It was as if someone came at me with a baseball bat.

I was immediately turned on to anything Star Wars. I began collecting comics. I bought the roleplaying guides. I painted figurines from West End Games. I worked on models until 3:30 a.m. on weekends. I was working on this stuff day and night. I was crazed.

It was all because someone realized that I -- and a whole lot of other people -- missed Star Wars.

It was a mania, and then it subsided.

My obsession lay dormant, just below the surface. It even withstood the marketing hype for The Phantom Menace. Well, sort of.

It has been reawakened.

Forget Marvel. Forget D.C.

Dark Horse is Star Wars.

Dark Horse's Attack of the Clones is handsome and well done. The quality of the work should not surprise anyone who is familiar with Dark Horse's serious Star Wars material. One thing is for sure: the guys behind the blotters are serious fans. The staff sincerely cares about the quality and the treatment of the comics. Such is the case with the graphic novel Attack of the Clones. (By the way, "graphic novel" is another title for a collection of comic books into trade paperback form. It sounds misleading, but yes, it is a comic book all the same).

The Art

The cover is the familiar one-sheet by the legendary Drew Struzan, and it is marvelous. His style is both visionary and a throwback to when Art was an art and not a perverse splattering of paint. His posters bring the most adventurous images to our minds: Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and now Star Wars. His posters for both The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones are luxuriant and romantic, with deep blues and golden browns (and usually a sun or two, casting warm light over the characters). Attack is easily his most romantic to date.

The inside art is lush and alive. The pages are usually thematic, like a quilt, with several panels superimposed onto one illustration, such as Obi-Wan's stolen ride on the assassin 'droid or Anakin's stolen kiss at Padme's villa. The effort is artistic and esthetic, but often confuses the reader trying to follow the panels. I made this mistake by reading too quickly -- it is not meant to be a speed-read. It is meant for its colors to be enjoyed as only a comic book's can be.

Unfortunately, like most film adaptations, certain panels are drawn and inked directly from lifted stills of the film. This insures a familiarity but at the cost of clashes between the two styles, which can be distracting. As far as the faces of the characters are concerned, the art is true without sacrificing the characterization itself -- Obi-Wan is allowed emotion beyond what the audience is allowed to see in the actual film, such as his reaction to the assassin 'droid's defensive mechanism.

In the back of the comic there are two "pin up gallery" mini-posters by artist Tsuneo Sanda. Although they are finely illustrated, they cannot be removed without damage to the comic.

The Text

The dialogue, alas, is not much better than the film, but it is much easier on the eyes than the ears. The dialogue is not hindered by performance, as the printed word can actually be enjoyable if taken at face value.

In the finished film, certain scenes were changed or eliminated, but here several of them are in their original form. Obi-Wan's conversation with Mace Windu occurs on a landing platform, before rocketing off in the Jedi starfighter, sans hyperdrive docking ring. In addition, Jar-Jar Binks does not appear until later; he does not witness the row between Obi-Wan and Anakin in Padme's apartment. The sequence of Yoda sensing Anakin's pain during the Tusken slaughter does not appear at all. It is assumed that the elimination of certain scenes was for the purposes of a smooth story and transition from panel to panel.

An interesting plot development that was cut from the final film is the trial of Anakin and Padme as spies. Count Dooku acts as judge, Jango Fett as bailiff. It is a delight to read, and one wonders why it was cut from the film. It demonstrates the political motives of the Separatists and Padme's commitment to the Republic.

As a whole, Attack of the Clones holds up well as a graphic novel. In some respects, it is more thrilling than the movie. The action literally jumps out at the reader. We can almost feel Jango Fett's armored gauntlet against Obi-Wan's face, his hands struggling to crush Kenobi's throat.

The graphic novel of Attack of the Clones is excellent, and an indispensable addition to any Star Wars library. There is only one drawback: The price. It'll cost you 17.95, which is rather pricey for any single new comic book. My advice is to wait until the retail drops, or you can by it used at Amazon for $11.95 if you can't wait.