Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi Book One: Force Storm Review: Promise

The origin of the Jedi is a hot topic in the “Stars Wars” universe nowadays. “Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi Book One: Force Storm” is one of many Jedi origin stories.

Too bad, the Force is not strong with this one.

The comic takes place 36,453 years before the Battle of Yavin and talks about how the Jedi (called Je’daii here) came about. It also discusses one of the earliest instances of the Jedi facing off against the Dark Side.

The comic starts off nice enough. The narration about the history of how all these races entering the Tho Yor edifice reads like it’s being narrated by Original Trilogy Obi-Wan Kenobi. It’s a well written and insightful early history on how the early Jedi came about.

Then the actual story kicks in and everything goes downhill. In typical “Star Wars expanded universe” fashion, the villains are generic evil and the good guys are bland. This is topped off with them saying “Star Wars” style foul language, which comes off awkward and unnatural.

That doesn’t mean the story didn’t have promise. It had an interesting premise but as the comic went on the story gradually become boring and a chore to read. This is, again, due to how bland and uninteresting the characters are. Not to mention the scenario they’re thrown in is your typical “Star Wars” young Jedies in trouble that has gotten old.

The art work on the other hand is top notch. In fact, it’s too good to even be regular comic book art and more cover art. This is exemplified in the character models and battle scenes. The character models look like somebody who really cares about “Star Wars” and wants the world to look absolutely perfect. The battle scenes are high octane goodness that shows off the characters’ fighting abilities well and really bring the reader into the battle.

“Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi Book One: Force Storm” suffers from the usual expanded universe shortcomings: poor writing, bland characters, generic evil villains, but great artwork. It’s too bad that something that’s supposed to show off the origins of the Jedi is such a let down.