Star Wars: Jedi Academy

Star Wars: Jedi Academy
by Jeffrey Brown [j Brown]

Jeffrey Brown, the marvelous cartoon artist who previous brought us Darth Vader and Son and Vader's Little Princess, applies his same artistic style and sense of humor about the Star Wars universe to this short illustrated novel. Unlike the earlier two volumes, which were essentially collections of single-panel stand-alone cartoons, Star Wars Jedi Academy has a narrative structure. The story follows the adventures of a young Tatooine boy, Roan, whose dream of becoming a starfighter pilot like his older brother is sidetracked when he is selected to attend the Jedi Academy, where he'll be taught how to become a Jedi Knight by such elders as Yoda. Brown tells Roan's story through extensive cartoon-style imagery, in addition to humorous text. Roan himself is an artist, and join's the Jedi Academy's "newspaper" club, illustrating that publication with his own comic-strips. Though a "fish out of water", having joined studies at the Academy at an older age than most of the other students, Roan quickly befriends several of his classmates, and his story is filled with lots of silly typical school-related incidents and activities -- as long as your school is the one where they teach you how to use the force, building your own lightsabers, and study the cultures of alien worlds. Although I enjoyed many of Brown's single-panel cartoons in his earlier books, there were also a lot that didn't really "click" for me. In Star Wars Jedi Academy, I thought his humor and visual storytelling style really worked much better, and I highly recommend this light little volume for any Star Wars fan! -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Darth Vader and Son, and Vader's Little Princess.]

[ official Jeffrey Brown's Comics web site ]

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