Star Wars Omnibus: Wild Space, Volume 2

  I know I've been reading a lot of Star Wars stuff lately. Blame it on Episode VII.....

  I found this omnibus edition of Dark Horse titles on discount at a comic book in St. Louis. Titled 'Wild Space' it's a bizarre mix of stories that don't really fit anywhere else, either because the stories aren't canon or there just isn't enough material to make their own omnibus. 

   In this collection, Jabba and his majordomo Bibb Fortuna scour the universe wheelin', dealin', and schemin' their way through the Outer Rim. Then the concept artists of the new and original Star Wars trilogies create an assortment of stories based on their outstanding artwork. Next, Lando Calrissian must run a gambit of bounty hunters in order to save his life and find out where Boba Fett is hiding with Han Solo, frozen in Carbonite. Lastly, a pair of background characters named Tag & Bink end up causing much of the action of the original trilogy to go the Rebellion's way and legendary cartoonist Sergio Aragones gets sucked into the DVD restoration process at Lucasfilm, literally. 

   This was a great collection of stories. I really didn't have qualms with any of it, though I must say that some of the concept stories had me scratching my head- they were just a little too out there. However, one tale about Obi-Wan protecting the Lars homestead from a menacing Darth Maul was both thrilling and proof that the idea that having the Sith Lord survive Episode I was in the cards for quite some time. 

   I loved the Tag & Bink stories. I already owned them in another format and that almost caused me to overlook this book. But I decided I'll sell those books at a used bookstore and pulled the trigger on this collection. I'm really glad I did.

   By the way, this is volume 2 of Wild Space, so does that mean I have to have that volume to enjoy this one? Nope, it's just that there so much material out there that doesn't fit into other storylines to warrant putting them into another omnibus title other than Wild Space. Plus, volume 1 collects all of the Marvel UK stories and for that reason alone, it's worth putting on my wish list.

   Unfortunately, because of the scarcity of the Omnibuses due to Dark Horse no longer owning the rights to Star Wars, the price of those titles are very hit and miss. I got lucky to find this one as cheap as I did because some listings on eBay and Amazon are for prices more than original cover, way more...

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.