Obi-Wan & Anakin #1

Obi-Wan & Anakin #1

Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Marco Checchetto
Colorist: Andres Mossa
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Cover Artist: Marco Checchetto

Obi-Wan & Anakin #1 is, quite simply, intriguing. It’s not an action packed issue. It’s not an overly gorgeous looking comic. Yet the story is full of interesting questions and tantalizing pieces of a larger story. Anakin wanting to leave the order? Palpatine already laying eyes on the padawan as a potential pupil? A world at war who have never heard of Jedi? Give me more! It’s hard to not ask for more as there’s so many enticing bits thrown into this issue that you want to immediately jump into the next one. One way or another, this mini-series is off to a good start.

The issue opens without much dialog. Instead the artwork is allowed to tell the story as Obi-Wan and Anakin crash land on a planet called Carnelion IV. The artwork has an interesting style with soft edged environments, lots of detail, rich coloring, and a nice balance of stylized characters. The characters have good likenesses to their real life counterparts, but there’s also a unique design that allows the artist to capture them without being chained to reference shots. They have just enough wiggle room to make the characters look different, but still recognizable. The layouts are also well done, giving lots of action, a good flow to the story, and interesting visuals. It’s does get off to a rough start as the escape pod panels are fairly confusing, but afterwards it goes off without a hitch.

The writing adds to the artwork with some nice dialog and intriguing bits of story threads. The banter between Obi-Wan and Anakin is pretty good. It firmly establishes the master-apprentice relationship between the two and separates it from their later brother-like relationship in the Clone Wars. This is fitting for the placement of the story which takes place before Attack of the Clones. Anakin is still a boy. Yet his youth doesn’t hurt the story. Noticeably absent is the whiny, angsty Anakin. We may see that yet, but right now the whine and angst are in check. He’s still emotional and prone to outbursts and showing off, but it’s not at annoying levels. In fact I thought it was funny, and a nice story touch to boot, when Anakin threw two lightsabers at his fellow padawans due to them calling him a slave. Soule does a great job of not only tying into the prequel material, but diving into and prying it open for a wealth of storytelling potential. We get a glimpse of Anakin dealing with his past as a slave. We see Palpatine’s interest in the boy growing to the point of overt action. On top of all that is Obi-Wan’s instruction of the boy, but the biggest storytelling bone is Obi-Wan mentioning that Anakin wants to leave the order. Is it because he wants to go save his mom? I can’t help but hope for that one as it’s one of those huge unanswered questions from the time frame. With Soule teasing at the possibility, I can’t wait to see what paths this mini-series sets out to explore.

Going in, I didn’t have much in the way of expectations for Obi-Wan & Anakin #1. I like prequel era stories, but I wasn’t sure what this one would have to offer given all the stories we’ve already seen. However, Charles Soule shows that there is plenty of potential with this era, with these characters, and hopefully he’ll be able to follow through with the tantalizing kernels he’s laying out. With great artwork and a great story, I give this issue a five out of five metal bikinis.

Reviewed By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.