Star Wars Forces of Destiny: Ahsoka & Padmè Review

Star Wars Forces of Destiny: Ahsoka & Padmè
Writer: Beth Revis
Artist: Valentina Pinto
Letterer: Tom B. Long 
Publisher: IDW

Review by Michael Farris, Jr.

Star Wars Forces of Destiny: Ahsoka & Padmè, one of the five one-shot issues centered on the female heroes of the Star Wars universe, focuses this time on Ahsoka Tano and Padmé Amidala. In this issue, Padmé requests the assistance of Ahsoka to provide extra security for negotiations taking place with a delegation seeking to join the Republic. And, as Padmé points out, there are a lot of people who don’t want that to happen.

As far as timeline, this issue takes place in the middle of the Clone Wars series (Ahsoka training with Barriss should be one hint of when we are). Ahsoka (who is one of the best SW characters, imo) struggles with feelings of being “good enough” and wondering if her method of applying her training makes her a worthy Jedi. And while her adventure with Padmé may not fully answer the question, she at least gets one step closer with the help of a friend.

Aside from a few writing hiccups (some dialogue being “You’ve learned nothing from this training” to two pages later being “I’ve learned a lot, I hope you did too”…and also a freeze-frame high-five at the end), this was a fairly enjoyable read. As Frank points out in his review of issue #1, this series is definitely for tweeners, but that doesn’t detract from the series or this issue itself.

Looking at the artwork reminded me of binging the Tartakovsky series last summer and gave me fond memories of doing so. It’s not out-of-this-world spectacular, but that’s ok. It’s definitely not too cartoony to distract you from the story itself and make you feel instead like you’re reading the back of a cereal box. This definitely felt like it belonged in the Star Wars animated universe.

Verdict: 
Buy it…

…if you have someone in the home that will enjoy it, be it you—the fanatic fan and collector of all things Star Wars—or be it your child to whom you are teaching the ways of the Force.