Phantom Menace 25th Anniversary Special #1 has important moments found within Episode I! The writer of the issue is Greg Pak, who also writes the Darth Vader comic book, and the artist is Will Sliney, his other comic is the limited series, Star Wars: The Halcyon Legacy. The cover by Phil Noto has Anakin surrounded by Qui-Gon, Padme, and below him Jar Jar (in a tiny circle!), Shmi, and Obi-Wan. Above them is a Tusken Raider and Palpatine reddish in the background! A title page sums up Phantom Menace about Anakin’s destiny. On Tatooine, slavers lead away Jira, the fruit stand owner who was friendly to Anakin, and his mother, Shmi, in chains. Shmi insists that her son will return. A Nikto points his blaster rifle to threaten her, but the barrel is sliced! In a splash page, we see Ankin in desert uniform with his yellow lightsaber, startling the Nikto and a Rodian! The lightsaber is used by the Jedi Temple guards, he would be a Jedi Sentinel!
Young Anakin wakes up and tells Shmi about his dream as a Jedi freeing her. This would have been an interesting What If? Star Wars issue. An Otoga-222 maintenance droid enters to tell Anakin that he is late to work for Watto. He explains that Watto has gone to Anchorhead and that Anakin’s task is to go to the spaceport for a shipment. We get a strong likeness of Jake Lloyd in the last panel. At Mos Eisley, Anakin picks up the package, when a green landspeeder races in. Some slavers are bringing in a Tusken Raider, they show him the transmitter. Anakin works on the landspeeder and it zooms away! He frees the Tusken from its bonds and is surprised by him. He tells him to run and points out the other direction to a slaver. This is one of the best side moments for Anakin showing his cleverness and compassion.
Anakin returns to Watto’s shop with the package which he gives to the maintenance droid. At night, Anakin returns home, and Shmi checks on him before he goes to sleep. We get the next day where we pick up the events of Phantom Menace where Anakin brings in Padme, Qui-Gon, Jar Jar, and Artoo. This is seen in panels across two pages! We see glimpses of the Podrace and Anakin’s victorious return. He meets with Qui-Gon who tells him that becoming a Jedi involves discipline and sacrifice. We have the farewell scene with Anakin and Shmi, Anakin looks Qui-Gon and his words about discpline and sacrifice echo. We gt a splash page of Qui-Gon leading away Anakin who is very brave. This shifts to Coruscant with the Jedi Council testing Anakin. Ki-Adi Mundi says he is thinking of his mother. Yoda tells him about fear and the Dark Side.
Anakin tells Jar Jar that the Jedi Council did not allow Qui-Gon to train him. Jar Jar’s dialogue varies from speaking complex Basic to his usual patois. At the Queen’s landing pad, Anakin speaks to Artoo, I’m not certain if he knows Binary. He overhears Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon discussing that he is dangerous. As they approach Naboo in the Royal Starship, Anakin asks Qui-Gon if he is dangerous. Qui-Gon says he must control his emotions through training. Obi-Wan listens next to them. Again we get panels across two pages showing the Battle of Naboo; the Gungans, Queen Amidala, and the duel with Darth Maul. It picks up with Anakin destroying the Droid Control Ship. Afterwards, Anakin tells Artoo that “Naboo’s safe” and they should tell Qui-Gon. In a splash page, we see Obi-Wan holding Qui-Gon’s body. Anakin returns to the hangar met by Obi-Wan. He tells him that he heard Qui-Gon died. Word travels fast since only Obi-Wan was there.
We see in a Sith-like red about Obi-Wan saying he is dangerous. Anakin leaves, but Obi-Wan tells him to wait. He tells Obi-Wan that only Qui-Gon believed in him. An important character moment. Obi-Wan confides that his promise to Qui-Gon is to train Anakin. Then, we get the final scene where Palpatine arrives to talk with Anakin. We see Palpatine’s face in shadow with the discipline words again. Palpatine meets with Queen Amidala and the sacrifice words again, interesting text and artwork working together. Then we see Shmi say his name and a large panel of Anakin in the dream. Obi-Wan talks to him shaking him from the vision. Then, Anakin’s past words that he wants to help people. Tatooine, Shmi is at the market greeting Jia. Threepio greets her at home. A knocks at the door reveals a Tusken Raider who presents her with a black melon. I wonder about the identity of this Tusken Raider and if he was in the Book of Boba Fett. Threepio says he has a story about Anakin. The Phantom Menace 25th Anniversary Special #1 has brilliant glimpses that fulfills an unresolved part of the story.
Five Lightsabers out of Five!
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