Tamaki, Hisao
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
4 out of 5
(3 books)
Star Wars: A New Hope - Manga Volume Four
(Art by Hisao Tamaki and Tom Orzechowski)
The fourth and final book of the Manga adaptation of Episode IV. The Millennium Falcon escapes the Empire to rendezvous with the Rebellion, but the Death Star is hot on its heels and the Battle of Yavin begins.
'A New Hope' is great, so it's safe to say that a very loyal adaptation of it will be great too. The Battle of Yavin is not only one of the most iconic moments in Star Wars, but also one of the most iconic moments in cinema as a whole, so seeing it brought to life again through manga is a treat.
Throughout this series, where the artwork has excelled has been in the depiction of action and spaceships, and this book is made up mostly of spaceship action, which is brilliant. The slight downside is that the sound effects text is often really intrusive, being too large and not always representative of the sound from the movie anyway (the Falcon, for example, goes 'VEEEEEEEEEEEE' for some reason).
Before starting this series I wondered if I really needed to experience another adaptation of ANH (I've read various comic book versions plus the novelisation), but I'm very glad I did.
4 out of 5
Star Wars: A New Hope - Manga Volume One
(Art by Hisao Tamaki and Tom Orzechowski)
Book one of four. As you'd probably expect, this is a Manga adaptation of George Lucas' iconic first Star Wars film. This volume takes us from the capture of Princess Leia by Darth Vader through to Luke Skywalker's resolution to aid Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine.
To be clear, this is a very direct adaptation of 'A New Hope', with the script pretty much word-for-word what appears onscreen. There are a couple of additions, such as the long-lost scene between Luke and Biggs, but for the most part this is just ANH in Manga form, so don't expect any new ground to be broken. Luckily, I absolutely love ANH, so it's always a pleasure to revisit it.
More or less from Day One, Star Wars was heavily influenced by Japanese culture and aesthetics (Lucas cites Akira Kurosawa as an influence and Ralph McQuarrie designed Vader's armour to look like a samurai), so using Manga as a medium to retell the story is a perfect fit. Whilst I'm not a huge fan of how human beings are rendered in the Manga art style, the starships, aliens, Stormtroopers and Sith Lord all look incredible here.
A classic story and some gorgeous artwork. What's not to love?
4 out of 5
Star Wars: A New Hope - Manga Volume Three
(Art by Hisao Tamaki and Tom Orzechowski)
The penultimate book in the Manga adaptation of ANH begins with the Millennium Falcon trapped on the Death Star, follows the rescue of Princess Leia, the confrontation between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan and ends with the escape from the battlestation.
Presumably readers should know what they're in for here by this point; a spot-on adaptation of Episode IV in the manga art style. If you're not on board for either of those things, then this isn't the book for you.
Whilst this is probably the least enjoyable of the three books so far, mostly due to being entirely set on the Death Star and the lack of variety which comes with that, it does have one of the best single scenes of the adaptation; the duel between Vader and Kenobi. In the movie the duel was a fairly tame affair with Alec Guinness poking his lightsaber vaguely at David Prowse who, in turn, was trying desperately not to deck the national acting treasure a second time. Here, however, the duel is given the full dramatic samurai vibe that manga excels at and the depiction of Vader throughout is brilliantly menacing. You get a much better sense of him being an embodiment of dark power when you can mostly just see his silhouette and his helmet's lifeless eye holes.
4 out of 5
Star Wars: A New Hope - Manga Volume Two
(Art by Hisao Tamaki and Tom Orzechowski)
Book two of four. The second part of the Manga adaptation of Episode IV picks up with Luke and Obi-Wan travelling to Mos Eisley and takes us through the destruction of Alderaan and the capture of the Millennium Falcon by the Death Star.
As with Volume One, the majority of the enjoyment to be had here is simply through revisiting the brilliance of 'A New Hope' but, again as before, with the added pleasure of some genuinely brilliant Japanese-style artwork to depict it.
The two stand-out moments for me, where Tamaki's artwork really elevates the book, are two double-page spreads. The first is of Obi-Wan drawing his lightsaber for the first time in the Mos Eisley Cantina and the second, the best, shows the destruction of Alderaan in far more brutal detail than we saw in the movie (not least because of the panel which shows the faces of the crowds of people living on the planet).
A side note to long-time Star Wars fans is that although this adaptation is clearly based on the Special Edition version of ANH (the scene with Jabba is present with the Special Edition inclusion of Boba Fett too), Han still shoots first here. Just like he should (even if Harrison Ford doesn't care either way).
4 out of 5
Read more...
Star Wars (here)