Star Wars Adventures The Clone Wars Battle Tales #2: Taking Care of Business

There are some forms of storytelling that I just flat-out don’t like. Like when the story opens with a hero plunging to his/her death, then the next panel says “8 hours earlier”. Is it that hard to just tell a linear story? No, it’s not. Another is the “story within a story”. Same deal. Of all the stories within stories I’ve read, these are some of the few that I’ve actually like. For that, I blame writer Michael Moreci. The man has a LOT of work under his belt, and that means he knows how to entertain you and keep you entertained, and hooked enough to keep you counting the days until the next issue. This issue, it’s the Wolfpack’s turn to shine, in both stories, and Moreci really gives them the shine! The first story is fun, but there’s not really enough meat on the bone, so we’ll have to see how that plays out next issue. The “flashback” story, if you will, is a really great story about the Wolfpack and Plo Koon attacking a battle station in space called The Nexus in order to rescue some hostages, and it’s really well told. With the Clone Wars stories, sometimes they feel just like generic war stories dressed up in clone trooper armor with a lightsaber thrown in here and there. That’s not the case here. These are stories that could ONLY be told in the Star Wars universe, and that’s about 75% of the battle. The fact that Moreci knows the characters really well is the icing on the cake.

Artists Megan Levens and Derek Charm are more than artists drawing in an animated style. They aren’t just aping a cartoon, they’re bringing these characters, and worlds, to life and giving them their own distinct look and feel. You are in definitely separate places in one story compared to the other, from one scene to another, and that makes all the difference in what could be just another licensed property. Fortunately, they respect the story enough to put their own unique stamp on them and the audience is the one that reaps all the rewards.