Broken Frontier

When Count Dooku and his separatist forces occupy Togruta, a peace-loving planet, the Jedis react in kind. The team they send has an added interest in their mission, as Anakin’s young padawan learner is a native of the planet. Soon a sinister plot is discovered and light sabers are activated.

A formula is used to yield similar results every time. In mathematics and science, they are a necessity. In art, they are often considered a bad thing. This should not be a foregone conclusion.

Let me step back for a moment and explain a few things. I am of the generation that was almost raised by the original trilogy. When I was young, they were exciting and as I grew older, I found layers to peel back and examine. As with many of my peers, the films had an almost religious influence over me. They helped define my earliest philosophies and a screening was approached with a certain amount of reverence.

With the continuation of the mythology in books, comics, and eventually more motion pictures, I have never been quite as satisfied as I was with the movies that had such a profound effect on my formative years. Sure, these new chapters were entertaining, but it had become a rote process. The dialogue was the same, the pairing of characters familiar, the dark & mysterious villain, etc. Insert yawn.

With this book, it is all there - robots as comedic relief, wise cracking Jedi, the young apprentice . . . This story even throws in further formulaic elements with a plot concerned with "police" buddies who must dismantle bombs and a video game like progression. Meanwhile, Obi Wan uses his wit and fighting skills to keep the big bad (who speaks stilted broken English) occupied. So the writer has thrown in a plethora of tried and true adventure equations creating a very pedestrian comic. It is mildly diverting but hardly anything special.

Gilroy does take special care to recreate the characters as seen in the animated feature for which this book serves as a companion. This adds to the feeling that everything, while I may find it boring, is actually just right.

The art even evokes the film of the same name. It takes the stylistic "Easter Island" designs and adapts them into four color matte. It is serviceable and like the movie seems a little stiff in its execution. Although the action does seem to pop! More goodness from that Star Wars formula.

The thing is that my daughter and a lot of kids who come into the shops gobble this stuff up. They love it. In fact they seem to genuinely have the same enthusiasm for this new material as I had when I was four, seven, and ten years old. While I hate to think that I have out grown yet another childhood pleasure, I also realize that this as good a time as ever to step aside and let this new generation enjoy their Star Wars. As for me, I think I’ll pop in my non special edition Empire Strikes Back in the VCR and see if that spark is still there . . .