Books Comics Thrawn #1-6 comic adaptation (6/6 Released)

Can Ezra be added to Dark Horse's Thrawn Trilogy?

 

Given Pryce and Thrawns' friendship in the show, I think it's appropriate he brushes it under the rug.

 

"Friendship" is a bit of a stretch.

 

I enjoyed this series, but, I will be the first to tell you that I am glad that this is over. I read the novel and this story belongs in the novel format. It's creative, expansive and the comic doesn't do it justice instead of just getting stilled animated pages of scenes from the book. I think marvel is better served coming out with original new stories that expand there line. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it but glad this is over. I'll say the same thing with TLJ movie adaption. I like that one also but want new original content that is not going to be seen anywhere else.

 

I'll throw this question in here, figuring there are those whom have already read the Thrawn novel: What do you consider the age difference between Eli Vanto and Commander Karyn Faro?

 

I don’t think it’s too big one way or another. Neither Eli nor Faro struck me as particularly old, at a rough guess I’d say they’re both in their late 20s/early 30s.

 

Thanks, @SyndicThrass. I figured as much, but skewed her older by a a handful of years anyway.

 

After reading the book a few times (it came out last week) It appears that 2x4 covers both Commander and Commodore (Thrawn's XO wears a 2x4), and 2x3 covers both Captain and Lieutenant Commander.

Since Lieutenant Commanders tend to be addressed as "Commander" most of the time anyway, that may explain "Commander" references.

 

The next in my string of catch-up comics: This series, on its own, is really fantastic. It hit most of the major points of a fairly complex novel, and the art was pretty good. Thrawn's origin and Pryce's story (one of my favorite parts of the novel) were done particularly well. Some of the character designs that were ambiguous in the novel (Nightswan) were fairly creative in the comic.

But if you only read the comic, you'd come away with a different view of Eli Vanto. He seems like an angry, insecure young boy in this series. Sure, he's not brimming with confidence in the novel, but angry is not a term I'd ever associate with him. Yet he glowers throughout the comic. It's like the artist could only draw Eli in two modes: casual smile (while awkwardly gripping his elbow and slightly bent over), or glaring invisible murderous daggers at everyone else on the panel. The narration, also by Eli and only seen occasionally, focuses entirely on his mistrust of Thrawn.

Significantly, their last scene together was missing. The one where Thrawn admits he considers Eli a friend and they part ways. In this comic, their relationship seems to begin as a friendship in the first issue (faithful to the novel), and thereafter evolves into a military competition about rank (something Eli worries about in the novel, but it isn't the only thing on his mind). The ending, where Eli joins the Chiss, seems wrong because he distrusted Thrawn for most of the comic.

The Nightswan plot is also a little dry. They vaguely mention some of his conflicts with Thrawn, but aside from their first run-in most of Thrawn's beef with Nightswan is explained by the narration, and not very clearly. It's the usual Sherlock vs Moriarity plot -- they apparently have a history, but we don't know the details. The fact Nightswan is brushed under the carpet, offscreen, by the end of the comic is a little anticlimatic. The Thrawn/Pryce plot makes up for it so it's not so noticeable.

At any rate, rereading this story makes me wonder all the more what they have in mind for the team of oddballs Thrawn's been building in the novels. Zahn seems to have something in mind, or he did, but now they have the future TV shows to contend with. I wonder if he had known about that when he sent Eli out to the Unknown Regions? Hmmm.