Star Wars: Tales from the Nightlands #1 – From Beyond Death

Hello there! Padawan J here, the resident Star Wars expert from the ODPH! This week I’m going to be reviewing the FIRST issue of Star Wars: Tales from the Nightlands from Dark Horse Comics!

This story sees a young Anakin & Obi-Wan travel to Ryloth for the funeral at the request of Chancellor Palpatine himself! But not everything is as it appears! So what exactly happens, when what should be an ordinary ceremony gets turned on its head? Let’s jump into it!

Star Wars: Tales from the Nightlands #1 by Cavan Scott (Writer), Soo Lee (Art), Comicraft’s Tyler Smith & Jimmy Betancourt (Letters) is the perfect comic for the Halloween season we’re in right now. It’s an intriguing tale set during a relatively unexplored part of the Star Wars timeline. That time is between The Phantom Menace & Attack of the Clones!

The Story

Cavan Scott writes a really incredible story in this issue, and it’s so compelling right from the start. It’s also a story that’s relatively simple of a setup to establish, and that works so beautifully. It’s the story of a family mourning the death of a loved one, but one member of the family isn’t happy with that. Along with that is that same unhappy family member who wants to do something about said unhappiness, and goes to some EXTREME lengths to solve it.

From start to finish it’s a compelling story that has some familiar beats to it. You have Anakin being young & rebellious. Also you have Anakin being not exactly the perfect Jedi. Sure he’s still a Padawan leaner, but you can already see the headstrong leader we’ll come to know in The Clone Wars. There’s just so much incredible work done in this issue.

The Artwork

Soo Lee does an incredible job with the artwork from start to finish. He does a great job capturing Anakin & Obi-Wan’s look, despite the fact we don’t really see them in this way very much (if at all) it still looks incredible. I also love the other worldliness and how creepy & spooky the artwork is. It’s unnerving and off putting, but it looks so spectacular & really helps push the comic to the next level of how good it is.

FINAL POINT: Cavan Scott pens an absolute masterpiece of a story, that together with spectacular artwork from Soo Lee it all comes together for a story that is perfect for the fall/Halloween season. It’s an issue that every Star Wars fan should read, and should be on your pull list.

Overall Grade: 10/10

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