tags just in case for those who are waiting to buy the trade. I have no patience. I wouldn't make a good Jedi.

Spoiler

Badass!: Obi-wan force throwing his lightsaber to take down a zeppelin.
Mistake?: Mother Pran calls Grecker an "open fool", but I thought he was "closed".
Anakin has a little trouble connecting to animals (which is something he obviously fixes or finally learns to do in the arena in AOTC) so I thought that was pretty cool. I've always appreciated that part in AOTC anyway (there isn't a lot to appreciate in that movie, unfortunately)
Anakin has a meeting with Palpatine and they go to level 2685 to do some good?
Final few panels set up the conflict for next issue. I wonder if Obi-wan and Anakin's troubles will run parallel with Palpatine and Anakin's "good" deeds in the club they are visiting!?!

 

I love the parallel story format. Some nifty insights and appropriate 'progression' of Anakin's story at this point in the timeline without being at all too 'on the nose', like many earlier stories in this period did.

And art is fantastic.

 

I can stare at the panels all day long. The art is incredible, Checchetto is so far my favorite SW artist in the new Marvel comics.

Spoiler

Very good issue, but the story progresses relatively slowly. The best part again, is the flashback on Coruscant - can't wait to find out what Palpatine has on mind. The creature designs were excellent, I especially liked the creatures on the final panel. I hope we see much more of them in the next issue.

 

I love it especially the flashback with Palpatine.
It could become the best marvel Star Wars comics with Kanan for me.

 

If it was an ongoing series, I wouldn't mind the slow pace. But for a mini, we need to move a little faster like in the awesome Lando mini.

BUT, I do enjoy the flashbacks, and the art is top notch, and I love how Obi Wan is being written.

 

Personally, I didn't have any trouble with the pacing. I already care about Obi-wan and Anakin, so if the writers can make me care about the Open and Closed people, then that is a job well done. I even cared about the semi brainless leeches being killed by Anakin because he hadn't mastered that force ability yet. It truly gives you the monk-esque feel of the Jedi that they're keepers of peace, not soldiers, (even though we want to see them do badass stuff ALL the time with their lightsabers.)

 

What a great issue. I loved this one even more than the last one.

Spoiler

Love, love the artwork. I love the steampunk look of this new world and characters, I’m super curious about their culture and their destructive dissension, I want to know what the heck happened to this planet asap please.

The action was great, though Obi-Wan weirdly reminded me of Vader. Also really enjoying the parallels in the storytelling.

Anakin’s portrayal is excellent. He acts exactly like how I imagined he would act in this age, with a slightly obnoxious but endearingly innocent personality, still easily impressionable and very much an inexperienced, emotional student. I like how he looks up to Obi-Wan like he’s the best, and makes me wish for another miniseries set before AOTC so to see what happened that caused such a change in him.

Palpatine is the stand out though. He just steals the show every time he appears. Here’s hoping for Soule to pen one day a Palpatine mini-series. I loved every single line he uttered and how he’s ever so subtly messing up with Anakin’s belief system and even indirectly interfering with his Jedi training. Kind old man Palpatine taking a prepubescent padawan to a club got a laugh out of me.

My only gripe with this series so far – and I know I’m probably the only one here – is the portrayal of Obi-Wan. He acts and looks too much like an older, over-dramatic Alec Guinness version, instead of a young Obi-Wan in a setting two years after TPM. One of the things I was looking forward to see is Obi-Wan’s character development as well, and his growth from still fresh Jedi Knight to soon-to-become Jedi Master through his struggles as a teacher. Guess not.

 

It's weird that they chose to use a Nabooan mott to play the part of the aggressive animal. They've always been portrayed as benign herbivores.

 

It properly had to spend a whole day with Jocasta Nu, you could drive anyone insane with that.

 

You can definitely tell that they have toned down the Anakin angst story to the point it will be a more natural progression into the Anakin that we see in TCW.

 

Great issue, I already want more 8/10
+I love how Palps is walking around in his Sith outfit right infront of Anakin
+Interesting plot (Wonder who sent out that signal )
+That art is spectacular
+Love the flashbacks and seeing the beginning of Palps and Anakin's ''friendship''
+Obi-Wan was a total badass

Favorite Quote of the Issue
''It is the darkness that most requires the light''- Sheev Palpatine

ps. Wow I really do like emoticons

 

I know this Palps does this 'I am BFFs with the Jedi' (exaggerating, of course) all the time, but man, you'd think the Jedi would be suspicious of how much he's interested in Anakin? I mean, he says he's just concerned for him, but what's a Chancellor doing in the Temple. Valorum did that, too? That's like too much. Sure, Valorum (personally?) asked Qui-Gon to oversee the negotiations with the Trade Federation, and had Sifo-Dyas do some dodgy work in Oba Diah. But you know, I saw the Order's subservience to the Senate as more of an unspoken thing no one wanted to recognise than a literal Palps-oversees-Padawan-training-for-the-lulz evulz...

But then again, they probably saw this as extremely worrying and like, it wasn't the Clone War and the repeatedly refusals to give up his emergency powers. No, it was Palpatine entering the Temple as he pleased. But Palpatine, as the master chessmaster he is, wouldn't give his game away so early, would he? Or he does knowing that the Jedi only have suspicions and no real proof of, you know, literally nothing at this point... and so he waltz in the Temple whenever he pleases with the excuse that he's "interested" in the well-being of the "guardians of peace" of the Republic? Does he do this with other Jedi so as to not look so overly interested in Anakin? Were there other possibilites? Of course, it could have been only that one time, but...

I don't know, Palpatine being in the Temple (and repeatedly showing interest in Anakin) is weird to me. I love the foreshadowing, and where this leads, but it's weird.

On the other hand, I need Soule to make a Palps story where he meets Mother Talzin (and you know, takes Maul away from her), and I will love him forever.