Review by Ian Keogh

When Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was released in cinemas, Dark Horse issued a variety of prequel tales never comprehensively gathered together before this Epic Collection, although some material appeared in the Dark Horse paperback Omnibus Rise of the Sith. He doesn’t appear in every tale, but Qui-Gon Jinn is central to the general chronology.

However, four shorts starring Mace Windu open the collection, the best of them being Jason Hall and Lucas Marangon spotlighting the inhumane practice of removing force-sensitive babies from their parents for Jedi training. Timothy Green II’s art is also notable. It’s followed by Yaddle’s incredible story and the first chronological sighting of Ki-Adi Mundi, revisited by Jan Strnad in Volume Two.

We first see Qui-Gon with a different Padawan, Xanatos, following them through a disaster of a diplomatic mission courtesy of Scott Allie and Mahmud Asrar. It’s a twisting tale peeling back layers of deception, one of only two tales here previously available as a graphic novel, Jedi: The Dark Side. Follow the link for greater detail, but it’s good, a continuity implant from 2011. In all subsequent tales Qui-Gon is Obi-Wan Kenobi’s mentor first observed via Jim Woodring’s entertaining tale of a trying ally, brilliantly drawn by Robert Teranishi (sample spread left).

Mike Kennedy’s plot for ‘The Aurorient Express’ has a serious enough issue at its heart, but is played as comedy drama, not least due to the exaggerations of Marangon’s art. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan first have to descend from the sky onto a luxury air cruiser not responding to hails and must then discover which of many objectionable passengers and incompetent staff is responsible for sabotage. It’s funny in places and the mystery is genuine, but it’s also overplayed.

By Ryder Windham and Ramón F. Bachs (sample spread right), ‘Last Stand on Ord Mantell’ is more satisfying. It’s another action-based mystery, but this time with the comedy restricted and toned down. Windham includes a solid debate concerning principles running throughout, and keeps readers and protagonists guessing until a fine revelation. It’s among the best in the book.

The better of two spotlights on Darth Maul is by Rob Williams and Cully Hamner, showing how Darth Maul joins forces with Darth Sidious.

Jedi Council: Acts of War was issued as graphic novel in the late 1990s and sees Mace Windu having to deal with a warlike race immune to Jedi mind control. Randy Stradley writes a twisting thriller and Davidé Fabbri’s intensely detailed art brings characters and locations to life.

Excellent art from Jan Duursema graces John Ostrander’s script about untrustworthy smuggler Vilmarh Grahrk, the highlight among the good selection of short stories ending the collection. The remainder are funny. Stradley and Francisco Ruiz Velasco satirise a TV cooking show, while good cartooning from Dave McCaig stands out on his tale of the infant Darth Maul.

Rise of the Sith Vol. 1 is an enjoyable collection with few dips. This content is paired with that of Volume 2 in the hardcover Rise of the Sith Omnibus.