Just weeks out from the release of the videogame, The Force Unleashed, I got my hands on the graphic novel because it will be sometime until I play the game and I was very anxious to see how the story goes.  When this was announced, I was worried about this story because Darth Vader never struck me as someone wanting an apprentice, regardless of what transpired in ESB.  However, once again, although I had little faith in the story, I was not disappointed like I assumed I would.

To begin, the art of the graphi novel is beautiful.  Force powers are done very well, and the characters look very human…well, for the characters that are supposed to be human, anyway :-).  Brian Ching, Bong Dazo, and Wayne Nichols did a great job, and I’ve been a fan of Brian Ching’s work, particularly on the Knights of the Old Republic comic series.

For the story, although I haven’t played the game, Haden Blackman does seem to capture the storyline from the game.  You can tell that the story comes from a videogame script because the panels try to capture the game play, such as having to fight through drones or “thugs”.  The narrator is kind of what I would expect for this story, so be sure to check this story out (and I do believe it ends with the cannon ending).

Finally, what I thought of this story?  The first half, I did roll my eyes as the story went, especially when Starkiller said, “my master.”  Juno Eclipse, Proxy, and Rahm Kota are all well defined characters, and I like the story given for how Kota escaped Order 66 (if you know me, you know I have had a problem with EU dealing with that order).  Other characters I didn’t think would appear made an appearance in this story, although one of them seems much older than I thought he or she should have been.  And for the twist…as soon as it happened, I thought it was great because something very similar happened in the movies, so I couldn’t be too disappointed about that the twist.  In short, very well done!

The Force Unleashed graphic novel was very well done, and I recommend it to everyone.  As for the game and the novel, I plan to check them out as soon as I can to see if they are just as well done.  Until next time, may the Force be with you! JMA