A little past and present.
Creative Staff:
Story: Greg Weisman
Art: Jacopo Camagni
Colors: David Curiel
What They Say:
A tale from the time of Rebels! No longer a Padawan, the adult Kanan finds himself back on the planet Kaller. Will his past as Caleb Dume return to haunt him?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The conclusion of the first opening arc in the series the last time around left me with some concern since the visual for this installment is all about shifting it to the Star Wars Rebels period. While I thoroughly enjoy the TV series and could get into a Rebels based comic, that isn’t what I wanted this series to become. Thankfully, we’re just doing a breather arc with this storyline that continues into the next issue before delving back into more of Kanan’s past. But even with this taking place in the Rebels time period, some fourteen years after the events of the first arc and Order 66, it still manages to tie things nicely and serves as a sort of bookend to what happened before. It also keeps most of its focus on Kanan himself, which is a plus.
The premise for this one follows what has been going on in the first season with the supply runs that the Specter has been doing under Fulcrum’s help. That has the ship and team heading to Kaller of all places to get much needed supplies for Tarkintown. Kanan’s naturally really wary about returning to Kaller after all that had happened there and it’s interesting to see him so jumpy. He’s always got a tinge of it in the Rebels series, always looking over his shoulder, but it steps up here because of how he feels like he’ll be recognized. While the mission should be quick and easy of just grabbing the crates and moving on, it naturally takes a more problematic turn when the crates turn up empty as someone else has stolen the goods. And that means a return to the city of his youth where he was lower than a Loth-rat as he puts it.
The book does a good job of mixing in some familiar elements and there’s fun in seeing some of the ghosts of the past walk through various scenes to remind us just how much of an impact it all has on him. Kanan does his best to work alone, going only with Chopper as they try to figure out who stole from them, but there’s this feeling that one gets where you know that most of the various races here wouldn’t be able to tell a child human from his adult self without some heavy involvement with them over the years. It’s not that his fear is unwarranted, but it’s overblown. And understandably so. There are some nice call backs to the past and I loved that we almost ended up with Kasmir reconnecting with him. I’d be curious to see it yet I think it shouldn’t happen for quite a few issues yet, or it should end up in the TV series. The mission does work as one would expect but it has a nice side benefit that also ties to the past with Gamut Key playing a welcome role, one that has its own interesting history that could be explored with how the people of this world have kept their heads bowed for so long. It paints a picture of the difficult post-Empire time ahead as well.
In Summary:
With my initial wariness subsiding that the series would stick to the present, this is definitely a solid bridging piece from past to present before we dig back into the potentially rich life of Kanan as he gets underway on his own. Weisman handles the main cast here well enough while keeping the focus on Kanan, all while ensuring that the reminders of the past are there – yet not what they seem in some ways. Camagni handles the artwork here well as it comes across closer to the style of the Rebels show itself and that certainly works in its favor, though it is a departure from the previous arc which works the best for me at the moment. I can easily see him taking on a Rebels series and running with it in a great way, particularly as his sense of architecture and background design here is spot on in making it feel like a part of the Star Wars universe. It’s a solid and competent job across the board that adds more to the narrative and leaves me wanting to see more of it – but in its own series at some point.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: September 23rd, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
