This month’s release from IDW Publishing brings us Star Wars Adventures 19, which is the second in a trilogy of Clone Wars era stories that began with last month’s adventure starring Padme and Jar Jar.
In the Crantori system we open on a new planet, Horain, where a battle is raging. We find Captain Rex is pinned down alone and needing backup. After calling for backup from General Skywalker, the call is answered by none other than General Obi-Wan Kenobi, who is filling in for Anakin while he deals with his own droid problem.
We find out that Captain Rex went back and rescued some local children and was cut off from his company in the process. With Obi-Wan’s help they fight their way back through the battle droids to get to the evacuation point. After a deflected blast from Kenobi’s blade causes damage to battle droid B1-0516 (Bats), we discover that the damage has actually caused the droid to have a “conscience” and defect to the clone trooper and Jedi’s side.
After creating a distraction and causing Bats to get caught and taken in by his fellow droids for analysis, we see that Obi-Wan has organized a plan for the droid to get inside and create a ruckus, allowing enough of a distraction for Kenobi and Rex to surprise attack the droid forces, using a stolen AAT. Our heroes are able to rescue Bats, wipe out the droids, and get back to General Skywalker and company with a new friend and a stolen enemy tank that can be used against the Separatists.
We also get a short story from CR-8R about a battle droid who falls off of a transport and is stranded on a planet called Opop Hibbedit. He’s then forced to travel by foot across treacherous domain to get back to his squad, narrowly avoiding getting eaten by the local creatures. The takeaway from the story is supposed to be that everything is about the journey and not the destination, although I’m not really sure what the point is here since the battle droid ends up falling off the transport again in the end and repeating the cycle.
Captain Rex vs. Destroyer Droids – Star Wars Adventures 19 (art by Mauricet)
This was definitely a very easygoing entry in the Clone Wars series, but a somewhat satisfying one at that. Getting to see General Kenobi get the Star Wars Adventures treatment was definitely thrilling, but the true standout was the great idea of seeing what it would be like for a battle droid to wake up and realize he was the bad guy. I find that most of the Tales from the Wild Space stories are fairly skippable, and the one in this issue was pretty much on par with the others.
Next week brings us the final installment of the recent prequel era Star Wars Adventures and stars Anakin and Master Yoda!
Star Wars Adventures 19:
- Writer – Cavan Scott, Nick Brokenshire
- Art – Mauricet, Nick Brokenshire
- Cover – Mauricet, Nick Brokenshire, Valentina Pinto
- Page Count – 32 pages
- Cost – $3.99
