Review by Ian Keogh

Jedi of the Republic picks up on Jedi Knight Mace Windu after Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, and he’s concerned about the Jedi increasingly becoming soldiers rather than peacekeepers. However, when instructed by the Jedi Council he nevertheless accepts a mission to investigate why Separatists have set up base on a jungle planet in almost perpetual darkness.

Matt Owens reveals the reason for the droid presence quickly, and answers how it is that a planet only taking in an hour of sunlight per month can still produce lush vegetation. That in itself is a valuable technique worth studying further. Owens gives the assorted droids distinctive personalities, but he’s not as convincing with the dialogue between the Jedis, which can come across as forced, and for much of the story Jedi of the Republic seems a by the book mission.

The art of Denys Cowan is far removed from the loose and sometimes abstracted style that’s become familiar over the years. Without his name on the credits you’d not know this tightly rendered art with precise actor likenesses was his. It’s a tidy showing of first rate storytelling skills, but toward the end the style becomes noticeably sketchier.

Halfway through, what Owens has set up bursts into surprising fruition. There’s an unexpected conflict alongside the maverick leader of the droids, and good use of a flashback sequence ending in wise advice to the younger Windu that governs his actions in the present.

Jedi of the Republic takes a little too long to get going to rank among the best Star Wars, but it’s solid entertainment with points to make about what the Jedis are.