Review: ‘Yoda’ #8 Is a Big Step-Up From the Last Issue as Anakin and Yoda Team Up
In my review of Star Wars: Yoda #7, I wrote, “it’s hard to see the quality improving with the series soon coming to a close, but I hope to be proved wrong when the next issue releases in June.” I was proven wrong. Thankfully, issue #8 of Yoda is a big improvement over the last. This month’s issue sees more of Anakin and Yoda teaming up to destroy a droid factory before a new droid prototype can be manufactured.
While I wasn’t a big fan of Marc Guggenheim’s writing and Alessandro Miracolo’s artwork in last month’s issue, I found their work here on issue #8 to be a lot more enjoyable, avoiding some of the problems I originally had. The team-up between Yoda and Anakin is a pairing rarely seen in Star Wars. And the artwork smartly puts less of a focus on character close-ups. It instead focuses on larger, wide vistas and battle scenes, which seems to lean more into Miracolo’s strengths as an artist.
Spoilers for Yoda issue #8 ahead …
In issue #8, Yoda and Anakin lead a battalion of clone troopers to a rocky planet named Golatha. It is there that they believe the Separatists to be manufacturing prototypes for their new “megadroids.” But while they deliberate on their plans, readers get a glimpse at the relationship that existed between the two Jedi during the Clone Wars. Yoda warns Anakin to not be so sure of himself — a lesson reinforced upon the character throughout this issue. Fans also get to see the rare banter between the charismatic Anakin and the older but child-like Yoda.
Following this, the clones and the two Jedi land on Golatha. It is in these broad landscapes with many characters filling the panels that Miracolo’s artwork excels.
But the group is then ambushed by droids who attack them on all sides. Anakin and Yoda help to defend the clones, but none of them survive. Yoda and Anakin are left on their own. Anakin learns to not underestimate his enemy and to not have confidence in numbers but in the tactics behind them.
The two continue to explore Golatha and eventually find the entrance to the droid factory. They battle their way through to the center of the assembly line, rig some explosives, and blow it up sky-high.
The battle sequences and the jokes between Yoda and Anakin were the highlights of the issue. While the writing is a little corny, especially surrounding the “megadroids,” it reminds me of some of the better episodes of The Clone Wars, where fans got a chance to hang out and have fun with the Jedi during the peak of their power. And while I wasn’t a fan of Miracolo’s less “clean” artwork and line style, after going through this, I do like Miracolo’s art style when used effectively, in this case, during big battle sequences.
The issue ends with one of the “megadroids” having survived the explosion and ready to attack Anakin and Yoda, and with me much more hopeful and confident that this creative team can bring this last arc to a satisfying close before the finale.
Score: 8/10
Born and raised in Hawaii, Jay Goodearl runs the YouTube Gaming channel “Good Games, Dude” His channel aims to open up video games to beginners and immediate players and help them understand what makes games the art form that it is.
