In the Empire's Service is one of those parts in the Rogue Squadron series that has healthy doses of action, camaraderie, suspense and a "feel" to it.

The stand alone stories have ended. It's time for Ms Isard to claim the Imperial throne, time for Rogue Squadron to show their flying skills, time for the performance to really kick in. Unlike other issues, this one has a genuine feel to it, where power and politics have some major characters decide the day.

The art is similar to Battleground:Tatooine, which I didn't think much of in that issue's review. Here, where you don't have Tatooine and Ryloth deserts to inhibit your artistry, the lush vista of Brentaal saves the day. Character faces just aren't rendered in enough detail, and at times the features in the frames just look a bit small in size.

That notwithstanding, Fel makes up in dialogue what his rendered art misses. A brilliant but loyal pilot straddled with a fool for a superior that's too-often semi-attired and looks quite like a roman emperor, you feel for him. The Rogue pilots don't miss out on their lines too, and a range of emotions are showed which help to convey the seriousness and delicacy of the mission.

Action is hot and intense, and even though Imperial politics is what allows the Alliance to take more and more of Brentaal, you can bet Fel's going to make them fight for it. This is war, and it reflects well in how the captions were chosen. A level in the N64 Rogue Squadron game was based on the last mission here, so it's fun to view it differently. The Telsij lady you briefly meet---and gasp at---from her sight in Mandatory Retirement is explained here.

Dendo is back, armed with his flashy cape and quick-finger trigger. New Rogues are featured to make up for attrition, and you'll like Koyi Komad's interaction with them. Her character, short as her appearances are, just shines out from the page.

Overall, the sketchy feel of the art had me rating this a star less, but In the Empire's Service is just too good to give any less. It has it all, what you could want, and certainly worthy lightening your purse a few Imperial credits less indeed.

Stackpole takes over writing the series and immediately kicks it into high gear by throwing the Rogues right into the midst of the war. The Republic is beginning its campaign for Coruscant and starts by heading for the Core Worlds. In this case, the first step is Brentaal, the rich and influential Core world.

This arc is unique in that it gives both the Rebels and Imperials almost equal time. The faces of the Empire are many, and this arc shows a depth to it not acheived in anything else thus far. The scheming by Ysanne Isard is great, while you also see the varying faces of the Empire on Brentaal itself. Admiral Lon Isoto and Baron Soontir Fel are both Imperials, yet completely opposite characters. Isoto is an incompetant, vain, corrupt, lazy, and perhaps even slightly insane man, while Fel is a very smart, strong, moral, yet somewhat flawed figure. He is the greatest pilot in the Empire, and serves that Empire not because of who leads it, but because of simple loyalty to its people. As time goes on, it becomes more and more apparent to him that perhaps his view on things was flawed, and perhaps he need to rectify it. Along with Grand Admiral Thrawn, he is perhaps the best Imperial character to come out of the comics and novels.

The Rebels are interesting as well, and the Rogues are for the only time in the series at full strength. Balancing the stories of 12 pilots is not easy, but as events transpire some paths are split and some interconnect. Some, like Wedge, Tycho, Janson, Ibtisam, and Nrin, get more time, wheras ones like Dar Keyis and Standro are forced into the backdrop. But that's alright, for reason I won't get into lest I spoil things.

The art by Nadeau perfectly fits the whole 'war movie'-type feel of 'In the Empire's Service.' His technology and cityscapes are, as always, superb, and although his faces may be a little choppy at times, each person has his or her own face, which is very important with such a large cast. And David Nestelle's coloring prowess is once again demonstrated. Never slips, always consistent, always fitting the scene perfectly.

And who can forget the cliff-hanger last line of the series?

Bravo to the creators of 'In the Empire's Service'. They've produced one of the most insightful, well-written examples of 'Star Wars' ever published, and the series' lack of sales is truly shameful. Highly, highly reccomended work.

In The Empire's Service is the sixth Rogue Squadron comic series, and it happens to be one of the, if not the, best. Taking place not long after the comic "Mara Jade: By The Emperor's Hand," this is the first title in the "Rise of Isard" story arc which will link all of the remaining comics in this series, and lead into the novel series. And it is just a great and classic story. No more of those stories where the Empire is thrown in only as a convoluted plot twist, where various rogues and scoundrels uncover secret caches of Imperial ships and weaponry. This is a straight up Alliance vs. Empire story. It's full of good art, good dialogue, a plethora of dogfights, and lots of humor.

In this story, Sate Pestage has basically assumed Palpatine's role at the head of the Empire, and is struggling to hold it while an alliance of various other high ranking Imperials (the "Cabal") is also seeking to gain control of the Empire. Enter Ysanne "Iceheart" Isard, who, while presumably advising both sides as to the best way to defeat the Rebels is actually expertly playing them off against each other. Taking her advice, Pestage vows to hold a wealthy Imperial world, which the rebels promptly start planning to liberate. Thus begins the power struggle between Pestage, the Cabal, and the Rebel Alliance on Brentaal.

As I've said, this comic has an awesome number of dogfights, and it introduces several new Rogues to make up for attrition in the last comic. In addition, it introduces Salm and his wing of Y-wings, as well as Imperial fighter legend Baron Fel and his feared 181st Fighter Group, which is basically the Imperial equivalent of Rogue Squadron. Also, Kapp Dendo and his SpecOps squad show up again. The art is nice and easy to follow, and the pilot chatter is good as always. Unfortunately, Baron Fel is somewhat stiff, starting as just a perfect superpilot, but he does evolve into a more human character by the end of the series. Also, why is Plourr still with the Rogues? Wasn't her return at the end of the previous comic just a very temporary reprieve from her duties on Eiattu?

Just as a note of interest, you'll notice that the main battle in this comic was adapted as one of the levels in the Rogue Squadron 3D game for PC and N64.

Overall, this is an excellent comic, one of the best Rogue Squadron stories out there. Definitely and highly recommended.

THE BOOK I WOULD RATE AS EXCELLENT. THE VIDEO AS LISTED IN YOUR ,(WAS ALSO BOUGHT BY )LISTING MISLED US TO BELIEVE THIS WAS A FASTPITCH HITTING VIDEO. IT IS NOT AND THEREFORE A WASTE OF MY MONEY.

Very comprehensive book. I learned something new EVERY chapter! It will be on my desk and passed along to my players for years to come.

I love this book, I wont let my friends touch it. It's totallyworth the dollars, it tells you about the greatest NFL players ever. For example: Steve Young, the best left-handed Quarterback ever,and Jerry Rice, the greatest all-time wide receiver ever.

Minidoka? What kind of a word is that, you say? Then you stop and think, "Oh, Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan and John Carter. It's a made up word!" WRONG. Minidoka is a small town (or was, I don't know if it is still there) in Idaho where Mr. Burroughs worked in one of his many failed careers as a gold miner (1901 to 1904) with his brother at the Yale Dredging Company. It didn't pan out, pardon the pun, and the world is much more richer for the failed attempt.

Burroughs has never been accused of being a literary genius, although his stories have reached every corner of the world, his books are published in over sixty different languages (not counting dialects), his tales have been the basis for dozens of films, TV series, animations and comics. What Mr. Burroughs was gifted with was the art of storytelling and that trait has made him a legend.

Mindoka, 937th Earl of One Mile Series M is a story that sprung from that ability. No one knows for certain when this wonderful tale was created, perhaps it was one of the series of bedtime stories Burroughs told his children each night. All of them created on the spot as he paced the hall of their small home and spoke in a loud voice so that all in the house could hear. What ever occurred, Burroughs liked this particular story so much that he committed it to paper. Of a sorts, at least. He used the backs of old letterheads from the mining company, photo bills from Pocatello and letterheads of the American Genealogical Society to compose this story. None of the hand written manuscript is dated, nor was it discovered until 1955, five years after his death, in his personal belongings. The paper the story was written on gives proof that this is Burroughs first ever written work, never before seen by another beside himself until after he had died and never published until today. This makes that story almost a century old!

The tale is very strange, not at all like his works that were published in his lifetime. This is a children's story, it is written with the intention of being read aloud to children and has all the classic elements of fairy tales. Horrible monsters, magic spells, beautiful damsels to rescue and battles to be fought, all of these are in there along with a never before seen look at the man's sense of humor.

The story itself is quite captivating, even if it is a bit difficult to read for an adult. I dare say that I will be hard pressed to pronounce some of the words that Burroughs has created for this story, but many of the characters and creatures are quite endearing. I really liked the hoobody and hookidooki. The hoobody reminded me of one of the mythical creatures of my people, the Apache, (perhaps that's where he got the idea) and the hookidooki was just plain fun to read about even if it was a villain.

The setting for the story is Idaho of a million or more years in the past, but with European type kingdoms all based as the origin of Irish names. Very interesting concept and for the life of me I can't determine why he took that tact in the story. But it matters not, as the tale is fantastic.

Many aspects of his published works can be seen in this story. The way his heroes act and react is based on this tale. Many animals and places for completely unrelated stories are mentioned here as something else. It is almost as if he created an entire universe from the seeds that he planted for himself in this story to his children.

There is something else that is very special about this book. The cover art is a painting by J. Allen St. John that has never been published before. Who is St. John, you ask? This is the man that made every single cover painting for Burroughs books starting in 1915 with The Son of Tarzan and ending in 1942 with The Tiger Girl (I have copies of all of these). The painting was made over 50 years ago when an art director told St. John that it was impossible for an artist to do an illustration using all known mediums that were known at the time. St. John went to his loft and created a drawing he titled Minidoka by those exact means just to prove the man wrong. This cover is the first printing of that painting.

The book is a mere 63 pages long with about 15 of those pages being lavishly drawn full page illustrations. Each page also has drawings around the edges that have to do with what the story is talking about at the time.

The book is published by Dark Horse Comics and is available now at all book stores. You will more than likely have to special order it, because it is a limited edition print. The price is ... well worth it. I can hardly wait until it is mass produced so that I can get a reading copy to give my children when they are old enough. Get one of these first prints while they are still out there. You will never regret it.

Excellent sneak peek at this eagerly awaited movie. Great snappies from the film. Seems to be a new twist on the old classic Cinderella, wicked soon to be step mother/sister and all that. Maybe more of a cross between Cinderella and The Parent Trap without the twins.

A simply outstanding historical novel set in the age of ancient Rome's legendary conflict with the city of Carthage, The Young Carthaginian by G.A. Henty is a totally thrilling historical action/adventure tale that will rivet the listener's attention from beginning to end. Superbly and dramatically narrated by William Sutherland, The Young Carthaginian is written with detailed attention to historical accuracy and truly brings to life a long-lost time of Hannibal, the legions of Rome, and the absolute destruction of a great maritime empire. A confidently recommended addition to any personal, school, or community library audiobook collection, The Young Carthaginian is complete and unabridged on eleven compact discs, offering 12 hours, 30 minutes of an impressive, "theater of the mind" quality entertainment experience.

Who would have thought that a book written in the 1800s could be so appealing today? Doing a little internet research, I have found that G.A. Henty lived from 1832-1902, and the books he wrote were historical fiction "for boys". He was called "The Prince of Story-Tellers" and "The Boy's Own Historian", which certainly may have been true, but I'm an adult female who loved this tale! The style of writing sounds a little formal and old-fashioned, but it actually helps create a feeling of antiquity, appropriate for its ancient setting during the Punic Wars.

The fictional and lovable hero, Marchus, a relative of the famous Hannibal, accompanies him on the Carthaginian campaign against Rome. I learned so much about Hannibal through this book, yet the majority of the plot involves other adventures that Marchus gets into. He has near escapes from bears, wolves, lions, treacherous tribesmen. In two instances, he escapes with the help of an elephant, and a raft in the subterranean reservoir of Carthage. This was fun stuff, and I am so impressed that this book I found, that is so old it doesn't even have a publication date in it, could be so delightful. Someone could make a great movie out of this!

Everyone, it seems, has heard of Hannibal bringing his army,including the elephants,through the Alps, right to the doorstep of Rome. However, a readable account of Carthage vs. Rome is not easy to find. I've been very happy to find this fascinating historical novel as the best way to teach my two sons, ages 11 and 14, about this time in history. There are some valuable lessons for us all in the book--valor, honor, and how corruption destroys great nations.

If Michael Stackpole has written the storyline, you are virtually guaranteed a great Star Wars Tale. He, like Timothy Zahn, and maybe one or two other writers always deliver material that is faithful to the saga, and well written as well. These collections of illustrated stories bound between a single cover are not as widely visible as the more traditional books. However they can be fun, and when they are good, they are extremely good. And just as the other forms of written material that bring the Star Wars Saga to fans, bits and pieces of information are here for the learning as well.

Another fan, Mastage, has already written a good summary of the contents, however there was one other aspect that I enjoyed. At the end of these books the cover art from the installments are generally included. This time they took several pages to document the creation of the cover art for this final volume from start to finish. Not unlike the movies these books that are a branch of the movies and other books, traditional attention and praise is rarely given, as it is deserved. The movies consistently are the biggest box office events of the year when they are introduced, yet other than technical achievement they are ignored.

Ysanne Isard is one of the better female villains that have been created, and if the Emperor even becomes an Empress, she will head the list of candidates. This is not the best of these I have read, as I continue to feel earlier books were more complete. The storylines were more developed, and many of the books were a full 50% longer than the more recent releases.

For fans of Star Wars all the written material are fun, so if you have yet to try one of these, do so, you will enjoy the experience.

Mandatory Retirement concludes the Rogue Squadron comic series, and does so with slick action, camaraderie and polish. For those who have the X-wing: Isard's Revenge book, you'll find the backstories of Admiral Krennel and Ms Isard here.

The art is worthy of The Phantom Affair in quality, and just as fantastic, certainly above other issues of this series. The background detail in frames are not fuzzy or lacking, and some scenes are actually rendered from creative camera-points.

Plenty of characters here, and their interaction is fun and not left to idle. Though the Imperial scenes are short they are adequate. The dialogue is vintage Stackpole; readers of his X-wing books will recognise his style of speech sentence structure. Wedge's face has changed so often per issue you wonder what his cosmetic secret is. It was nice to see all the Rogues having R&R in the beginning, though beware---Wedge and Tycho have bulging muscles without their shirts!

The plot is great and never a dull moment. Baron Fel's lines stand out, but it is Pestage that stands out here. He goes from being a pest to a pestilence on everyone's nerves, particularly when you have to protect someone who's your enemy. There are many links to the X-wing books; Krennel's cryptic comment scoffing at studying an enemy's art when a tactical hologram will tell all you need to know is better explained in Isard's Revenge, where Thrawn booted him out of his forces, is one.

Other nice touches was Wedge's long eulogy, some sharp lines from General Carvin, and more Dendo scenes; the man likes his cape, doesn't he? Though Salm and Dendo have similar faces, apart from the latter's head horns.

Overall, Mandatory Retirement is a great issue and a fitting finale to this series. If you're looking for a comic with good action, dialogue and an actual story, not just a tale, this is the one for you.

Stackpole ends his series with a bang. 'Mandatory Retirement' is indeed second only to 'In the Empire's Service' in the series in my opinion (as I prefer the larger-scale arcs) and is indeed uniquely Star Wars.
The story begin with light scenes of the various Rogues intermixing, socializing, and so forth, building the characters enhanced over the course of the series. Intermixed with these, however, are grim scenes of the events on Coruscant and Cituric. Pestage, intermin Emperor, goes into hiding, and the hunt for him begins. Dinner, dancing, and enjoyment ends for the Rogues and they are suddenly thrown into the mix of things.
One of the high points in this story are the many philosophical conversations about the Empire and the Repulbic and the differences between them. The conversations between Fel and Pestage and the clash between Nrin, Fel, Pestage, and Wedge after one of the Rogues is lost are both some of the best SW I've ever read. One must also take note of the dire contrast between the first and second halves. The Rogues begin by relaxing and enjoying themselves (except for to lonely, rejected Fel) and events transpire that put these same people in a dire, morbid situation where their hope for survival looks bleak. superb writing by Stackpole.
Onto the art. The Nadeau-Crespo team is a success, with and very good mix of people and technology. X-wings, Y-wing, Bantha-class shuttles, and Star Destroyers all look superb, in particular a jaw-dropping two-page battle shot towards the end. Crespo does very good faces and their expressions. One of my favorite parts of the whole arc is the full-page shot of the Rogues and Kapp Dendo's commandoes standing over the cloth-covered body of a fallen Rogue. (Who will remain nameless, of course.) The expressions on each and every face is a virtual window into what each one must be thinking. And once again the coloring by Dave Nestelle is superb, perfectly conveying the feelings of bleakness and hopelessness in some scenes while conveying one of tranquility and enjoyment in others.
In a series like Rogue Squadron, when you have dozen of characters, its hard to balance it out. But Stackpole does it just as well as he has throughout the series. Fel once again is a superb character, while others like Nrin show both their good points and their flaws very well. Pestage starts out as an almost sympathetic character, but as time goes on he becomes more and more loatheful.
Not perfect, but still highly reccomended. It's also one of the few examples in Star Wars where an actualy deep, philosphical reason against the Empire is established. Bravo to Stackpole and crew for a great ending to a great series.

Initially I was flabbergasted that anyone would reprint this epic work from 1879. I have the original two-volume set and in its original form it is dated, to say the least. The voluminous set contained so much filler material that it resembled an elaborate travelogue when General and Mrs. Grant appear only occasionally. In thousands of pages of text and line drawings, Grant appears in only 25% of the total pages.

However, this new edition is edited by Michael Fellman and he does quite a nifty job in eliminating the extraneous material and retaining the essentially great elements of Young's original volumes. The heart of the book is Grant's table talk, where he spoke with rare candor about some of his civil war contemporaries such as Lee, Longstreet, Jackson, Sheridan and Sherman. These comments still resonate today, and rarely did Grant speak about these men at such length or with such perception.

John Russell Young idolized Grant and saw in him the qualities that make him the quintessential American hero. Grant was a bashful, hopelessly naive and honest man, and these traits come through in this work, illuminating his wry humor and extremely likeable character. Fellman has done well in editing this new version which focuses the reader on Grant and not trivial details about flowers, luggage or place settings. A nice book!

Battleground: Tatooine is the third story arc of the X-wing Rogue Squadron comic series, and the second to see publication in TPB collected form. Picking up not too long after The Phantom Affair ended, this adequate sequel delivers the goods. While the art's not quite as good as the previous volume, and the story's a little more basic, there are more characters, just as much great dialogue, and many classic scenes -- plus, of couse, all the obligatory action scenes of a Rogue Squadron story.

In this volume, the Rogues must travel to Tatooine to reconnoiter the place and hopefully find a hidden Imperial super-ship and weapons cache. Unfortunately, a Twi'lek who's been conspiring with Bib Fortuna's brain has found out about these too, and is also after this prize, knowing that if he finds it he'll be the ultimate power on Tatooine. When he goes rabbit, taking with him the location of the stuff, the Rogue must follow him to Ryloth, where, you guessed it, the Imperials are also headed trying to get the information.

This book brings back Winter, whose character was somewhat mangled in The Rebel Opposition, and fixes her up some, while putting her and Tycho together some. It also gives us a ton of secondary characters who we'll meet later in the novels -- Huff Darklighter, Kapp Dendo, and Sixtus, not to mention some Twi'leks, familiar and new. Also, this collection has a two-page written intro by Tim Zahn, which is amusing and somewhat enlightening to the Star Wars afficionado.

Overall, while this book isn't quite as good as The Phantom Affair, it is still a very amusing and emminently readable addition to the series. Recommended.

Battleground: Tatooine was the first X-Wing comic I had read after reading the X-Wing novels, and I was not disappointed. The art and coloring could be just a little better, but overall, it's a strong style that works well with the story.

The story itself is about the Rogues going to Tatooine to support Winter as she searches for a weapon cache that could place whoever finds it as the ultimate power on Tatooine. They do some running around chasing Imperials, and it has great fight scenes. The action is pretty consistant and evenly spread along the course of the story, so it definately isn't boring. My favorite thing about this graphic novel is that it begins Tycho and Winter's relationship. The artwork is the only thing that detracts from the rating of this story, and it's definately made up for in the strength of the plot.

I really enjoyed reading this story, especially since it actually develops each of the characters. For instance, in most of the books, Winter is something like a cyborg: no feelings, just there with the perfect memory. In this she actually seems to have feeling and love. Another great plus is the abundance of action, both off the ground and on. It's great that they have more space fighter action than in Phantom Affair. Overall a great comic/story, with interesting plot twists. Plus for people who've read Tales from Jabba's Palace, good old Bib Fortuna comes back. So far, I've loved every X-Wing book and comic I've touched and read them again and again.

This book is probably the worst of the Rogue Squadron series. It does have some of the things that we all love in the Rogue books like space battles and good characterization. However, it is not all woven together as convincingly as books like "Mandatory Retirement", or "In The Empire's Service." Plourr being a princess, (in case you didn't guess from the cover, don't worry, it isn't a spoiler, you find that out in the first 3-4 pages)is very implausible, and goes against everything Stackpole had before hand estabilished. Also, the story lacks the general importance in the SW world. In "In The Empire's Service", you felt the conflict to be a galactic concern, here it is nothing more than a small government squabble. Overall, this story just lacks the appeal of the rest of the series. I do have to give it points for good art, and a good flashback of Plourr's brother (you'll see), but overall, "In The Empire's Service", "Mandatory Retirement", or "Battleground:Tatooine" are miles above this story.Buy those instead.

I feel very strongly that The Warrior Princess is the worst of the Rogue Squadron line to see print in a collected edition. This is the fourth story arc in the series, and it's just not that good. The art's not bad, and there's some good character development, but I just couldn't care less for the story or for the bad guys.

The premise -- This is really a retelling of the Anastasia story and the Russian revolution with a few modifications. Years ago there was a people's revolution against the King of Eiattu, and he and his whole family were brutally killed -- except, possibly, for the two youngest kids. Now, it's years later, and the world is divided into several factions -- the Priams, or nobles, who want things the way they were, the common people, who simply want some equality, and then there's the Empire who just wants to take control. The twist is that many of the people have been organized into a People's Liberation Battalion by the long thought dead son of the murdered King, but he wants to lead the people against the nobles. And as it turns out -- one of Rogue Squadron's pilots, Plourr, is the long lost princess. The nobles want to bring he back and put her in power to take away her brother's validity. But of course she won't be their pawn.

I found this story, like my explanation thereof, drawn out and boring. Moff Leonia Tavira was a stupid character, the background was obviously somewhat unoriginal. This did have its points though -- there were some interesting new characters, some great character development and interaction, a few surprises, and we get to see Plourr kick a lot of butt.

Overall, though, I can't really give this book a recommendation. It's not bad, but it's just not that good.

'The Warrior Princess' is probably my favorite first-half XWRS story arcs. Stackpole uses politics in an expanded role, and it won't be the last time. Plourr Illo is the main character here, for better of for worse. Her history and that of her planet are rather interesting and parts of them parallel of the Russian Revolution, which is good in the opinion of the speaking history buff, at least.

The art is by John Nadeau again, and he does it well. The architecture and landscape of Eiattu is well done, from the wide-open fields to the majestic royal hall. David Nestelle returns as colorist and does a superb job once again. Overall, 'The Warrior Princess' is one of the most visually well-done XWRS comics.

Perhaps most important is the script by Scott Tolson. 'The Warrior Princess' introduces four new Rogues: Nrin Vakil the Quarren, Ibtisam the Mon Cal, Herrian the Bith, and Feylis Ardele, ex-TIE pilot. Tolson writes good 'banter' dialogue and sets up the four new additions well. He does a particularly good job setting up the relationship between Nrin and Ibtisam, and it is one that will continue to evolve for the rest of the series. It is also interesting to note that the lettering size is shrunk by about a third compared to the other arcs. Tolson likes to write a lot of dialogue, and he does it well.

Overall, it is a good read. Those who dislike Plourr may not be too fond of it, as she is the main character, but at the same time we also get a chance to see another side of the usually brash and loudmouthed pilot. The introduction of four new Rogues makes it worthwhile, though. And, like in 'Battleground: Tatooine', it introduces a host of new characters that will appear later on, including Rial Pernon, Count Labaan, and Leonia Tavira of the 'I, Jedi' fame.