Star Wars: Episode I Anakin Skywalker #[nn]
Released on May 19, 1999 — the same week *The Phantom Menace* hit theaters — this one-shot was the first of a quartet of character-focused tie-in comics that gave each of the film's principals their own standalone story running concurrently with the movie's events. As the issue that launched the set, it represents Dark Horse's most ambitious single-issue expansion of the prequel era up to that point, offering readers an extended, interior view of young Anakin's Tatooine life that the film could only sketch. It also marked one of the earliest comic appearances of the prequel-era cast — Anakin, Shmi, Watto, and Sebulba as leads, with Padmé, Qui-Gon, Jar Jar, and R2-D2 appearing in connective cameos — cementing their comics presence at the very moment the broader public was first meeting them on screen.
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The issue was written by Timothy Truman and drawn by Steve Crespo, with Tim Bradstreet providing the art cover; a separate photo cover using film stills was also produced simultaneously. It was part of a deliberate Lucasfilm/Dark Horse marketing push timed to the theatrical release of *The Phantom Menace*, a strategy Dark Horse had been building toward since December 1998 when it launched a new ongoing *Star Wars* series to warm up the comics market ahead of the film. The Anakin one-shot was the opening installment of what would collectively be known as the *Episode I: The Phantom Menace Adventures* comics, with the Obi-Wan Kenobi, Queen Amidala, and Qui-Gon Jinn one-shots following over the subsequent weeks.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published by Dark Horse Comics on May 19, 1999, the same week Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace opened in theaters.
- Written by Timothy Truman, with interior art by Steve Crespo and the art cover by Tim Bradstreet.
- The story runs concurrently with the events of The Phantom Menace, focusing on Anakin Skywalker's perspective on Tatooine; Padmé Amidala, Qui-Gon Jinn, Jar Jar Binks, and R2-D2 appear in cameo roles, while Anakin, Shmi Skywalker, Watto, and Sebulba are the primary cast.
- First of four character-specific one-shots (the others spotlighting Obi-Wan Kenobi, Queen Amidala, and Qui-Gon Jinn) collectively marketed as the Episode I: The Phantom Menace Adventures comics.
- The issue was released with four cover variants: a standard art cover, a photo cover (newsstand and direct editions), a Dynamic Forces holo-foil exclusive (limited to 15,000 copies with certificate), and a Dynamic Forces gold foil cover; a signed edition of the holo-foil variant was also produced (limited to 10,000 copies, signed by Steve Crespo).
- Collected in the Dark Horse trade paperback Star Wars: Episode I Adventures (March 2000), which was later reprinted in a digest-sized format in January 2012 to coincide with the 3D theatrical re-release of The Phantom Menace.
- The story was also reprinted in Marvel's Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: Rise of the Sith Vol. 2 (2017), placing it within the ongoing Legends continuity archive.
- Serialized in installments in Titan Magazines' UK publication Star Wars Comic beginning with issue #1 (July 26, 1999), giving the story a second life for British readers.