Star Wars Omnibus: Tales of the Jedi Volume 1 [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Of the many Star Wars comics issued by Dark Horse, the Tales of the Jedi line was far and away my favorite. The series' setting (5000 years before A New Hope) let authors Kevin J. Anderson and Tom Veitch really go wild in creating the early tales of the Jedi Knights and their Sith adversaries, and resulted in the creation of some of the Star Wars Universe's most memorable characters.

Since many of the original Tales of the Jedi trade paperbacks are out of print, Dark Horse has issued Omnibus collections of the Tales of the Jedi comics. This is the first volume, and it collects the following stories:

Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi - The Golden Age of the Sith
This series was useful in recounting the original schism between the Jedi and the Sith as well as the Sith's defeat and exile across the galaxy. In this series a pair of Force-sensitive hyperspace explorers accidentally discovers the Sith homeworld. After a power struggle among the Sith Lords, the explorers are used to bring the evil of the Sith back to the Republic. As important as these events are to Star Wars continuity (never mind that the prequels would undo much of what Anderson had established regarding the Sith), the series just runs too long and has too many bland characters. The artwork is downright ugly too, which doesn't help.

Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi - The Fall of the Sith Empire
This series picks up where Golden Age left off, with Sith Lord Naga Sadow's invasion of the Republic. This series was plagued by uninteresting characters, ridiculous dialogue, and the same dreadful artwork as Golden Age. Honestly, they could have combined the two series and made the story far more effective. It also hurts that there really aren't any Jedi to speak of, which kind of defeats the purpose of the title.

Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi - Ulic Qel Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon/The Saga of Nomi Sunrider (previously collected in the original Tales of the Jedi tpb)
Finally we get to the good stuff! These were originally the first TOJ stories, and they are the focus for all of the TOJ stories that follow. Set 4000 years before A New Hope, the series introduces an exciting group of young Jedi Knights whose adventures would change the galaxy. The epic battle between good and evil, Jedi and Sith begins here.

Even though the first and second parts of the book aren't as connected as later TOJ series were, they are included in chronological order. If you can make it through the disappointing first part of the book, the second part will have you eagerly awaiting the second Tales of the Jedi Omnibus.

I love the idea of these mid-priced Omnibus volumes, but am not crazy about their size. Compared to Marvel's larger Omnibus hardcovers, these smaller (they shaved roughly an inch from the height and width of the trade paperback size) paperback collections fall a bit short (no pun intended). Still, if you're new to the Tales of the Jedi series, or like me never got around to buying all of the trade paperbacks, they are an ideal way to get the most bang for your buck.

PS - For what it's worth, my copy of this Omnibus has a different cover than what is pictured. I'll try and upload a scan to show the difference.

Omnibus Tales of the Jedi is really my first experience with the Star Wars graphic novels published by Dark Horse. I must say that the experience was a pleasure. The book was entertaining and just has a great look about it. This one collects the earliest known tales about the Jedi and Sith originally published in comic book form with the action taking place several thousand years before the Battle of Yavin. The tales in the book are from the comic book stories "The Golden Age of the Sith," "The Fall of the Sith Empire," "Knights of the Old Republic," and "The Freedon Nadd Uprising,"

The Golden Age of the Sith: Prologue - 5,000 years before Yavin. We are introduced to a young Jedi named Odan-Urr as he is ordered to leave his study of old scrolls and documents and head off to the planet of Cinnagar to assist the Empress Teta. We also get to meet the brother and sister team of Gav and Jori Daragon in their early days.

The Golden Age of the Sith - 5,000 years before Yavin. The Sith Lord Marka Ragnos ruled the galaxy until his death ignited a battle for ascension. Great battles and evil doings among the Sith ensue. The Daragons are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon - 4,000 years before Yavin. Qel-Droma and two others are sent to the system of Onderon to help deal with the beast riders who are creating havoc. Once there they become involved with rescuing the queen's daughter who has been kidnapped

The Saga of Nomi Sunrider - 3,999 years before Yavin. We see the beginnings of Nomi Sunrider's rise to becoming a great Jedi Knight.

The Omnibus is great fun to read, and I look forward to more of them from Dark Horse.

If you are a star wars fan, as well as a fan of graphic novels then this is a good book to have, but one may not be recomended to run off and buy it right away.

The first two thirds of this book tell the story of the Sith lord Naga Sadow, the first Sith to invade the Republic. It is Star Wars historical gold, except that the storyline, artwork and dialogue are absolute garbage. It is extremely unfortunate that such a rich era of the Star Wars universe has been so utterly molested, but i suppose we must be grateful for what we have.

So here's the positive of the Naga Sadow story. Ever seen someone of the 'race' of the Sith? Here is one of the only places you will. This is some of the oldest storyline in all of Star Wars, occuring some five thousand years before episode IV. Unfortunately it omits the story of how a group of renegade Jedi came to influence the Sith peoples, and ultimately rule over them as something to the effect of "god kings", however we do get to see the society that they set up. Also we get to see at least one major player in Star Wars history: Odan-Urr. He is certainly a more obscure reference, but is nonetheless the Yoda of his time. And that's about it folks, i'm extremely sorry to say. The rest of what i have to say about this story is not for the positive portion of this review.

Oh how i hate to bash Star Wars, but this series has it coming. The art work is bad, but all in all if that were the only problem this series had then i probably wouldn't even notice. The story is bad too. I'm saying this in passing because there really isn't much story at all. Naga Sadow takes over the Sith, he finds a means of invading the Republic (with little or no motive to risk all in doing), starts to win, and then fails so miserably that the whole of the original Sith Empire is destroyed, the end. Again, if this were the worst of it i still don't think i would care much, especially as i love the era of the Old Republic so much. But it gets much, much worse. The characters may as well be cardboard cut outs for as much dimension as they have; which is to say none. Who needs a deeply compeling motive when you have writers with a mechanical objective to just push you through. Adding to this is the dialogue. The dialogue is the absolute worst i have ever experienced; ever. I hate when i hear people bashing comics as lame and worthless in the context of literature. I believe that it is work like this that they are referencing. It is rare that two characters, even with a well established relationship, can speak to each other without saying each others' name; not just first name, but the full name. Likewise, i would quote the robot devil out of Futurama as saying, "you don't make your characters say how they feel, that makes me angry!" And it's too true. Rather than show the emotion of the characters they launch into an absolutely unconvincing, horribly written exposition. Okay i'm done with this now. (deep breath)

If you're still reading this, the reason i'm so very upset with the Naga Sadow story is more than anything how it detracts from the worthiness of graphic novels in general, specifically that of the second story in the book (beginning in the last thrid, and comprising the whole of volume 2), the Story of Ulic Qel-droma, Nomi Sunrider, and Exar Kun. This is an outstanding bit of Star Wars comics and history. Not surprisingly, it is also perhaps the most notable era in the Old Republic, until recently atleast. There is far too much storyline for me to go into here, and that is a positive thing. The story is dynamic, and comes from many different angles. There is great room for debate on character motives, as the characters are well developed, and greatly rounded. So too are they emotionally complex with wonderfully written dialogue to boot. Even if you don't care a bit about Star Wars history, the last third of this book is good enough to make it worth buying, especially as it is the beginning of the story of volume 2, which is just outstanding.

So, is this a good book? Well, that's why i went with a 3 star rating. Naga Sadow gets one star, and Ulic Qel-droma gets five, so it all averages out. For the record, even if this book was only the Naga Sadow story i would have bought it anyway, and i plan to read it again, but that's just because i'm such a Star Wars dork. It is for this reason i feel my negative review carries such gravity.