REVIEW: Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: Prisoner of Bogan #1

With the recent announcement of three more Star Wars movies on the horizon, I figured now would be as good of a time as any to try and dive back into the Star Wars universe. My first attempt at this venture is with Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: Prisoner of Bogan #1. Will it bring back the same feeling of adventure and wonder I got as a child, gazing upon the George Lucas films for the first time? Find out in with your Major Spoilers review!

STAR WARS: DAWN OF THE JEDI: PRISONER OF BOGAN #1
Story: John Ostrander
Pencils: Jan Duuresma
Inker: Dan Parsons
Colors: Wes Dzioba
Cover Art: David Michael Beck
Publisher: Dark Horse
Cover Price: $2.99

Previously on Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: Prisoner of Bogan: Nothing in this series specifically, since its a first issue, but it seems like there were previous series that led up to this. It does a good job of summarizing the previous events in the beginning of this book though, or at least the things that matter. A “force hound” known as Xesh met some Je’daii (like Jedi, but more monkish, and they do not use light sabers) on a strange world he crash landed on. Because they had a vision about Xesh, they sentence him to imprisonment on the prison moon above their world, and that is where the story starts.

A PADAWAN WITH POTENTIAL

What seems to be the main story of Prisoner of Bogan is fairly clear and somewhat interesting. An old man by the name of Daegen Lok frees Xesh from his prison so that Xesh can build a lightsaber to prove Daegen’s prophecy true. This prophecy included a light saber, a foreign concept to the local people, and Daegen thinks that if he can prove a lightsaber exists then the rest of his prophecy must be true. This story seems like it has some potential to it. Unfortunately it is overshadowed by pages of other characters doing things that are only tangentially related to the A plot. While this was distracting, it was not straight up off putting, but there were enough separate plot threads (about four by my count) to make me worry about weather or not this series would be able to contain them all in any meaningful way.

A SPACE ODDITY

The art is solid enough over all, characters are competently drawn, and action feels dynamic and exciting (what little action there is anyway). Really one of the best parts of the Star Wars franchise is the design. Varying aliens, spaceships, and saber wielding space warriors are all present in this book. Each has the same kind of fun and fantasy/sci-fi blend that is expected of the franchise.

BOTTOM LINE: FOR THE FANS

If you are a fan of this series of Star Wars comics, or really the Star Wars comics at all, then I would suggest picking this up. If you are completely new the Star Wars comic universe, then this is might not be for you. It is a bit off putting having the issue throw so much information at you at once, but if you really want to get into this series, or have already picked this up, then give it at least until the second issue before deciding for good. It seems like the story might pick up.

DID YOU READ THIS ISSUE? RATE IT!
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