This review was greatly delayed, since this issue belongs to March/April 2006, but well, I should be working hard to be up to date.

The issue's cover has a Yoda drawing, and the main article is precisely about how Episode III's digital Yoda came to life, from the experiments from Episodes I and II to the definite version. Of course, for us puritans, it states that there's no danger in having Frank Oz's Episode V and VI puppets replaced by a digital Yoda.

Main article is pretty good, but what rocks about this issue are the articles that bring depth to the Star Wars world. First of them is The Mandalorians: People and Culture, written by Karen Traviss and beautifully illustrated by Tom Hodges.

This article is more than history (which has been previously published in issue #80 by Abel G. Peņa), but rather an anthropologic exploration of Mandalorians. Showing their culture up in detail, their costumes, their way of adapting to an ever changing galaxy without losing their cultural baggage. The article covers their rituals from birth, "adoption" by a family, "marriage", also minor details like traditional foods, the meaning of armor to Mandalorians and others are also covered up. Briefly included is an exploration of their language.

Tom Hodges shines with his drawings, including the first ever official rendition of Mandalore females!

Another interesting article compares how new generations see the saga, now that it is complete and we're able to see the movies in sequential order, rather than chronological release dates. It shows opinions about what original audiences saw in 1977, 1980 and 1983, and how reactions have changed now we posess the previous background showed to us in the prequels. This article was written by J.W. Rinzler, who wrote several books like The Making of Star Wars: Episode III and The Art of Revenge of the Sith.

The next shining article is Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous, written by reknown author Abel G. Peņa with marvelous illustrations by Joe Corroney.

This piece tells the story of a Kaleesh warrior, Qymaen jai Seelal, and his inseparable war companion, Ronderu lij ###mar. It shows how her death greatly depressed him and how he is "selected", betrayed and forced by the Sith to fulfill the role of great General of the Separatist droid armies. It also includes a list of the most important Jedi he slaughtered before his death by Obi-Wan Kenobi's hands.

The usual features are there, like Ask the Master, where Pablo Hidalgo answers fan questions, Scouting the Galaxy where Steve Sansweet discusses collectible issues, Star Wars books, games, news, and many other things worth reading.

A great service the magazine renders is complementing books previously published. In this case, issue #86 has six pages dedicated to Episode Vi posters, with information that either by lack of time or lack of space was cut off from Pete Vilmur's The Star Wars Poster Book.



If you care about the Spanish version of this review, please go to my other blog.