Lit The Thrawn Trilogy–why the comics aren't that good

I have never liked the HTTE comics, honestly. Oh, the art's great. There are some truly sensational panels:



but overall, I did not like the comics. There were inaccuracies, there were silly things, there were downright contrary things. My biggest peeves:

#1: Mara's Sleeveless Outfit

The novels specifically stated that Mara had a sleeve gun. This would require sleeves, yes? Apparently not; the comic artists were more than happy to give her a sleeveless, body-clinging leather suit to up the sexiness. This just annoys me, especially since it colored everything to come: Mara is even to this day almost exclusively drawn in a black or blue sleeveless catsuit, and even the recent Hasbro figure has done this–despite the fact that the figure was supposed to be Mara Jade Skywalker.

#2: Mara's nudity

In The Last Command, Mara is written to be dressed when she goes to the Imperial library to find the hidden blaster–she has to be, because she leaves her room to go to the library! Despite this, the comic apparently decides that more sexy is needed, because she has no apparent problem walking the halls of Imperial Palace completely topless. The kark? Let alone the fact that the actual text panel says she's dressed in a flight suit!



#3: Miscolored lightsabers

Happens at least twice in HTTE, and once in TLC. Luke and Leia are both shown in HTTE with blue lightsabers (to be fair, Zahn didn't specify what color Leia's was until DFR). Then, again, in TLC, Leia's saber (as used by Mara) appears blue.





#4: The Noghri

What about the comics depiction is Jawa-like? Or small? Seriously, these things look like short little Arnold Shwarzeneggers!



These are but a few of my problems with these comics, but you get the idea. So how 'bout it? How do you guys like the Thrawn Trilogy comics?

 

Not a fan.

 

of the comics or this thread?

 

The comics. Trying to compress 3 300+-page novels into 3 x 6 22-page comics, even allowing for the visual ability the medium has, just doesn't work. I'm not really a fan of adaptations into other formats of stories because, for SW, it tends to end badly - the first VOTF audiobook left out large chunks of the book! The DE audio version is a rare exception in this respect.

 

Well, Dark Empire got a full cast audio drama.

 

Yeah, but it was a small enough story to fit easily into the timeframe allowed too.

 

Well, we got another Mara in Mysteries of the Sith - but the Sacrifice cover should be final proof that we've just seen the black catsuit too much. About the library nudity - I think that's due to the fact that the artist thought she'd get the blaster out of a "book" close to or in her quarters. It's part of putting on her clothes (in SW, you're really naked without a blaster), and the scene itself, as described in the comic's text and imagery, makes sense, because it seems as if she's got her quarters on a level of the libary. Okay, in the end it's a simple exploitation tactic, but at least it doesn't seem as if she's running around naked (although - why not? ).

Lightsaber colours - I can live with artistic mistakes like that, especially if scenes have a colour scheme that work better with a different light source than the canon one. I guess these comics here wouldn't really have lost artistic value if they used correct colours, but hey.

Now, the Noghri (and Pellaeon as well) - total design failure if you ask me. "My" original version of the Noghri had a lot in common with the Alien alien. Threatening and stealthy. Not a strange bulky Hulk with a pretty light skin colour.

 

Aren't the Noghri described as "wiry" several times in the novels?

 

I think the panel of her in the library is supposed to be a flashback of how she got the blaster she was now arming herself with in the present.

Anyway, my first exposure to a visual depiction of Mara was her illustration in the Guide to the Star Wars Universe Vol. 2, which has the drawing of her with lots of braids (and which looks like it might have been taken from one of the Thrawn WEG Sourcebooks). Seeing her always drawn with no braids seemed weird to me for a long time.

 

I don't think the art style for these things has aged well in general. Very 90s.

 

Personally I prefer the The Last Command wersion of all I have seen

Which of them or all three?

 

All three, I think.

 

Need to find these and read them.

 

Why has nobody brought up the creepy OBGYN?

 

OBGYN?

 

I like the "UEE EE" in the upper right corner even though I have no idea what context that could possibly be appropriate in oh no wait I got it OH GOD

 

It's Darth Caedus' Force scream.

 

You can see in both of these she has sleeves that she wraps around her forearms with the tank-top flight suit. Even in the 2nd to last panel of the first page you can see her putting her blaster into her sleeves. So, yes, she does have sleeves on her arm. Yes, that's it it but the sleeves are there. (sorta like Batman's gauntlets he wears)

 

But the problem with that is, those gauntlets are so tight against her wrist that she wouldn't even be able to squeeze a blaster out of it, let alone actually get one on and still have it realistically hide the thing–it'd be hideously sticking out and deforming her whole wrist. No, I think Zahn's vision of her was something of an X-Wing flight suit or something similar–loose and with sleeves baggy enough to conceivably and logically hide a small gun. Although, to be kind to the artists, he never described her–or anyone's–outfit in the books, so they didn't have much to go on.

 

I'll just point here.

 

The real unforgivable part about the Thrawn comics is that Pellaeon is depicted without his soup strainer.

 

Dunno about all of you, but comic be damned, I always thought of Talon Karrde as Bruce Campbell.

Because he was.


That is all.

 

I preferred the ERC's depiction of Karrde.

 

This rejection of Bruce Campbell is as baffling to me as someone expressing preference to Temeura Morrison's dub of Boba Fett over Jason Wingreen's original dub.

IS THIS REAL LIFE?!