Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 25th Anniversary Special Gives Anakin Skywalker a Surprising New Look
Greg Pak's one-shot features young Anakin dreaming about his future as a Jedi.
It's been 25 years since 1999, one of the biggest movie years in the history of cinema, and so it's probably fair to expect a number of anniversary celebrations for some of the year's biggest hits. There is no hit bigger than Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and Marvel Comics got out ahead of things with a new one-shot that celebrates a quarter-century of the prequel trilogy. Part of that special is a new look at Anakin Skywalker, as he would have appeared in the years between The Phantom Menace and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
The image itself is from a premonitory dream by a young Anakin, who is also seen in the preview pages with his mother, Jar Jar, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. At least the Jar Jar and Obi-Wan pages look like they take place shortly after the end of the movie's climactic battle, with Anakin mourning Qui-Gon.
"I was eight when A New Hope came out, so for my formative years, Star Wars was synonymous with the original trilogy," writer Greg Pak told StarWars.com, where the pages premiered. "But I delved deep into the prequels when I came on board as the writer of Marvel's Darth Vader comics, watching and rewatching all of them. And I found myself dazzled by the long game George Lucas was playing in laying out the tragedy of Darth Vader. It's been an absolute thrill to contribute to that legacy by revisiting The Phantom Menace with new scenes from the point of view of young Anakin."
You can see a look at the "dream Jedi" version of Anakin below.
Here's the solicitation text for the one-shot, via the Star Wars website:
STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE 25TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1
Written by GREG PAK
Art by WILL SLINEY
Cover by PHIL NOTO
CELEBRATING THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PHANTOM MENACE WITH AN ALL-NEW STORY!
Explore the earliest days of ANAKIN SKYWALKER with never-before-seen, revelatory moments set before, after, and between the scenes of the classic movie! Featuring the dream of a JEDI, the gift of a TUSKEN, the heart of a GUNGAN, the ache of a mother and the horror of a hero!
The Phantom Menace 25th Anniversary Special #1 arrives in May 1, 2024 and is available for pre-order online and at your local comic shop.
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