Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace (Graphic Novel)
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (Graphic Novel), Adapted by Henry Gilroy from the original story by George Lucas, Pencils by Rodolfo Damaggio, with Inks by Al Williamson
Original four issues published weekly from May 5, 1999 to May 26, 1999 by
Dark Horse Comics
You absolutely cannot have a Star Wars film without a comic book adaptation. For 1999's Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace, Lucasfilm continued their fruitful 90s relationship with Dark Horse Comics, who adapted the film in four weekly issues. Of course, once those four issues had been released to comic book store shelves, it was time to collect them all into one graphic novel. This book is the result.
To get immediately to the point: this is a solid adaptation, with one caveat. As to the positives, Rodolfo Damaggio's art and Al Williamson's colors are quite good. The artwork is clear, detailed, and vibrantly colored, matching the tone and feel of the film. Henry Gilroy's script does a great job of distilling the film's plot without losing any major details. In many ways, this is a great, concise retelling of The Phantom Menace.
There's some character points here, as well, as the book includes the movie's opening crawl to kick things off. This graphic novel version even holds pros over the four individually released comics. For starters, all of the comics collected covers are featured at the end of the book. The main bonus, though, is a short, extra (but brief) comic that was previously only available in Wizard magazine. This is the definitive collection of these comics versus just having the four individual issues.
However, I mentioned a caveat above, and it's fairly major: despite the high production qualities, this comic adaptation is rote and joyless. Yes, the story is told clearly, yes the artwork is good, but this comic seems to exist just to get the job done and get out. Take the film's biggest moment: a huge hangar door opens and Darth Maul steps through, reveals and ignites his lightsaber, and shockingly...and awesomely, that lightsaber is double-bladed, filling the frame. You'd think the comic adaptation would use this moment as an opportunity to feature a beautiful splash page. Instead, the lightsaber reveal happens in a small, partially obscured panel, where the second blade ISN'T EVEN VISIBLE! To continue the joyless thread, the final podium moment of the parade at the end of the film gets a full page panel, but isn't preceded by any panels of the actual parade leading into it...and in fact, it actually looks like a regimented military ceremony in that page, instead of the joyous celebration from the film. Thus, this book is okay and a nice curiosity...but it is not vital.
You absolutely cannot have a Star Wars film without a comic book adaptation. For 1999's Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace, Lucasfilm continued their fruitful 90s relationship with Dark Horse Comics, who adapted the film in four weekly issues. Of course, once those four issues had been released to comic book store shelves, it was time to collect them all into one graphic novel. This book is the result.
To get immediately to the point: this is a solid adaptation, with one caveat. As to the positives, Rodolfo Damaggio's art and Al Williamson's colors are quite good. The artwork is clear, detailed, and vibrantly colored, matching the tone and feel of the film. Henry Gilroy's script does a great job of distilling the film's plot without losing any major details. In many ways, this is a great, concise retelling of The Phantom Menace.
There's some character points here, as well, as the book includes the movie's opening crawl to kick things off. This graphic novel version even holds pros over the four individually released comics. For starters, all of the comics collected covers are featured at the end of the book. The main bonus, though, is a short, extra (but brief) comic that was previously only available in Wizard magazine. This is the definitive collection of these comics versus just having the four individual issues.
However, I mentioned a caveat above, and it's fairly major: despite the high production qualities, this comic adaptation is rote and joyless. Yes, the story is told clearly, yes the artwork is good, but this comic seems to exist just to get the job done and get out. Take the film's biggest moment: a huge hangar door opens and Darth Maul steps through, reveals and ignites his lightsaber, and shockingly...and awesomely, that lightsaber is double-bladed, filling the frame. You'd think the comic adaptation would use this moment as an opportunity to feature a beautiful splash page. Instead, the lightsaber reveal happens in a small, partially obscured panel, where the second blade ISN'T EVEN VISIBLE! To continue the joyless thread, the final podium moment of the parade at the end of the film gets a full page panel, but isn't preceded by any panels of the actual parade leading into it...and in fact, it actually looks like a regimented military ceremony in that page, instead of the joyous celebration from the film. Thus, this book is okay and a nice curiosity...but it is not vital.
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