"Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars: Battle Tales #4" by Michael Moreci

"Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars: Battle Tales #4" written by Michael Moreci, illustrated by Derek Charm and Luis Antonio Delgado (framing story), Davide Tinto and Thomas Deer (story within a story)

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Goodness, this issue was beautiful! I mean, the colors were exceptional and all the illustrations just popped off the page!! It was definitely an engrossing reading experience. On the other hand, there were A LOT of new characters in the story within a story and it was A LOT to keep track of. I found myself slightly lost a couple of times, but the gist did thankfully get through. I'm always up for new characters...as long as they are fleshed out and ongoing features--these new clones just seemed more like they were being used to fill out the story more than anything. But the story itself was a heartfelt and heartwarming one so it balances itself out. New characters included: Heater, Twitch, Slim, Racetrack, Sync, and Charlie. Only Heater has a recognizable appearance in his armor, what with a Republic cog on either side of his helmet. Of course he is the main clone in the story while the others seem to be mostly offhand filler characters.

The proverb that starts the issue off is, "Belief in a second chance is belief that you are greater than your failures." I love this!!!We all fail at times in life, but many people believe in second chances...which it follows would mean that they think others can overcome their failures and become better as time progresses, which is definitely a worthy outlook on the difficulty that is life.

We start off on Hisseen in the framing story with an absolutely stunning opening panel of a whole battalion of clankers running at a group of clones (see image below). Twitch makes the suggestion that they fall back and Heater gets ALL up in his face, accusing his fellow clone of wanting to desert. Turns out, Heater's sensitive about the subject because he himself once almost deserted...until he realized how much his brothers, his family, meant to him. Heater says to Twitch, all ominous like, "Let me tell you what it's like to run. What it's like to betray your brothers." (see image below) and the story within a story begins.

Then we go back in time to Kamino. I'm not 100% sure I understand what exactly happened to lead some of the clones to proclaim that Heater and his group (see image below) were deserters. It's never really explained as the reader is just dropped plop into the middle of the story. We simply have Slim talking WAY down to Heater and accusing him of being a coward and deserting...Slim and Heater end up hand-to-hand fighting until Wolffe comes in and breaks them up. Wolffe proceeds to usher Heater to his office where he gives the frustrated clone a new mission, "We're offering you and the others like you an opportunity for redemption. Do this, and your name is cleared. You can either find a place with your brothers in the clone army, or you can stay here." And again...as the reader, I'm confused. And I've re-read this section at least 3 times. I'm confused because at the end of the story within a story, Heater and his crew have accomplished their mission--to disrupt CIS supply lines--with aplomb and Wolffe tells them they now are free to go wherever they want without the threat of a black mark on their names. ...but how does the quote I referenced above from Wolffe have anything to do with letting the clones go free?? "stay here" would be staying on Kamino. And "redemption"/clearing their name sounds an awful lot like court-martial prevention and NOT letting them go their own way. I just don't get it...

Despite the confusion over what was implied and intended in this story, it was still absolutely an enjoyable read. The clones who at the beginning of the story within a story were being called out as deserters, end up succeeding in their nearly impossible mission, show bravery and comradeship, and in the end, just want to go "home" (implying Kamino). And there was some fabulous battle droid humor!! Racetrack walks up to two battle droids acting as guards and claims he was the only survivor of their ship crashing, offering up two "empty" clone helmets as surrender. The battle droids respond with, "We don't negotiate surrender." "We don't know how!" Then Racetrack tells them there's a present inside, to which one of the droids responds, "Present? I love pres-- --Hey, what kind of present is thi--"...and the surprise detonators explode!

See below for another lovely image of a later explosion in the issue. It just erupts off the page!!! I am so in love with this artwork.

So although confusing at times, this story had a good heart at its core and taught a valuable lesson in giving second chances and not writing people off for their mistakes. As for the framing story, things look really bad! Can't wait to see what story within a story they've got for us next and I'm excited to find out how the framing story ends. If you like "The Clone Wars" TV show, you should definitely pick up this trade paperback whenever it comes out--reading stories about lesser known clones connected to those we all know and love has been a wonderful experience.