Book Review: Marvel Comics' reissue of 'Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith'

(C) 2016 Marvel Comics and Lucasfilm Ltd. Cover art by Mike Mayhew

On November 29, 2016, Marvel Comics published Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, a hardcover volume that collects all four issues of the comics adaptation of the eponymous space-fantasy film by writer-director George Lucas. These comics (and a similar trade paperback compilation) were originally published by Dark Horse Comics in 2005; Marvel, which regained the license to publish Star Wars content in 2014, has also reissued Dark Horse's other Prequel Era adaptations, The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, as part of a collection that encompasses the entire Star Wars movie saga.

Writer Christopher Cerasi (using the pen name "Miles Lane" in the original Dark Horse edition) and artist Doug Wheatley follow the story in Lucas's screenplay closely, even using the same title crawl text from the finished film. (For some reason, the "crawl" appears twice in this compilation. First, it appears in the page after the "credits" section as a facsimile of the one seen in the film.  The second time we see it is on the opening panel as part of the backdrop of a space battle over Coruscant.)

The Republic crumbles, an Empire is born and a new evil rises!

As the Clone Wars rage, the fate of a young Jedi takes a dramatic turn, and many of the biggest questions raised by the original trilogy are answered. When the fearsome droid leader, General Grievous, sweeps into the Republic capital and kidnaps Chancellor Palpatine, two Jedi Knights lead the desperate rescue mission. But Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker will face far more than they ever bargained for, and their relationship will never be the same! Lightsabers clash, battles rage in space and incredible armies go to war in a tale of sacrifice, treachery and loss. - Publisher's back cover blurb

In this volume, the first chapter of Revenge of the Sith depicts the last adventure that Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and his former apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, share as friends: the rescue of Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine from the clutches of General Grievous, the cyborg commander of the Separatists' droid army. In these pages, Count Dooku gets his long overdue comeuppance, Anakin shows how good a starfighter pilot - and a cunning warrior - he is, Padme Amidala makes an unexpected revelation, and Grievous arrives on the sinkhole planet Utapau to prepare the next stage of Darth Sidious' master plan to destroy the Jedi Order.

The rest of the book delves into the chain of events that lead to the pivotal events of the Star Wars saga - the finale of the Clone Wars, the sundering of the brotherly bond between the galaxy's two greatest Jedi heroes, and the fiery transformation of Anakin to the "twisted and evil" Sith Lord Darth Vader.

My Take

As is the case with all of Marvel/Dark Horse Comics' Star Wars film-to-comic adaptations, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is a case study of artistic compromises. Writer Christopher Cerasi tries to capture the spirit of Lucas's final entry in the Skywalker saga but doesn't replicate every line of dialogue or show every scene from the film.

Why?

Well, as the late Archie Goodwin (who wrote and edited Marvel's Star Wars comic book series for several years in the 1970s and early '80s) explained in his behind-the-scenes essay about adapting The Empire Strikes Back:

The screenplay....is 160 pages long. Our adaptation had to run under 96 pages in order to fit in a standard magazine format and 109 to fill 6 regular comic books. Right away one problem in doing the adaptation becomes obvious. Condensation. There are others, generally related to the fact that we were taking material specifically designed for one medium and translating it into another. 

So, if readers expect Cerasi and artist Doug Wheatley to recreate Revenge of the Sith in a shot by shot fashion, they can forget it. Not only is this impossible to achieve in this format, but it is not how comic book adaptations work.

Also, because Lucasfilm did not give Cerasi the final draft of Lucas's shooting script, there are differences between the film and the comic book adaptation.

For instance, in the Order 66 sequence, Cerasi and Wheatley show the deaths of Jedi Masters Luminara Unduli, Barriss Offee, and Quislan Vos in addition to the slayings of Ki-Adi Mundi and Ayla Secura. The latter two executions were seen in the film, but the fates of Unduli, Offee, and Vos were not shown in the movie.

To his credit, Marvel's collection editor Mark Beazley strives to make the re-issue of Attack of the Clones consistent with the other six hardcover books (Yes, there’s a volume for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, too.) in the saga. This book ports over features seen in the other Prequel Trilogy volumes, including the movies' "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" card, similar title page layouts, and a gallery of artwork that includes the original Dark Horse Comics cover artwork, and the conceptual designs and final art by Mike Mayhew for the cover of this volume.

I would have liked a reprise of the Original Trilogy volumes' introductions written by several cast members (Peter Mayhew, Billy Dee Williams, and Warwick W. Davis), or at least an author's (or series editor's) foreword. Sadly, Marvel didn't include that feature here (or in the Chuck Wendig-scripted adaptation of Star Wars: The Force Awakens). I would have liked to see more of those first-person accounts from, say, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, or Ewan McGregor and read how they felt about the films, their roles, and the comics adaptation.

But that's a small quibble. The artwork done by Doug Wheatley is magnificent, and Cerasi does a good job at translating a 140-minute-long motion picture into a 104-page-long graphic novel. It's not a perfect adaptation, to be sure, but it's still a good addition to any Star Wars fan's library.