The Clone Wars: The Valley

"Captain Typho investigates The Valley."

- Tagline

The Clone Wars: The Valley is a short web comic leading directly into the The Clone Wars episode "Blue Shadow Virus." It was added to StarWars.com on February 13, 2009. It was written by Pablo Hidalgo, and illustrated and lettered by Grant Gould. The Valley shows Peppi Bow asking for help from Queen Neeyutnee because her shaak herds are acting restless and strange. Captain Typho goes to investigate, and finds three B1 battle droids and a tactical droid. The droids are destroyed, and Queen Neeyutnee summons Senator Padmé Amidala back to Naboo to help.

Plot summary
In an audience with Queen Neeyutnee, Peppi Bow, a shaak herder, is complaining that her herds are behaving very strangely; the last time this happened was ten years ago, during the Invasion of Naboo. Chrin, a security officer, interrupts&mdash;much to the dismay of Captain Typho&mdash;and says that battle droids are unlikely, as sensors would have detected them first. Boss Nass argues that their sensors may not be adequate. Typho volunteers to take a patrol squad down to the valley and report back; and the Queen agrees.

Skirmish in the Valley
In the valley, Chrin still thinks there is nothing there, because sensors didn't detect anything, but Typho argues that the distance from the palace and the unreliability of the sensors in the valleys may have masked anything that was there. Suddenly, a security officer spots three B1 battle droids on STAPs and a tactical droid on a Flitknot speeder bike. Chrin shoots the speeder bike with a missile launcher, destroying it. One of the droids dismounts from its STAP and fires its blaster pistol. Captain Typho instantly reacts and shoots the droid through its head, disabling it.

Captain Typho contacts Queen Neeyutnee and Sio Bibble, Naboo's governor, via a hologram. Typho says there is not much left of the droids that attacked, though he will analyze the scraps anyway. Bibble jumps to the conclusion of a droid invasion, but Neeyutnee still says there's much they don't know. Neeyutnee has called back Senator Padmé Amidala to see that Naboo gets the help it needs if it is in trouble.

Behind the scenes
The Clone Wars: The Valley is a six-page web comic in The Clone Wars web comic series that ties into the television series of the same name. The Valley leads directly into "Blue Shadow Virus," an episode in the first season of The Clone Wars television series. The comic explains why Senator Amidala was on Naboo during the events of the The Clone Wars episode "Blue Shadow Virus."

Development
The comic was posted on Star Wars.com on February 13, 2009, and was written by Pablo Hidalgo and drawn, colored, pencilled, and lettered by Grant Gould. Special thanks were also given to Leland Chee, Sue Rostoni, and Dave Filoni.