When it comes to telling stories, Star Wars is a franchise that has untapped potential. The brilliance of George Lucas’s space opera is that every character is important, no matter how minute they might seem on screen. Take General Grievous as an example. The robotic lightsaber-collector was given just eight minutes of screen time in one movie and is one of the more popular characters across the saga. Desperate to pad out the lore and backstory of every popular character, Disney has commissioned Dark Horse Comics to create a new story to expand the life of the asthmatic warlord. The end result is Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories- Grievous.
From the opening few pages, it’s clear that Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories –Grievous isn’t an origin story. Rather, it tells a story early in the Clone Wars saga. Count Dooku recruits Grievous to take over the jungle planet, Katou, to prove his allegiance to the Sith Lord and to the fledgling Empire. Keen to assert his skills, Grievous dutifully landed on the planet to complete his task. Unbeknownst to the Dark Side, the Jedi got a whiff of the troubles on Katou and deployed a platoon of clone troopers, led by Jedi Knight Cardiff Baye. Grievous took this development as a cat smiles before pouncing on a mouse and decides to have fun with his new prey.
What should have been a balanced back and forth between Grievous and the Jedi out to stop him turned into a typical Star Wars trope, where the focus was firmly pinned on Baye, the good guy. For a book that bears the name of the General, he is surprisingly absent for most of the 88 pages; instead, he is demoted to more of a supporting cast member. While it was disappointing to see a minimal number of panels dedicated to Grievous, the novel still moves along at a pod racer pace.
Michael Moreci has created a lean story that zips by in next to no time. There’s very little fat to chew over what it wants to tell. Hyperspace Stories’ limited length means that no one character is fleshed out nicely. Baye, his troops, along with the titular Grievous, don’t have enough panel time to develop a meaningful relationship. By the time I closed the final page, I was left with next to no new information about Grievous, and a feeling that there could have been so much more to the comic if it was a few pages longer.
Its especially disappointing as the artwork perfectly encapsulates what the Star Wars universe should be. Caio Filipe and Dan Jackson work effortlessly to bring that unique Star Wars aesthetic to the graphic novel’s pages. The planet of Katou is mainly seen at night, but still retains its vivid colours, especially when Grievous is on the hunt.
Even if there are no big revelations to be had, Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories–Grievous is still a fun read. It is clearly aimed at pleasing those who love the lightsaber-wielding general, but those with a passing interest should still give it a shot. At the very worst, you’ll have a fun afternoon reading about Grievous’ adventures away from battling Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories–Grievous is available from Amazon and all good comic shops.