The Unofficial Clone Wars Site

Republic #72

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Script: John Ostrander
Art: Jan Duursema

Reviewed by Andrew Liptak

Summary: Acting on information that was supplied to the fallen Jedi Quinlan Vos, Aayla Secura and Master Thome head out to the outer rim, to Anzat, to track down a supposed military buildup by Dark Jedi Sora Bulq. Meanwhile, Quinlan Vos is still a dark Jedi, and is trying to find the identity of a second Sith. He visits Senator Viento's tomb to see if he has any connection to the supposed Sith Lord. With a face in mind, he begins to search for a contact.

What Worked: This issue was outstanding, but it felt lacking in some aspects. However, the storytelling and artwork is back up to Jan and John's superior standards, with some great artwork, that surpasses what we saw in the previous issue. Jan manages to do some very cool scenes, such as one with an northern lights and some interesting influences, namely Japanese.

The story brings in a couple of older people and races. First, we see Dex from the movie Attack of the Clones, and it appears that his business is still running on Coruscant. It also appears that he had previous run ins with Quinlan for information. There's also a cameo of the waitress in the diner as well. There are also some great lines out of this, such as Dex complaining that Obi-Wan hasn't come by to visit, when he was on Coruscant and some interesting mention of the Security levels on planet.

The race that has been mentioned are the Anzati, which were gone into detail with in the Tales of the Mos Eisly Cantina. It's interesting to actually see the planet, and a little into their back story. Plus, John and Jan make the scenes with Thome's former master quasi-Japanese, almost something out of Kill Bill, which was cool.

Finally, there's the scenes with Aayla looking for Sora Bulq, where she seduces some traders and takes out some guards. Some of the scenes have some of the better colors that I've seen thus far, as well as some very cool action scenes.

What Didn't Work: This issue left me hanging, which was sort of expected. With Republic 71, we sort of had some closure to the previous stories in the lineup, while here, we're entering what appears to be a very tight storyline with several issues lined up that look very good. However, this one opens that, and it begins everything, leaving no closure to the two main story lines that we have; the arms buildup on the outer rim, and Quinlan's search for the second Sith. I have a feeling that they are going to collide sometime, and perhaps even with the parallel series, Obsession.

Secondly, the cover was slightly lacking from what we're used to, although it does have Aayla, which is a big plus.

Overall, An exciting opener to the final run of the Republic Clone Wars series.

Rating: 8.5/10

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