PRELUDE TO REBELLION

A Jedi searches for his daughter while advocating against his planet joining the Republic.

I liked the ruthlessness that Ephant Mon showed. He rescued Sylvn in apparent generosity, but he was also calculating. He knew that the escape pod would blow up if they tried to launch it automatically. So he brought the girl on board so that her father would have even greater incentive to launch the pod for them. Great stuff!

And Ki-Adi-Mundi arrives, and battles his way through the ship, using the robot he encountered earlier (reprogrammed, of course) and an environmental suit, and plenty of Force. He ejects the pod and has his ship pick him up as he jumps from the port, too! 

Ephant Mon presents the two girls (he killed Sylvn's boyfriend) to Jabba as gifts, which turn into decoys as Jabba sends illegal supplies up to Trade Federation ships in orbit. Mundi saves his daughter, but also launches one of his robot crew to download the shuttle's manifest, proving that the Trade Federation is planning something big...

I liked the way Ki-Adi-Mundi kept his stance against introducing technology onto Cerea, only to keep resorting to using it again and again. He had to use the recorders to clear him of murder, then the bacta tank after his encounter with the assassin droid, and then he had to procure a ship and a robotic crew to chase after his daughter. It shows that in the coming days, while there is something dark on the horizon, the tools that he had were not enough to do the jobs he is required to do. He has to be ready to compromise. And that ability is what makes Yoda and Mace Windu consider him for a seat on the Jedi Counsel. 

What I don't get in this story is why the bad guy calmed down on his efforts to create a division amongst the people on Cerea. There was never any proof that he was involved with Ephant Mon. He could easily have called them out as being radicals in a radical organization. Tell the people that he just wants peace, and the technology to better their lives. I also didn't understand how Mundi's little robot could eject from his ship, get to Jabba's palace, board the shuttle and download the information required in such a short time. Sure, Ki had a feeling that his daughter being chained to the ion-pole was a decoy. I liked the way his copilot robot became skeptical of the non-mechanical's motives after not recovering the droid at first, but I don't see how it could have been done. For Jabba's decoy to work, they would have to be nowhere near the shuttle launch-point. 

My absolute favorite part of the book came in the form of a flashback. Ki-Adi-Mundi is ever-confident with his lightsaber. He battles remotes and is never hit. Yoda watches in silence, obviously not happy with his student's overconfidence. He tells Ki to watch out for his blind spot, to which Ki responds that he doesn't have a blind spot. So while Ki is battling the remotes, Yoda sticks out his cane and trips the brash student, showing him where his blind spot actually lay. The look on Yoda's face, completely innocent, was precious!

Which brings me to the art. No graphic novel is complete without good art. And although there are many places where the art is really neat, most of the time it doesn't leave much impression on the reader. There is little or no depth to most frames, with the main character being detailed, and a single background color. I found that there were too many long shots, where I could barely tell who was who. Ephant Mon gets the best treatment of all, though, in the closeups.  But there was one point, where Ki is getting attacked by a Devaronian with a chain whipping around in circles, where I thought the art was just terrific. The chain is blurred just enough, that it seems to be actually moving. It is reminiscent of other graphic novels where there is a lot of action!  I wondered how the artists were going to depict the tall heads of the Cereans. Some had hair, others were bald, and many wore funny tall hats. It was really quite neat. For the most part, the colors were diffused, though, which made the story seem a little more flat than it should have been. 

A couple more notes: At one point, I was wondering why the people attacking Ki were afraid of his ostrich-like mount, when at the end his whole family was riding them. But then I went back and discovered that the attackers were all aliens, who would not be familiar with the creatures. Though they are called carnivores, they can be seen grazing on grass at the end of the book. 

I don't know about Jabba's involvement with the Trade Federation. If he supplied them with materials, he might know about their invasion of Naboo, especially since the systems are so close together. And when a Naboo starship appears on the outskirts of Mos Espa, might he be inclined to sell the information to the Trade Federation? It could be that the Trade Federation was more covert than I think them to be. But it is just a thought.

As a beginning to new characters and a new series, I will give this story the benefit of the doubt. I hope it develops into a long-term plot. For now, it didn't leave a great impression with me, either way. But it did establish Ki-Adi-Mundi's character in reference to his homeworld. And from what we did learn about him, I think I like him.