Expanded Universe Round-Up #21

The Clone Wars Graphic Novellas

#1 - The Shipyards of Doom

This is an excellent adventure that outperformed several Clone Wars episodes of the day. The carbonite manoeuvre (insert Star Trek joke here) was really cool and I remember preferring its use here to its later appearance on the show.
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​#2 - Crash Course

A fun adventure, if extremely improbable - Ahsoka would have needed more practice in a podracer before racing, surely. Not that I have any objection to podracer stories. I quite liked this one.
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#3 - ​The Wind Raiders of Taloraan

A bit disappointing after the stronger instalments that preceded it, but it's not a terrible story overall.
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​#4 - Slaves of the Republic

There are some really great moments in this story - especially Obi-Wan's apology to Anakin about not understanding what he went through as a slave. This is a brilliant comic. So much so that I'm going to overlook the ridiculous pouty expressions that the artists drew for Ahsoka.
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​#5 - The Colossus of Destiny

I wasn't too keen on the concept here (the colossus being my main irritant) and I don't think it was executed all that well. Mace didn't feel like Mace, either.
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​#6 - In Service of the Republic

A serviceable Clone Wars story that only stands out because of the inclusion of Ozzel. The short story in the back was fun if unremarkable.
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#7 - ​Hero of the Confederacy

There are some story elements here that I'd usually find annoying - ah, but it was so artistically done. This is a really strong instalment and it managed to add some dimension to Count Dooku.
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#8 - ​Deadly Hands of Shon-Ju

This was good, but it could have been much better - and the last-second appearance of Dooku (in a flashback, no less) didn't really add much to Shon-Ju's backstory.
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#9 - The Starcrusher Trap

This instalment suffers from a shocking dive in quality and poorly written female characters. But I've just noticed who wrote the script, so I shouldn't be all that surprised... Mike W. Barr does not seem to have improved at all between the 1980s and 2011.
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#10 - ​Strange Allies

It was nice to read about Nuru and co again, though the plot was somewhat average.
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#11 - ​The Enemy Within

This one had an interesting premise. I liked Banks, the lead character, though I'm not entirely sure if his story needed to be told.
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#12 - The Sith Hunters

A fun and destructive adventure that really ought to have been an episode of the show. I was pleased to finally see how Maul survived after his fall in Naboo.
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#13 - Defenders of the Lost Temple

A bit of fluffy fun, no real substance to it, so forgettable - and yet, I absolutely loved it!? Bonus Bo-Katan.
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​#14 - The Smuggler's Code​

Pointless, joyless, and tied with The Starcrusher Trap as the worst instalment of this digest series (admittedly, I don't own 2 of the TPBs yet, but I'm working on it).
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