The Tales of the Jedi comics which chronicle various tales of high profile Jedi and Sith from the Old Republic era of Star Wars are among the most revered and sought after of the old Star Wars EU stories. However, upon reading the various comics included in this Omnibus, I am left wondering why they are so highly spoken of. This is coming from someone who has mostly enjoyed Old Republic source material, mainly the two KOTOR games and the Darth Bane trilogy of books. I will go over each of the included stories in the Omnibus individually.
The Golden Age of the Sith: This comic does a good job of introducing people to Sith Culture and the power struggles that drove their society and eventually the succession of a dead Sith leader Marka Ragnos. The plot revolves around an EU event known as the Great Hyperspace War, which is given its name by it taking place as a result of a hyper space lane discovered by the two main characters, Dav and Jori, who find a route from the Republic to the Sith homeworld of Korriban. From there, Naga Sadow, a powerful Sith Lord, attacks the Republic, starting the conflict.
In summary this all sounds awesome, but I found nearly everything about this story uninteresting and uninspiring. The characters, the art, the writing, and the way the plot is executed never rise above mediocre. The only thing that I really took away from this story was a greater appreciation of life during the pioneering days of hyperspace travel and how dangerous it was, and also a better understanding of who the Sith are. Other than that I was mostly bored the entire time I read through this.
The Fall of the Sith Empire: Taking place during the Great Hyperspace War, this story made even less sense than the previous one, which includes all the characters from the Golden Age of the Sith. Particularly Dav and Jori, whom we are told are force sensitive, but they are never really shown to be that competent or skilled in any way related to the force. This is made even more confusing when they best other characters that are skilled and proven in the force. On top of that various plot points fall flat and others just feel rushed. If you haven't picked up that I am even less a fan of this story than the last you'd be correct.
Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon: This was definitely the best story in this omnibus, although I never found it to be amazing in any way, just above average mostly. It is about three young jedi who are sent by their master to war torn planet Onderon where they are instructed to facilitate peace between the established government and civilization of Onderon and the tribes of wild beast riders that ride massive dragon-like aliens they use as mounts in attacking the much more advanced Onderon civilization.
There were several twists throughout this story as well as its analysis of political and philosophical topics that are applicable beyond the Star Wars Universe. These aspects made the story interesting mostly, as well as the various characters who all felt distinct in their own way and important to the plot throughout. However, one very disappointing part of this comic was the main antagonist and them being more of an annoyance than an actual threat at any point. There is also another character that I fell was vastly under utilized who could have remedied this problem. The art was also okay, but definitely the narrative is what drove this story to be the best in this collection.
The Saga of Nomi Sunrider: The final story of this omnibus is about a force sensitive woman, Nomi who is married to a jedi, whom is killed by a group of criminals who are trying to steal some rare crystals in their possession. The crystals are sought after because they are used to construct lightsabers and they were meant as a gift by Nomi's fallen husband to be given to a Jedi master, Thon, as a sort of offering to have him train her husband. His dying words to his wife is to have her complete his quest and train as a Jedi herself since she herself is force sensitive, albeit untrained in the ways of the force. The story is about her and her infant daughter as they travel to train under the Jedi master while being pursued by the group of criminals who are trying to steal the crystals.
I found this one more entertaining than Golden Age of the Sith and Fall of the Sith Empire, but not by much. Nomi is a fairly bland character, her daughter while being told is important is never actually shown to be important, and the plot about the criminals pursuing her is an uninteresting plot device which doesn't inspire to continue reading. The story was not all bad though as there were a few surprises, but nothing that saves this comic from being below average at best.
My overall thoughts on this Omnibus are not favorable; I feel like none of the stories were that great, although Beast Wars of Onderon was a decent entry among three other very bland tales. I know the price on this Omnibus are up there with the more expensive entries in Dark Horse's OOP Star Wars Omnibus series, mostly because outside the individual paperback copies, there is no other way to read these, yet. I'd either wait for Marvel to republish these under their Epic Collection Legends Omnibuses or pick up the trade paperbacks which are cheaper overall and allow to to skip over the more lackluster stories in this collection.
