Review by Ian Keogh

Volume 1 concentrated more on behind the scenes machinations as the Sith re-emerged after a millennia of freedom across the galaxy. This collection gathers stories leading up to events of The Phantom Menace, as their presence gradually becomes more widely known. The film hangs large over this anthology. It’s a rare story not featuring characters from it, and the 1999 adaptation is also included.

The one major piece that really stands alone is Prelude to Rebellion. Discontent is being fostered on a planet with a pastoral way of life as it has valuable mineral deposits. Jan Strnad adapts the real world corporate divide and conquer policy to a different era, spotlighting a steadfast and honourable Jedi fighting to make his voice heard with the younger generation amid the promise of riches accompanying more technology. The trials pile up for Ki-Adi Mundi as the dangers escalate. Anthony Winn’s art improves over six chapters (sample spread left), but the plot is prolonged to fill them.

There are solo outings for Queen Amidala, Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Maul, and Anakin Skywalker, most set either during or before the film. Jan Duursema’s startling art raises Ron Marz’s tale of Darth Maul infiltrating the Black Sun, but the best of them overall is Ryder Windham and Robert Teranishi looking at Qui-Gon after the film’s podcar race sequence. Darth Maul’s four chapters are available as an individual collection, while the remainder are gathered as Star Wars Episode I Adventures.

Henry Gilroy adapts George Lucas’ script for The Phantom Menace, delicately drawn by Rodolfo Damaggio who’s good with cast likeness and recreating scenes from the film. The irritating Jar Jar Binks is unfortunately nowhere near as amusing as Lucas thinks, and he’s definitely working to a template with analogues present for many of the original cast, but it’s still a stirring adventure that sets the scene for the films that follow.

The remaining content is shorter stories from the Star Wars Tales series, five of them to be precise. Unless you’re a great fan of Tony Millionaire or Stan Sakai, the standout is the first of them. Terry Moore writes an emotionally strong story of a teenager’s infatuation with then Princess Amidala, gorgeously illustrated by Cliff Richards. The complications are drawn from literature, but resonate. Millionaire investigates Jar Jar’s parentage, which is nicely drawn, but fades out of ideas, while Sakai’s story of Anakin Skywalker is subtle and funny. So is Kevin Rubio and Lucas Maragnon’s closer, which toys with Mace Windu being played by Samuel L. Jackson, and has him transition into another famous role. Windham and Tom Fowler’s ‘Death of Captain Tarpals’ is smart, but stars Jar Jar.

This is an up and down volume with the art frequently bettering the writing. As well as being separated into constituent volumes, this content is also found in two different Omnibus collections. The Dark Horse version is a paperback only including ‘Prelude to Rebellion’ and ‘Darth Maul’, while the Marvel hardcover collection unites everything here with the content of Volume 1.