Obsession #3 (of 5) Story: Haden Blackman Art: Brian Ching Coloring: Sno Cone Studios Lettering: Michael David Thomas Cover: Brian Ching, Brad Anderson Released: 02/02/2005 Reviewed by: JF Boivin (04/21/2005) SUMMARY: Aboard a cruiser rigged with explosives, Anakin is holding off Durge while Obi-Wan goes looking for a starship log that might reveal clues as to where Asajj Ventress might be. Anakin manages to kill Durge and Obi-Wan catches up with him. They get off the cruiser just in time before it explodes, but are attacked by vulture droids. But Senator Bail Organa arrives just in time to save the two Jedi from overwhelming odds. The starship log Obi-Wan retrieved has information that points to the graveyard world of Boz Pity...

[final cover] [preview cover]

THE STORY

From the spectacular fight between Anakin and Durge to the starfighter dogfights, this issue is pure action all the way through. Continuing from where last issue left off, Anakin manages to finally defeat and kill Durge in a truly mind-blowing fashion. While Obi-Wan is (conveniently) in a different part of the ship, Anakin uses the Force to direct some detonators at Durge, and when the Jedi killer gets into an escape pod, Anakin directs it towards a sun for a meltdown. How crazy is that? No way Durge could survive this. This is a death well-deserving for this recurring villain who has become a major player during the Clone Wars in various mediums.

While that fight takes over more than half the issue, the rest is dedicated to the dogfights aboard the starfighters, and arrival of Bail Organa's Star Destroyer. An ARC trooper piloting an ARC fighter? Don't even get me started. One of the clones piloting the ARC-170s is ARC trooper Alpha. This is a nice little reference by Blackman to a character that had an important role in the beginning of the Clone Wars and fought alongside Obi-Wan in a couple of battles, most notably Republic #50-52, #60 and #62. Chalk this one up to the "whatever happened to..." category.

Revenge of the Sith preview: Senator Organa shows up aboard a Venator-class Star Destroyer named Intervention, with a squadron of ARC-170 fighters. On the last page, we also see a fleet of Commerce Guild Destroyers, Banking Clan frigates and various other capital ships orbiting Boz Pity.

THE ART

I mentioned before that I don't think Ching is really good with characters, but he is with settings and backgrounds. This issue demonstrates another one of his strengths: starships. This issue is filled with starship art, from Durge's sleek-looking fighter to the Jedi fighters to the capital ships mentioned above. Ching goes up a notch in my esteem. I also have to mention Durge's closeup of his ugly unmasked mug. What a nasty looking critter, especially when he is melting inside the escpae pod. I really love the fight itself, how it is depicted with the various poses and the debris lying all around. The colors also add a lot. I haven't commented on those in the previous two issues, but Sno Cone Studios are doing a good job at depicting color tones and shadow effects which seem more noticeable in this issue. I especially like the panel on page 8 where Obi-Wan is passing under the starfighter's shadow.

CONCLUSIONS

This series is getting more exciting every issue!

Rating: 8 / 10 Highly Recommended