Star Wars: Honor and Duty by John Ostrander

Star Wars: Honor and Duty Reviews

• 
  Sud666

  John Ostrander is a great comic writer. In Honor and Duty he keeps up with his quality story telling. Honor and Duty is actually 2 stories- the first is Honor and Duty and the second is Loyalties. Both are told from the stand point of Saguro Autem, A Sentaorial Guard who witnesses first-hand the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire. In the first story, approximately 3 years before the events of Revenge of the Sith, Autem and his partner are tasked with solving the killing of a Senator. In the investigation he is assisted by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywaylker. The story is far more about Autem himself though. He is a fanatically devoted Guardsman who idealizes the work he does as a Senatorial Guard. Over the course of the story it ends up costing him his family and in the end, when he discovers the corruption underlying the Senate it costs him his job. The second story Loyalties takes place three weeks after the events of ROTS and now Autem is a Captain in the Imperial Navy. The Republic has fallen and the Empire is taking full control. He has a chance to meet with Emperor Palpatine and Lord Vader during a "motivational" speech to the former-Republic Navy now-Imperial Navy Captains. It is a short story showing the purge of all "disloyal" Imperial Captains of whom Seguro is earmarked as one. The story shows the death of any remaining loyalty to the system he served. If that was a deliberately vague review-of course..if you want to know what happened read the comic.
  Both stories are well told and show the changes that occur to loyal Republic officers as the Empire comes to power. It is an interesting twist to see the events not through the eyes of Jedi or Sith but through an ordinary Officer. The art in the first story is just ok, but improves significantly in the second one. I enjoyed this tale and if you are a Star Wars fan, I think you will too.
• 
  Maegen

  I can always trust John Ostrander to deliver a good story, which he does here. Plus, it's always nice to see Obi-Wan :)
• 
  Alex

  My biggest thought here is "Why can't Americans spell honour properly?" It ruins the entire text for me, so I'm gonna have to go with 3 stars. Also, the story was kinda one-note and dull (Assassination attempt on a blah blah..) and the art blew. Another stop-gap story in a series that probably should have known better than to stall and fill time so much.
• 
  Malcolm Cox

  As much as I like reading about the Jedi, it was very refreshing to have the focus of someone else for a change. In this case, one of the blue senate guards, named Sagoro Autem. Here we learn about his work-life, his family life and his disdain for the Jedi. I also appreciated seeing the underground sport of Pit Racing first seen in the beginning of Greg Bear's Rogue Planet that saw a young padawan Anakin Skywalker face off against a blood carver.
  As with many 'cop' stories, the family did have the usual tropes of neglected wife and out of control children with nothing we haven't seen many times before. The mystery of the whodunnit was revealed pretty early on leaving the reader to simply watch the guard discover the truth for himself.
  The artwork was perfectly serviceable. The likenesses weren't all that close, but was at least consistent and I could still tell who was who.
  This volume concludes with a follow-up story, Loyalties, that follows Sagoro as an officer in the newly formed Empire. As the next round of purges takes place, he finds himself on the run from Darth Vader. This was a fairly standard hunted story with a twist that was pretty obvious. Nevertheless, it was a fitting conclusion to Sagoro's story. The artwork is noticeably different here, less cartoony than the main story and did the story justice.
• 
  Ian

  Two years before 'Attack of the Clones', Senate Guard Sagoro Autem undertakes an investigation on Coruscant which will lead him to cross paths with Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, whilst simultaneously tearing his family apart from within.
  Then, shortly after the Clone Wars have ended, Sagoro finds himself a target of the new Galactic Empire and has to try to rebuild some of the bridges he burned years before.
  
  The first two thirds of this book have the feel of a police procedural, whilst the final third is very much the story of a fugitive on the run. Whilst an interesting change of pace from the Jedi and Clone Wars stories that this book fall amongst, it's a significantly less-satisfying premise for a Star Wars story.
  
  I did enjoy the central themes of Sagoro being torn between his duty to the Republic/Empire and doing the right thing for the people he cares about, but that wasn't enough to stop this from being a pretty mediocre filler-episode style story.
  
  * More reviews here:
  https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
• 
  Adam

  This series has a lot of new characters and they're fairly effectively introduced, but the overall plot is a bit blah. As always, it would have been nice to see just a little bit more of the politics here-you get the impression that the failure of this vote resulted in the war pretty proximally but that conclusion could be more salient? I guess that's a tough line to walk because you want it to feel mysterious. The trash hopping is a nice new high-risk sport, but the Senate Guards are kind of a snoozer for me. This is another one of those "hey you saw this in the movie but here it is again if you want more" deals: Anakin and Obi-wan have to defend a Senator from political assassination before a big vote, there's speeder chases with mysterious assassins, etc. This time it feels way too close to be satisfying, there isn't enough novelty to be fun.
• 
  Julie

  This had three issues at the start of when the "Star Wars" title became "Star Wars Republic," then a tour that issue that followed up with charafters from this story arc five years later. Probably best they lumped them together since the last issue is 30 issues later - might have forgotten who these guys were by now.
  
  The art in the 3-issue story arc was pretty atrocious, but the epilogue issue art was lovely.
• 
  Kathleen

  This one's a little more interesting. It's a murder mystery set sometime between Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, with an assassinated senator and some shady political dealings going on. Very noir detective, complete with being torn between family and country, and with losing one's wife and children to boot. Well, that's the first half. The second half takes the main character, Senate Guard Saguro Autem, and forces him to choose between his loyalty and his life.
  
  First of all, it's a neat look at Coruscant the city, one we don't much get in the series. It's also a neat look at the way the Senate functioned-- or didn't-- before its fall and the rise of the Empire. Almost makes you sympathize with Palps. That said, I didn't like the main character at all and I wasn't much invested in the plot. It's a good story, but I feel like the characters could've been more sympathetic.
  
• 
  Ian Reay

  Set in the days preceding Geonosis, Honor and Duty is a both a political whodunit and a human drama, the story of the disintegration of the government mirrored in the unraveling of one family sworn to protect the Republic. Sagoro Autem is a 4th generation Senate Guard, the men with blue capes and helmets you may have noticed in the background in the prequel films. While investigating the murder of a Senator killed just prior to a vote on legislation that could cause several worlds to leave the Republic, Sogoro discovers some painful truths about his family and the system to which he has pledged his life.
  
  It's a story told in every civil war, the story of a family set against itself, two brothers divided by competing loyalties and brought into direct conflict by the implacable forces of war. Fortunately, John Ostrander is on hand to tell the tale. He is without question the most talented writer to work long-term on any Star Wars comic, and this particular volume shows why. He does as good a job as possible with the politics in a series in which not many authors get into the details about exactly what kinds of corruption cause so many to believe the only recourse is secession. Where Ostrander excels is in building his characters, creating people the reader cares about. The final scene of the initial 3-part story ends with the shedding of a tear, and while I wasn't in need of a tissue when I closed the book, there was the making in my throat of a tiny lump.
  
  The fourth and last installment of the story takes place several years later (2 weeks after the events in EP III) when Sagoro Autem now an Imperial Captian for Imperial Navy, now at the service of of the Newly appointed Emperor Palpatine and the Dark Lord Vader following events Whereas the previous story arc was about things falling apart, this one is about paying old debts and putting things back together.
  
  You don't need to have read all of Dark Horse's Star Wars series to enjoy this book, (although you might be interested to know Autem makes appearances in Clone Wars Volumes 2 and 8). Honor and Duty stands well on its own and is perhaps unique in the Star Wars Extended Universe in presenting a story about an average citizen of Coruscant, rather than smugglers, bounty hunters, clones, or super-powered Jedi and Sith.
  
  Overall, this is a fine example of Dark Horse's Star Wars publishing, a awesome addition to the EU, and one that I would certainly recommend.
• 
  Jared

  
  Star Wars Legends Project #167
  
  Background: Honor and Duty was published in May of 2006. It consists of 4 issues from the Republic run of comics (#46-48, published October 2002-January 2003, and #78, published October 2005). All four issues were written by
  John Ostrander, with the first three drawn by
  C.P. Smith and the fourth drawn by
  Luke Ross. Ostrander has written several dozen issues of Star Wars comics across various series, but this is the only Star Wars Legends work by the other two artists (Ross has done several issues of new continuity work for Marvel).
  
  The first three issues of Honor and Duty take place a year or so before the Battle of Geonosis (23 years before the Battle of Yavin) and are the last issues of Republic that take place before the Clone Wars. The fourth issue takes much later, approximately two weeks after Order 66 (19 years before the Battle of Yavin).
  
  Summary: Sagoro Autem is a third-generation Senate Guard who serves the Republic with unswerving loyalty, but the swirl of corruption that surrounds the politics of his day is about to drag him into a morass that will test an even greater loyalty: Family.
  
  Review: I feel like there's not a lot I can say about this story without giving too much away, because it's relatively short for everything that happens in it. It didn't do much for me overall because I didn't feel very invested in the characters (or feel a whole lot of sympathy for them), and ultimately the story will stand or fall on that basis. That said, Ostrander is a very good writer (as I've often noted before), and it's definitely a solid arc. I liked the reference to illegal garbage pit racing on Coruscant from Rogue Planet, and I liked the idea of following how the events surrounding Palpatine's rise to power might affect some of the Republic's more ordinary citizens. If that sounds appealing, check this out. It just wasn't my thing.
  
  B-
• 
  Yves

  Cette dernière bande dessinée de la série Republic porte sur le garde sénatorial Sagoro Autem. L'histoire se passe 8 ans après la bataille de Naboo et juste un peu avant la Guerre des Clones. Un sénateur est assassiné et les gardes du Sénat doivent collaborer avec les Jedi Kenobi et Skywalker pour retrouver le meurtrier. La collaboration ne sera pas aisée à cause de frictions entre Skywalker et Autem.
  
  La seconde partie se passe deux semaines après la Guerre des Clones. Autem est maintenant un officier impérial. Vader garde encore une rancune contre lui et décide de l'inclure dans une purge des officiers.
  
  Cette BD est plutôt ordinaire. j'ai bien aimé la seconde partie mais la première ressemblait un peu trop à l'histoire de l'épisode 2. Cette BD met fin à la série Republic pour laisser place la série Clone Wars.
  
  Ce que je peux dire pour résumer rapidement la série Republic c'est que c'est une série moyenne et que les meilleures histoires sont celles avec Quinlan Vos.
• 
  Cale

  This story of a Senate Guard who gets thrust into bigger events than he knows is interesting; it's a police procedural (with some Jedi thrown in), but it also focuses on questions of honor and duty - are the guards honor bound to serve a corrupt institution? Are the assassins working for the destabilization actually doing the right thing? How much should family matter? The answers it gives are sometimes surprising. In between all that, though, is a fairly action-oriented story, including a couple scenes with Anakin and Obi-Wan, though they aren't the focus. There's also an epilogue story that takes the characters in a new direction that may be even more surprising. All in all, it's a fairly strong story, especially considering the main characters are only in this one volume.
• 
  C

  The first of the two stories was interesting, but the second was predictable, rushed, and just poorly written in my opinion.
  
  On top of that, there were several spelling/typographical errors that weren't caught by the editors - something that is quite annoying to me.
• 
  Hillingdon Libraries

  
  Find this book at Hillingdon Libraries
• 
  Sophiya Bethea

  Stars wars books are good. They are amazing. That star wars book I like it better then the other one. This book was so fun to read. I liked it because it was a comic book. Also because it is a Star Wars book!
• 
  Ron

  A good read for Star Wars folks - collects a three-issue story arc, plus a one-shot featuring the s from Star Wars: Republic comics
• 
  Justin

  Pretty boring story with bad art. The number of copyediting errors didn't help.
• 
  Eddie

  Like the story fine but the story why he could be consider Clone War hero would of been fun.
• 
  M. Nolan

  Explores the decline of the Republic and rise of the Empire from the perspective of an average soldier. Interesting stuff.
• 
  Edward Petersen

  Meh. It was missing everything that makes Star Wars interesting. And included just enough of what made the prequels preachy and annoying.
• 
  Matt

  Not bad, not great. Wish it was a Darth Vader story, as the cover implies.
• 
  Charles

  There are two stories in this book, one longer than the other. The first and longer takes place approximately three “years” before the events of “Revenge of the Sith.” The power of Palpatine grows as the Republic continues to fracture as the lure of corruption overtakes many of the Senators. Anakin is now an adult, still impulsive, but very capable in the ways of the force.
  Although all of the usual characters are present, the primary focus of the main story is on Autem, a loyal Senate guard. When a Senator is assassinated and another is threatened, Autem and his partner conduct an investigation and Obi-Wan and Anakin are assigned to guard the threatened Senator. While Autem’s loyalty to the Senate and the Republic are unshakable, members of his family are not. This creates a serious familial conflict with the fate of the Republic in question.
  The second, shorter tale takes place after the events in “Revenge of the Sith” and continues the first. Imperial officers are gathered and essentially told that theirs lives belong to the Emperor and no dissent will be tolerated. The Emperor’s new assistant, Darth Vader, is introduced to the assembled officer corps.
  Both of these stories are very entertaining and informative. The reader learns more about the slow rot of the Republic from within, the decline is clear and it seems inevitable that a dictator would emerge amid the growing chaos. While there may be a little disagreement, most fans of the “Star Wars” saga will enjoy this book.