With George Lucas suggesting that there aren’t going to be any more Star Wars movies, it’s left to the books and graphic novels to keep the universe alive. Don’t fret though – there are enough sub-plots available in these various other media to keep the fastest of readers entertained well into the future.
The Defense of Kamino is a collection of back-stories reprinted from Dark Horse’s comic line, written to bridge the gap between movie episodes II (Attack of the Clones) and III (Revenge of the Sith). In it, Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker attempt to thwart an attack on Kamino – the watery planet where the Republic is churning out cloned soldiers to battle against the Separatists’ robot army. The book is also concerned with rebellion within the Jedi ranks, as Mace Windu visits a group unwilling to partake in the wars to see if he can win them over.
The stories are pure Star Wars, with plenty of sizzling lightsabres and battling blasters. In fact, we enjoyed these stories more than the recent films – the plot is high on conspiracy and action, low on convoluted love stories and unfathomable politics.
Art duties come from various corners though most are executed with aplomb, particularly Duursema’s rendition of Ostrander’s spy story Sacrifice, the first tale in the book.
While the graphic novel offers little more than background information and there’s nothing here that’s required reading for movie-goers, the rich Star Wars universe still contains plenty of stories for fans to explore. We always wondered what the Clone Wars were all about after Obi-Wan mentioned them in the first film. This first book in the series will certainly quench a fan’s thirst for more information.