Review by Ian Keogh

Anyone wanting to know the standing of the Star Wars franchise in 1999 as The Phantom Menace was released need only consult the comics. Dark Horse had produced decent Star Wars comics for several years, yet their movie tie-ins weren’t produced by the era’s superstars, but by creators whose profile was considerably lower, despite being very good. This volume collects four one-shots focussing on the new characters introduced in the film.

First up is Anakin Skywalker, who’s a young boy from the backwater planet of Tatooine who’s considerably in touch with the Force. Tim Truman and Steve Crespo focus on Anakin and his mother still enslaved by scrap dealer Watto. Truman’s characterisation of a dreamer who knows he’s somehow lucky is spot on, and Crespo’s illustrations of a young boy cheerful despite his circumstances are open, neat and appealing, while there’s a lot of effort put into drawing aliens.

Mark Schulz and Galen Showman are able to set their story of Queen Amidala during events of the film when she’s masquerading as her own handmaiden on Tatooine. Amidala and Jar Jar Binks take a detour when other events are unfolding. Without knowing the limitations placed on the creators, it can’t conclusively be said it’s the wrong choice, but rather than a standard adventure showing the Queen’s understanding and resourcefulness, something set on her own besieged planet would have been more interesting. Showman’s art, though, is very attractive.

So is that of Robert Teranishi on Ryder Windham’s tale of Qui-Gon Jinn, again set during events of the film. Windham dances delicately around what’s shown on screen, picking up after the podcar race and Watto’s attempts to avoid settling his debt. It all reads engagingly well and none of it would have been out of place in the film itself.

Henry Gilroy is responsible for a good adaptation of The Phantom Menace, which makes his Obi-Wan Kenobi story all the more disappointing for largely being a synopsis of the film as related by Obi-Wan to Yoda. It’s only the final pages that show something different, but even then they just spell out what the film hinted at anyway. In comparison with the other art here Martin Egeland also falls short, with less imaginative page compositions and distorted figures.

Still, three-quarters good is a decent hit rate. Alternatively, all content is combined with other material in Star Wars: Rise of the Sith Omnibus and the second Epic Collection of the same name.