As I try and squeeze in more reviews, we end up with some odd little stories lumped together. This is fine, per-say, but every now and then, you get some things that you just wouldn't normally put together on first thought. Unless, of course, you're me, and you're reading the EU in (almost) chronological order.

So, now we're going over the six remaining stories I have that lead up into The Phantom Menace. This is mostly comics, with two books, and a lot of interesting stories.

First up is the nearly forgotten Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan comic series called Last Stand on Ord Mantell. This three-issue comic series (I'm not sure it was ever collected in a Trade Paper Back) seems, to me anyway, like the kind of adventures Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon would have between episodes of Jedi Apprentice, despite it being a comic and taking place a mere 5 years before Phantom Menace. The story is rather thin - basically, the Jedi avoid Mantellian Savrips while trying to figure out what happened to a crowned prince, who happens to be the son of an old Foe of Qui-Gon's. Never-the-less, it's a breezy, fun little adventure that I find myself liking more than I probably should. I think it's because I know it's one of my last chances to hang out with Qui-Gon Jinn, and as such, I treasure it just a bit more than it's probably worth. One thing I noticed this time was that the art is done by Ramon F. Bachs, who must have also done Jedi vs Sith, because the female farmer Obi-Wan runs across looks like a (barely) grown version of Rain from that series - had I not already read the story, I would've half expected her to start sprouting off Sith Lightning or something like that. Funny how I'd never noticed that before.

Next up is the comic series Jedi Council: Acts of War. This series is notable for several reasons - it's the first (chronological) appearance of many Jedi Council members, as well as both Darth Sidious and Darth Maul. Beyond that, the story revolves around the Jedi swatting down the aggressive Yinchorri species. This story also introduces (And then kills off) one of my favorite Jedi Council members, Micah Giiett, that rascal Vilmarh Grahrk, and the Whippid Jedi K'Kruhk. The last two become frequent recurring characters in the comics, and K'Krukh even gets a cameo in the Clone Wars cartoon (where he apparently meets his end at the hands of General Grievous, only to NOT end up dead - but more on that when we hit the Clone Wars). Here, again, I enjoy this little series more than I probably should, and it has some questionable information regarding a Republic Navy that may or may not be cannon. Still, I enjoy reading this series.

Then we hit Prelude to Rebellion, which introduces us to Ki-Adi-Mundi, that talkative Jedi Master who never took a Padawan, but somehow ends up on the Jedi Council. Here, he's at home, where one of his daughters gets caught up in some teenage rebellion gone amuck, and Ki gets framed for murder. Honestly, this isn't one of my favorite stories - Ki's homeworld is rather dull in my mind, the story is very basic, and there's a needless side-trip to Tatooine, which seems tacked on to make the story more Star Wars-y - a trick used by too many writers. Tatooine must be the single most important world in the history of Star Wars, and yet it's still supposed to be the planet furthest from the bright center of the universe, to paraphrase Luke. Ki's post Phantom adventures are more enjoyable than this, but it sets some interesting background for later.

Then we hit our first prequel era Book, Cloak of Deception. James Luceno tries very hard to make this story fit with all we know about the Republic prior to Episode II, all while squeezing in his own interesting story. And while I enjoy the book, I think it suffers from not really knowing certain important facts that Episode II shows us - like that there was no Republic Armed forces before the Clone Army, or that the Neimodians were a larger force in the Trade Federation than they appear to be here. Still, he squeezes in some fantastic cameos from EU characters, including Jorus C'Baoth, Vergere, and two major characters from the next EU book. But more on that in a bit. I enjoy Cloak for what it is, the last real Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan adventure before Qui-Gon's death on Naboo, but I honestly think Luceno tried to throw in a few too many eggs into this basket. Still worth reading.

Next up is the Darth Maul comic series, four quick issues that put our favorite tattooed Sith Lord (unless you count Legacy's Darth Talon, who looks so much hotter than Darth Maul) front and center. Maul mows down pretty much every single member of Black Sun (begging the question of how Xizor gets a hold of such a powerful organization later on), and does so with a minimum of talking, and a maximum of violence. The nice thing about this is that actually segways from Cloak of Deception and into Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter rather nicely, by throwing in Hath Monchar. Shadow Hunter returns the favor a bit, which is just one of the reasons why I love it when the Star Wars EU works with it's various parts to ensure continuity - this is a case where that works well.

Speaking of Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, that's up next. I have absolutely no idea why I like this book. Maul isn't one of my favorite characters (in terms of Sith Lords, he's least among Movie Sith in terms of who I like, and if I start throwing in EU Lords, he almost drops out of the top ten. Pretty bad for such a cool-looking character). Lorn Pavan, the arguable protagonist of the story, is pretty one dimensional, but somehow likable, and Darsha Assant is the first of many female "I'm not good enough" Jedi Padawans we see show up between now and the end of the Clone Wars. Just once, I'd like to see a fumbling MALE Padawan, and I'd LOVE to see more female Jedi like Siri Tachi. Despite this, Shadow Hunter comes off really well in the end, despite the fatalistic ending to almost all the characters. There's a rather pointless cameo by Obi-Wan here that I just found kind of dull, but the interplay between Lorn and Darsha ends up striking an odd little chord in me. And, let's not forget the droid I-5...

And then, we're at The Phantom Menace. Movies get their own entry, so we'll hit that next.