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Republic #56: Stormchasers

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Script: Haden Blackman
Pencils: Brian Ching
Inks: Joe Weems
Coloring: Joe Wayne
Cover: Mozart Couto

Reviewed by Andrew Liptak

Summary: twenty-eight days after the start of the battle of Jabiim, and the Separatists have taken the upper hand of the battle, driving the Republic forces back further and further. Eighteen Jedi and over nine thousand clone troopers lost their lives. Anakin Skywalker, now without a master after Obi-Wan's apparent death, has joined the 'Padawan Pack', a group of Padawans who have also lost their masters. Republic intelligence finds that Alto Stratus was located in an area called the Razor Coast, and move in to kill him, which might end the battle there. The Padawan Pack and the Republic forces engage in a heated battle in a minefield. Anakin almost captures the Jabiim Separatist leader, but failed to get him as an explosion blew the two away from each other. The Republic won at Razor Coast, but at heavy costs. The Separatists, with their leader alive, plan a massive attack on one of the Republic bases where the army has grouped.

What Worked: This issue was the second in the Battle of Jabiim series, and does a pretty good job of carrying on the series thus far. What I liked in particular about this issue was how Anakin and the rest of the Padawans were coping with their master's deaths. Anakin's grief doesn't really show, but there are some subtle hints that he's not taking it well, and his anger is boiling inside. It's great to see how the Jedi function in battle and how they take it. In addition, we see that the war on Jabiim is not going well for the Republic, something that I mentioned before in the review for Republic 55.

The art was just as good as the first issue, and the art team manages to get everything into a small panel. Some of these scenes are done excellently, with nice angles, colors and details. We also get to see some pretty sweet action scenes in this issue, as well as glimpse some of the Republic armor moving around a bit, which is something that we didn't really get to see last issue.

What Didn't Work: A couple things didn't really look right in this issue. The first thing is the cover, which, (no offence to the artist) is probably the worst that I've seen yet. I didn't like the cover of this issue at all, with Anakin cutting a droid in pieces. The scene is okay, but the colors and angle is just not appealing. Plus, there isn't really a scene that we see like it in the issue. Second, the entire issue narrowed in focus a bit from the first issue. This issue focused more on the Padawan Pack, and less on the overall battle that we saw in Republic 55. This limits the story a little, and made it a little less interesting at times.

Overall, Ignoring the cover, this is a great issue, and an exciting, action-packed one at that, well worth reading.

Rating: 8/10

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