Obi-Wan & Anakin #1

Set between the events of Episode I and Episode II, Marvel's new five-issue mini-series Obi-Wan & Anakin offers a glimpse at an adventure featuring Obi-Wan Kenobi and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker. Called to a remote planet by an unknown source, Obi-Wan and Anakin crash land in the harsh environment of Carnelion IV with no clue as to who has summoned the Jedi to what the galaxy had assumed was a completely dead world.

The number of years between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones certainly open the door for a number of stories featuring not just these characters but others as well. One fifth of the way through this particular adventure, however, there's not a lot to grab me. Teasing us with flashbacks to Anakin's training, and Palpatine's interest in the young man, the adventure itself doesn't really get started until it's final page.

There may be fertile ground for stories like this to fill in the adventures of these characters but neither Charles Soule nor artist Marco Checchetto present anything to make this adventure stand-out in any way. That said, the variant cover from Skottie Young is pretty cool. Hit-and-Miss.

[Marvel, $3.99]