Review: Star Wars Mace Windu #1

The Star Wars prequels are fertile land to mine new stories from so it is fantastic to see the character of Mace Windu given a new comic taking place prior to the films. Writer Marc Bernardin gives us a strategic and adventurous Jedi in young Mace. He doesn’t quite have the tone of the Windu we know from the films but this can be excused by his youth casting a less jaded perspective. Artist Georges Jeanty gives us a swashbuckling tone strengthened greatly by fantastic inks giving the entire issue a richness and depth. Add to this pitch perfect colors emphasizing the different setting and giving them each their own unique flavor.

The issue starts off with Mace in the high seas of an ocean moon with our hero breaking out of a prison. He uses the force to commandeer a skiff and chase down a rogue group of droids reprogrammed to steel a systems key. He heads back to Coruscant to confer with Yoda. Yoda quickly has Jedi Gara inform Windu of a new form of Coaxium fuel which could hyper power air transport to bypass republic blockades. In order to stop this they send Mace on a mission to retrieve the formula for the fuel from Azita Cruuz.

Mace travels to Ro Mira to find Azita. Once arriving on the busy world he hacks into security cams to locate Azita. He also fights off a group of thugs merely with the suggestion of what he could do to them. He finds Azita just as refinery security gives chase. In spite of her abilities she is cornered by the guards but Mace intercedes, makes quick work of them and offers Azita a hand as the issue closes.

This book would benefit from being a bit more steeped in worlds and other prequel characters we are familiar with. But surrounding Mace with new characters and locales does allow for some suspense in terms of where this story could could go. There are some anachronisms in seeing the Jedi operate in this era as a strategic military unit. A bit more philosophy and introspection would help to balance the action. The team does a great job of keeping Mace cool under fire and making him appropriately laconic. Mace Windu is a character that is worth exploring further and this book is giving us exactly what we want.

Writing: 4 of 5 stars
Art: 4.2 of 5 stars
Colors: 4.3 of 5 stars

Overall:
4.2 of 5 stars

Writer Marc Bernardin
Pencils: Georges Jeanty
Inks: Dexter Vines
Colors: Andrew Dalhouse
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Author Profile

M.R. Jafri

M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.