SPOILER Marvel's Star Wars: Obi-Wan & Anakin #3

Hello ladies and gentlemen,
My apologies for the late review. Work has been bananas this week and I appreciate your patience. Thankfully @Hard Case kept the torch lit with his great review of Star Wars #17. Hope you guys enjoyed this issue! I'm loving this series so far.




Marvel continues it’s trip down Prequel Trilogy-memory lane in the third issue of Obi-Wan & Anakin. This series is starting to creep up as one of the best Star Wars comics you may be missing out on. A lot of fans may have trepidation about revisiting the whiny words of young Anakin, so let me assure you this unwinding story has nothing like that. It continues to be a fascinating look into an uncovered point in the Padawan’s story between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. BEWARE THE SPOILERS AHEAD!!





Obi-Wan and Anakin have managed to make friends with three of the locals on Carnelion IV. The last two issues illustrated Carnelion IV was once a thriving planet, filled with massive cities, but has since fallen into a post-apocalyptic state due to the wars waged by it’s own inhabitants. The three friends the Jedi made are each other’s enemies from the planet’s warring, Mad Max-esque warring clans. Mother Pran and her “daughter” Kolara, were the first faces the Jedi met; as well as Grecker, who popped into the previous issue with his giant airship. Obi-Wan and Anakin are now passengers aboard the vessel, making their way across Carnelion IV. The usual enemies have managed to put their differences aside, citing a rule that they can work together only when it is necessary. Seems like Obi-Wan and Anakin are becoming some sort of uniting force…no pun intended.



Anakin is making friends with Kolara. So far, they seem to have hit it off nicely. Kolara kind of reminds of Padme if Padme listened to The Cure. As the airship sails across the sky, they encounter a small crate attached to a parachute. Both parties agree it is dangerous and appears to be nothing more than a pendant. Grecker tosses it aside, but Kolara reveals she has one that resembles it. She doesn’t know what it is or what it means, just that she is not supposed to have it. That triggers another memory Anakin has with his favorite Supreme Chancellor.



“Yeah, Anakin. I’m not a Sith Lord, I just dress like one.” You can see here the artistic duo of Marco Checcchetto and Andres Mossa skipped right past subtle insinuation in regards to Palpatine’s appearance. Anakin and Palpatine made their way to the underworld of Coruscant after the Supreme Chancellor requested the gifted Padawan’s presence. I’m really enjoying the added insight of their relationship. Sheev’s brought Anakin to a seedy nightclub where he explains some of the Senate’s most corrupt members congregate and exploit those enslaved. I’m sure you can connect the dots here. Master manipulator that Palpatine is, he’s exposing young Anakin to the ugly side of politicians while touching on a sensitive topic for the young man. Well played, Sheev.



Palpatine points out the most corrupt of all the senators is gambling right in front of them. Senator Colandrus is a debased gambler and Palpatine laments that if the chance cubes could come up against Colandrus, the degenerate would lose himself trying to recoup the loss. Anakin’s seen someone he admires manipulate the fate of a chance cube to help the helpless before. It feels like Palpatine is testing the waters of young Anakin’s vulnerabilities. It doesn’t take much to learn preying on Anakin’s good nature and convoluting the ends-justify-the-means morality is a pretty quick route to get the Chosen One to do what he wants.



Not much more to this issue’s Palpatine interlude, but I loved this frame. The artwork by Checchetto and Mossa is the best thing these issues have going for them. The duo create unique portraits of these characters, still bringing it home with the classic characteristics fans are used to. I love the way they draw Palpatine. As much as I jested their straightforward presentation of him in the above paragraph, I love that Palpatine’s presence gets darker with each issue. The artwork makes this comic worth owning.



We also get the feeling Obi-Wan is still very conflicted about taking Anakin on as an apprentice. There’s not a touch of sentiment in Obi-Wan as he describes the role Anakin fills as a student to his teachings. Obi-Wan swore to his master he would train Anakin, and Obi-Wan keeps his promises. I know I’m not the only one who felt there wasn’t much love lost between Anakin and Obi-Wan on Mustafar, at least until I watched The Clone Wars; so it’s interesting this series’ writer, Charles Soule, chose to underscore the tenuousness of their relationship.



It’s just a smooth voyage over post-apocalypse world until the Fishers show up. We saw them at the end of the second issue, so I got the sense they had been on the airship’s tail for some time. The Fisher’s appearance are what you would imagine mutilated aliens wandering a post-war wasteland might look like. They launch hooks into the airship and begin crawling up in swarms. That hammerhead shark looking thing is some sort of bird they ride. We don’t get much more of a look of them in this issue than we did in the last, but they appear to be scary enough to frighten the locals.



Before the Fishers made their way into the airship, Anakin and Kolara were working on fixing some Carnelion IV technology. Kolara explained that everything technological on the planet no longer functioned, post war. What would a wasteland be without technology rendered useless by some sort of fallout? Unfortunately for Anakin, just as the fishers attack, Mother Pran decides his skills as a mechanic would be useful to them. She knocks Anakin out with a wrench (yes, you read that right) and puts him onboard a makeshift escape vehicle. When blasters don’t work against a Padawan in training, the wrench always does.



Mother Pran manages to make it off the airship before Obi-Wan can catch her. Obi-Wan and Grecker are left to deal with the Fishers. As you can see, Kolara is not too happy about Mother Pran knocking Anakin out, and especially not happy about what Pran does following that, which I will not spoil. It might not seem like much, but Kolara has mostly been amoral about everything, following Mother Pran’s lead. Should be interesting to see if she ends up helping Anakin out of whatever bind I imagine he will be in.



This series is certainly coming to us fans at a strange time. All eyes are fixed on Episode VIII and Rogue One, so it felt kind of odd to be taking this many steps back in the SW Universe. Charles Soule has managed to spin us fans a very enjoyable yarn. I don’t yearn to stay at this point in the history much longer, but I’m certainly enjoying what is being served up. If you’ve been holding out on reading this series, now may be a good time to pick up these books and help pass the time until this and next December. Sure, there are plenty of good Star Wars stories on the horizon, but this is right here and now, so you might as well enjoy it. If my previous reviews and this one do not convince you, get a load of the cover to issue four below.

 

I agree. Obi-Wan doesn't seem too thrilled about his Padawan. Quite skeptical are words that come to mind.