Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars - Battle Tales #2 Review

by NumidianPrime on June 25, 2020

Writer: Michael Moreci
Artists: Derek Charm, Megan Levens
Letterer: Jake M. Wood
Publisher: IDW

Finally, Star Wars comics are beginning to pick back up. By this time next month, we should be more or less on a normal schedule again. Like I've said before, this is a pretty good series to pick back up with, with its easy-to-follow and fun stories about iconic characters. 

I enjoy the issue's focus on Plo and the Wolfpack. The majority of the series focuses on the primary characters of the TV show that the younger audiences will be the most familiar with, so I'm happy to get one issue that puts a spotlight on some well-liked secondary characters rather than a complete focus on the main cast. The flying battle droid design is a nice small way to tie the series in with the latest and final season of the show, since the timeline (both in-universe and developmental) has made it challenging for those kinds of tie-ins. I do still think this series could have done some more to visually set itself before the show, even if it was something as small as Anakin not having his scar yet. It's a bit jarring to be before the show entirely but being far enough into the war that they've accumulated all of these stories when the show is supposed to start not long after the war began. 

As always, I enjoy Derek Charm's work on the framing story, his art style is one of the ones that has become the most synonymous with IDW's Star Wars publishing. Megan Levens's style for the primary story is another welcome return. The rotating stable of artists is one of my favorite parts about IDW's miniseries. Not every single one is perfect but it's nice to get a wide variety of art styles for the different stories. 

It's an overall solid addition to the series with a simple plot and a good moral for kids. I'm enjoying the framing story a lot, it has the nice nostalgic feel of an early episode of the show. I think the comic delays caused by the state of the world have hit this series worse than most since it was designed and marketed as a weekly release over the course of a month, like the rest of IDW's miniseries, but now it's been bumped to monthly. At the time of writing this, I don't think we even have a date for the final issue. Still, at least it is releasing at a steady rate now. Regardless of the wait, I'm looking forward to reading the rest. 

Our Score:

7/10

A Look Inside