Star Wars Jedi: Aayla Secura, by John Ostrander, Jan Duursema, and Dan Parsons, 2003, Dark Horse Comics

But is it any good? I can say that it is. In fact, it was one of the best Star Wars comics I have read in a while. The story revolves around a small group of Jedi trying to hunt down Confederate forces attacking supply convoys. They trace the Confederates to one planet, but they find more than just soldiers waiting them; they find the bounty hunter and Jedi-killer, Aurra Sing. Aurra has been in many comics before, and is a total bad-ass. As expected, the story ends up with a fight between Aurra and Aayla. I felt it was very well done and it just felt "right" to me. It really showed how Aayla has matured over the years, though if you haven't been following the other Dark Horse Star Wars books you won't know about that. Touching on the artistic side of things, the art is very good. I have gotten used to Jan Duursema's pencils in these books, and for the most part I like his work. Sometimes his faces seem a little weird to me, but whatever. It works overall.

If you read most of Dark Horse's Star Wars stuff then this book is an excellent piece of the overall story. If you don't, this is still a good book to pick up and read, you just won't get all of the meta-story elements that are present here. It's still good, though.

Star Wars Tales issue 13, edited by Dave Land, 2002, Dark Horse Comics

Most previous issues of this comic have lacked a central theme, so the stories went all over the place with no unifying concept. This issue, however, is all about the Jedi Knight Mace Windu (as seen on the cover). Mace is one of the characters from the current run of Star Wars movies, and is a member of the Jedi Council. There are six stories here, all of which cover various adventures this particular jedi has had in his long career, ranging from the rather comical story "Puzzle Peace," to the somewhat serious "The Sith in the Shadow."

I didn't like this issue very much. I mainly like the humorous stories that focus on minor aspects of the Star Wars universe, and this issue didn't really have those. I'm also not a big fan of the Mace Windu character, so that's another drag on it. If you happen to like the character, then by all means pick it up, but if you're tastes don't go that direction that you can probably skip this issue and either grab the recently released TPB collection of the first few issues or wait for the next issue in a couple months.

Star Wars Tales issue 16, edited by Dave Land, 2003, Dark Horse Comics

There are three "serious" stories in this issue, as well. First is a story about Princess Leia and why she isn't a Jedi. I didn't like the art, and it just didn't resonate with me. At the end of the book is a short tale about Yoda's first trip to Dagobah. It's OK, but I had a hard time following it at the end; I couldn't tell what was happening. Maybe that was the intent, but it left me confused, which a good self-contained story should not do. The other tale is rather interesting, as the whole thing is put together with photographs or images from the Star Wars films, with the exception of the narrator, who seems to be made in a computer graphics program. It makes for a unique story, but the artist totally lost me when we got to the Kessel birds and they were just lawn flamigos painted green. Ugh.

I guess it is to be expected that with a concept of short comic stories, occasionally things won't gel. Nothing against the title as a whole, but I'd hold off until the next issue unless you just have to get everything Star Wars that Dark Horse publishes.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic issue 16, by John Jackson Miller, Brian Ching, and Michael Atiyeh, 2007, Dark Horse Comics

The hero of this series is Zayne Carrick, a lousy jedi padawan who gets framed for murder and finds himself on the run from the authorities and the other jedi. Zayne ends up running around with a bunch of ne'er-do-wells and criminals, getting involved in all sorts of stuff, like the Mandalorian invasion of the Republic. This issue starts up a new story line, focused on Jarael, an Arkanian who is friends with a fellow named "Camper," with whom Zayne travelled for a while. Zayne left them a few issues ago, but I always liked Jarael, so it is good to see her get to play at center stage.

The art in this series is very good. The emphasis is on detailed pencil work, rather than heavy, inked lines. I find that it works very well, especially with the excellent coloring job. The same team has been together for pretty much the entire series, so their work has been able to really define the feel of the universe at this stage in history. On top of that, the stories are excellent, as well. This is definitely a series that all Star Wars fans should be reading.

Sojourn volume 1, From the Ashes, by Ron Marz, Greg Land, Drew Geraci, and Caesar Rodriguez, 2002, CrossGen Comics

Sojourn is a standard swords and sorcery fantasy tale. Mordath has risen form the dead after 300 years, and has used his troll armies to conquer all the known lands. Arwyn, the main character, is an archer from the last town to be conquered. Mordath's soldiers kill her husband and daughter, and she vows vengeance on him. She discovers that killing someone who is already dead is rather difficult, and thus begins what promises to be an epic quest in grand fantasy tradition.

Greg Land, the penciler for this series, is fantastic. I think he makes Arwyn look too sexy. For example, her hair and lip gloss are always perfect, her clothes rarely get blemished, and she's just got that whole "too good to be true" thing going. Many people will like that, I'm sure, but it's not what I prefer. That's a minor quibble, however. The inker and colorer also do great work, and this is one fine looking book. It costs a little more than comparable TPBs from other publishers, but it is a high quality production. If you like fantasy stories, especially ones with a "one against the world" feel, then I can recommend this series.

Sojourn book 2, by Ron Marz, Greg Land, Drew Geraci, and Caesar Rodriguez, 2002, CrossGen Comics

As is obvious by the cover and name to this book, a dragon figures prominently in this story. I didn't like this book quite as much as I did the first one, but that could be because it is shorter. Also, standard series penciler Greg Land is absent for part of the book. His fill-ins do a good job, and appreciation for different art styles is a personal matter, but the lack of consistency bothered me. Add it together and you get a book that isn't as good as the first one, but a book that entertains and carries the story forward in important ways. There is also a very interesting interview with the writer, Ron Marz, in the back. With all that is going on in the world of Sojourn, I'll definitely be picking up the next book in the series.

Sentinel: salvage issue 1, by Sean McKeever, Eric Vedder, and UDON, 2003, Marvel Comics

Actually, if the other Tsunami books are as good as Sentinel Salvage, then they might be on to something. This book is mainly about Justin Seyfert, a high school sophomore whose father runs a junkyard. Justin and his friends are definitely not part of the "cool" crowd at school, and they suffer the depradations of the jocks and bullies. Two things happen in this issue that may change Justin's life. First, he meets a girl, Jessie, at lunch one day, and they seem to hit it off fairly well, even though she's a senior. Second, Justin finds a control chip to a giant robot. He puts it in a "battlebot" he is building, and the bot runs off on its own and starts rebuilding the giant robot.

The main thing I like about this book is that it is very believable. The characters are all pretty normal people, with a standard range of personalities and problems. The sentinel robot adds a little bit of sci-fi edge, but it is very understated, which is a nice change from standard Marvel "in your face" use of supernatural elements. The artwork, by the fellows at UDON, works well. Justin, and everyone else, looks normal, and nothing really strikes me as out of place. I think Jessie's stocking cap is stupid, but I'm sure I've worn something in my life that someone else thought was stupid, so I can't hold that against the book. So, even if you ignore Marvel comics, I encourage you to check this book out and see if you like it, too.

Sentinel: salvage issue 5, by Sean McKeever, Eric Vedder, and UDON, 2003, Marvel Comics

In this issue, things come to a head, and one of the lies pisses off Juston's newest friend, an older girl named Jessie, who says she never wants to see him again. Then the jocks show up and humiliate him in the hall at school, causing Juston to run off crying, much to the jock's joy. Juston, however, has been working on fixing up a sentinel robot (the ones used to fight the X-men), and at the end of the issue he gives the robot a mission...

This series continues to impress. I have always liked the art, and even though it was pretty obvious after the first issue where the writer was taking things, it's been a fun ride. It's also been a painful ride for part of the journey, as Juston puts up with some of the same stuff I had to put up with in school, being the "smart guy" rather than the "cool guy." The addition of the robot turns this series into one big geek power fantasy, though I am eagerly awaiting the final issue in order to find out what Juston does with this new-found power. Yes, the jocks humiliated him and beat him and his friends up. Yes, they are scumbags who seem to ruin his life for just the fun of it. But is that worth having your robot kill them? Is murder (or really any kind of violent response) justified? We'll have to find out what Juston does next issue!

Sentinel: salvage issue 6, by Sean McKeever, Eric Vedder, and UDON, 2003, Marvel Comics

Yeah, the book was weird. He fixes this robot, tells it to kill people, and then changes his mind and saves said people, so now everybody likes him. I was really hoping for a darker ending. Maybe not having people die, but at least having Juston get in trouble for causing the whole problem in the first place. While thinking this I was rooting around on the web, and it turns out that Marvel is publishing more books in this series. I thought it was just a six-issue series, but I guess there is more coming. That is good, and it makes the ending of this issue make much more sense. So, basically, this issue didn't take the story in the direction I wanted it to take, but since there is more coming, I'll eagerly wait to see what else is going to happen.

Slow News Day, by Andi Watson, 2002, Slave Labor Graphics

The only reason I got this book was because I had read some articles about the creator, Andi Watson, and I wanted to try out some of his stuff. I really wanted a copy of Geisha, but this is what I found. I remembered seeing this book on the Slave Labor website, so I picked it up.

Brief plot summary: Katharine Washington, a young American woman, gets an internship with a British newspaper for the summer. Being a fresh college grad she is full of idealism, but what she finds isn't what she expected. First, she's not in London, but out in the country. Second, the Wheatstone Mercury has only one reporter, and mainly exists to sell ad space. This lone reporter doesn't take kindly to our young American, which her can-do attitude and seeming disregard for British tradition. As you probably expect, however, everyone gets changed over the summer...

I didn't know what I was getting myself into, and when I first started reading it I was surprised at how simplistic the drawings were. Character designs were very simple, though it was pretty easy to keep the characters separate. Something crept up on me over time, however, that being Mr. Watson's impeccable capturing of emotion. I noticed that Mr. Watson's use of eyebrows and eye directions did a masterful job of displaying emotions. It was very easy to follow the story flow by watching what the character's eyes were doing. Full facial expressions are also put to excellent use, and I found my mind "filling in" the rest of the character's physical details based on the visual clues provided by the artist.

The story wasn't the best I've ever read, and ended at what didn't seem like the end, but I enjoyed the book overall. Now I really want to grab that copy of Geisha...

Stormwatch: Team Achilles volume 1, by Micah Ian Wright, Whilce Portacio, Scott Williams, and Sal Regla, 2003, Wildstorm Productions

Here's the basic story: The UN has a special military special operations team called "Stormwatch." Or, at least, they used to. I'm not sure what happened, but they either got wiped out or got their budgets cut. These new guys, in Team Achilles, are different. Why? The old Stormwatch was made up of superheros. The new Stormwatch is made up of (mostly) normal joes and janes with lots of military experience, and they use that expertise to fight off super-powered Islamic terrorists trying to blow up the UN. Granted, there's a lot more going on than just that, but that's the very basic story in this book. There are a lot of complications, including super-secret cabals, the afore-mentioned Authority superhero team, and the Russian army. But our boys (and girls!) come out OK in the end.

Now, I should mention that this book is NOT FOR KIDS! DO YOU HEAR ME? IT'S NOT FOR KIDS! Why? Lots of bad langage, and lots of violence of the "my, look at the blood fly" variety. Like when the giant terrorist gets an AP mine detonated in his throat. Yeah, that was gross. That being said, though, I really enjoyed watching these humans use superior tactics and equipment to take out superheros. As long-time readers know, I'm not normally into superhero books, but I sure do enjoy watching them get their butts kicked by people who rely on tactics and training to beat out pure brute force. So, if you like grittier combat stories with a sci-fi edge, you'll probably love this book and the associated monthly series.