Max Nocerino 
Max takes a space detour to review Star Wars: Yoda #7. But can the wise Jedi Master best General Grievous?
It’s Yoda vs Grievous to the Death in Star Wars: Yoda #7. The start of a new arc set during the tumultuous CLONE WARS! The Separatists have a powerful new weapon that can change the course of the war! Can Yoda and Anakin Skywalker discover the secret of the weapon in time?
REVIEW
It’s a little unorthodox to review an issue of a comic completely out of order and out of the blue! But I feel this issue needed to be noted. In this issue, Yoda FINALLY crosses blades with the formidable General Grievous. Grievous was first introduced to fans in the now-Legends Clone Wars micro-series in 2002 or 03. He was shown to be an unstoppable Jedi killer without a connection to the Force. But he was able to wield up to 4 lightsabers at once. He was a cyborg with a deep-seated hatred of the Jedi. And he then featured prominently in the Revenge of the Sith movie in 2005 and then became a regular in the Canon Clone Wars cartoon which premiered in 2008.
In all that time, Star Wars fans always imagined a duel between Grievous and the legendary Jedi Master Yoda. We, of course, never got it, (unless you count one of the Flash Mobile games on Starwars.com). Now 20 years later, we finally get a chance to see this.
JEDI VS GRIEVOUS
In this issue, Yoda journeys to a planet with Anakin Skywalker to gain intel on the Separatist’s new superweapon. And there, along came Grievous. Yoda shows no fear and confronts the cyborg General despite a height difference of possibly 3 ft! I was very satisfied with the brief duel and it went very much like I imagined. Grievous was eager to challenge Yoda and even fed him that annoying line that Count Dooku trained him in lightsaber combat. The cherry on the top was that Grievous was well-aware that Yoda trained Dooku.
Yoda parried all of Grievous’s powerful swings and even scored a shiak (strike) on Grievous’s head plate. Yoda chastised Grievous for using a lightsaber despite no connection to the Force and Grievous promised to end the diminutive Jedi sage. Yoda did not duel for long and retreated when droid reinforcements arrived. It is very much unknown what would have happened if Yoda continued the fight.
CONFRONTATION
Yoda forced Dooku to retreat and forced Palpatine to resort to Force tactics as opposed to blades. So it only makes sense logically that he could defeat Grievous. Yet there is that strength and height difference. Size matters not! Yoda always said, but perhaps this time it dissolves. So, fans finally get the Grievous/Yoda fix we’ve all been waiting for and Yoda and Anakin also score the intel they need on the new weapon. It was fun to see Yoda get his hands dirty and his teaming up with Anakin is interesting. Yoda is more tolerant of Anakin than Mace Windu and perhaps I will buy the next issue to see how this unlikely partnership goes.
VERDICT
The art of this comic bothered me a little bit. The depiction of Yoda’s face was way off and the artist tried some style of not fully defining the faces of some characters in the background. I really don’t like this. Aside from the art though, it was a solid issue. The new droid superweapon is a little cliche (and even Anakin references it in-universe) but I will let it slide because the fight was so exciting. A-.
Star Wars: Yoda #7 is published by Marvel Comics and is available to buy now.
Max Nocerino is a regular Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. He is a passionate Star Wars fan and loves the literature of the galaxy far, far away. Follow him on Twitter where he shares his love of the Force frequently!
