General Grievous #3 (of 4) Story: Chuck Dixon Art: Rick Leonardi Inking: Mark Pennington Coloring: Lucas Marangon Lettering: Dave Lanphear Cover: Rick Leonardi, Mark Pennington, Lucas Marangon Released: 06/15/2005 Reviewed by: JF Boivin (06/23/2005) SUMMARY: Flynn Kybo and his Jedi and Banvhar Combine friends track down the location of General Grievous in the Anoat system. But the failed attack from their probe droids only puts Grievous on his guard against danger. Meanwhile, the cyborg general has big plans for the young Jedi he captured. But during a visit from Dooku's envoy Commander Vulpus, Grievous discovers that they escaped their cell through underground tunnels and he's not happy about it. Will the vigilante group of rogue Jedi and miners arrive in time to save them?

[final cover] [preview cover]

THE STORY

This series fails to keep my interest up. It would probably be pretty good in any other sci-fi type comic book, but somehow a lot of the elements of story just doesn't feel like it belongs in the Star Wars universe. It seems like Dixon doesn't have a grasp on the basic concepts of the shared universe.

For example, Grievous has Geonosians brought in to work in the droid factory on Gentes. But aren't the droids built by a manufacturing company who happened to have a factory on Geonosis? I dont' think the Geonosians themselves are droid builders.

One other example is the pointless introduction of a (so-far) non-Force using "servant of the Sith" named Vulpus. I guess he's supposed to be a lower-ranking General Grievous wannabe, but given the fact that he pilots Asajj Ventress' ship, why not use the already established Dark Jedi as the envoy? Vulpus uses a lot of the stating-the-obvious replies that Dixon seems fond of. "You challenge my authority? For that is what you do when you threaten me. You call Count Dooku's wrath down upon you. If you were to kill me you would be ending your own miserable life as well." He sounds more like Mojo Jojo than a Star Wars villain.

While fighting probe droids on page 6, Grievous throws two fingers in the air and a hot cauldron disloges itself and falls on a droid. Did I miss something or is this Grievous using the Force? Since when does he have this ability?

The group of "protagonists" who plan to destroy Grievous arrive on a transport, piloted by two battle droid torsoes who are controlled by one of the techs. It seems like a clever way to pass by the Trade Federation control ship, but how stupid are the Neimoidians to not scan the ships that pass by? Surely they would run basic tests to see if anything is wrong with the ship's cargo, like containing 30 or so lifeforms! I guess it wouldn't serve the story, but Dixon could have found a more plausible and more interesting way of executing this.

And what's the point of Grievous' side project of creating mechanized armor bodies for the young Jedi? Will this be another abandonned sub-plot, or a corny set-up for the exepcted final battle? Oh, I just can't wait.

The "cliffhanger" ending has Grievous discovering the Jedi children....just like at the end of the first issue. We're back to square one now. And it's so predictable what's going to happen, I could probably write my review of next issue right now. It's just filled with clich?s and things that don't make sense.

THE ART

The art is still pretty bland and uninteresting, and the colors are dull. Just not up to the standards set by the monthly Star Wars series.

CONCLUSIONS

I am really starting to dislike this series, especially since I had to read it a couple of times for this review. So far, the best thing about the series are the covers by Leonardi.

Rating: 3 / 10 Not Recommended