Prepare for ‘The Last Jedi’ with IDW’s Star Wars Graphic Novels

Today’s the day, it’s finally here! Star Wars: The Last Jedi is finally in cinemas and I, like many of you I’m sure, have tickets to see the film in just a few hours.

If you’re looking for something Star Wars related to read in these final hours before show time, then why not download yourself a copy of one of the two recently released Star Wars graphic novels from IDW.

I picked up these two graphic novel adaptations of The Force Awakens and Rogue One as part of my ongoing quest to read as much Star Wars material as possible on the run up to The Last Jedi. Both are beautiful books filled with stunning artwork and make for family-friendly reads that can be enjoyed by everyone. The more tragic scenes from the films are still featured but the graphic novel format helps them come across more gently, so if you have a sensitive child like mine who has refused to watch Rogue One after learning about its ending, this may be a way for them to experience the story in a less traumatic way.

The introduction of both novels includes a series of profiles on all the main characters in the films. These are great for bringing you up to speed quickly, and there are a few extra nuggets of information sprinkled throughout that you won’t see or hear in the film itself – such as the name of the planet Rey finds Luke on at the end of The Force Awakens.

There were a few points I wasn’t too happy about after reading the books. The artwork, while lovely to look at, had an unfortunate tendency to make nearly every character look about eight years old. This is easy enough to overlook with younger characters like Rey and Jyn, but nothing short of weird when it comes to General Leia and other older characters. There were also chunks missing from The Force Awakens, most notably the entire sequence with the rathtars. While not vital to the plot – I actually quite liked the pacing of the story without that part – it seems odd to skip over an entire section of a film in the graphic novel version of it.

Regardless of these minor issues, the Star Wars graphic novels from IDW are fun, easy-to-read adaptations, and a quick way to reacquaint yourself with the most recent Star Wars films prior to watching The Last Jedi.

GeekMom received these comics for review purposes.