Hope becomes inspiration.
Creative Staff:
Story: Charles Soule
Art: Jesus Saiz
Colors: Arif Prianto
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
THE PATH TO JEDI WISDOM…OR A DEADLY TRAP OF THE DARK SIDE? THE FORCE led LUKE SKYWALKER to someone who can provide him with great insight into the path to JEDI wisdom…But their meeting will change Skywalker FOREVER. Luke thought his duel against his father, Darth Vader, was the ultimate test. But Luke’s trials have only just begun. The galaxy needs Luke Skywalker. And a Jedi needs a weapon! Meanwhile, Vader continues his search for his long-lost son, and the REBEL ALLIANCE finds itself on the verge of losing all hope.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With Charles Soule being one of my favorite writers on the comics and anxiously looking forward to his upcoming novel in the property, this issue provides a really good endpoint for the storyline involving Luke at the moment. It hits some key moments past and present and sets up what’s to come. Jesus Saiz has been great on this book, especially in working on the color designs with Arif Prianto, and this issue has a strong look throughout as we cover a few worlds with different locations and events going on, Rebel and Imperial alike. The end result is a really good looking book that feels like a key section of the larger mythos with all that’s going on here.
It is, primarily, a Luke-focused book as he’s been captured by Verla after the events of the previous issue. She’s now ensuring his demise in order to protect herself, and probably in some way she feels like she’s protecting him, with the underwater trap. But everyone always forgets about droids and that helps to give Luke the upper hand in the end. And that’s where the book gets very dialogue-focused as we see Luke talking about wanting to learn about his father, about Vader, and the past itself since Verla was a padawan back in the day. She’s not terribly interested in this because she, like others that survived the purge, have lived a life in fear. Unlike Kanan who found a family of his own, Verla was constantly alone with just the sliver of Force sensitivity she had that would ensure her death. And that’s enough for her to hate the force, though willing to give into Luke with the information that he wants to know in order to secure her own peace.
Luke’s journey has some good emotional underpinnings to it and there’s almost a sadness to how he views Verla, even while giving into her demands. But that leads him to where he can find a lightsaber in a temple on the planet Tempes. It’s one of the rare encounters – his first? – with a temple that’s in pristine condition and has a blade there for him. But it’s also a trap that has you questioning the usefulness of the blad as Vader has bonded the Inquisitor here in order to take down Jedi that show up or other Force-sensitive types. I love seeing this kind of fate for this Inquisitor after all the trouble he caused in Rebels, and to see how Vader continues to torment him here while he wishes for the finality of death. The way the Sith operates continues to be really good avenues to explore for storytelling to remind us that they are the bad guys.
In Summary:
This series has been a lot of fun from the start but it hits a really strong point here in exploring a couple of different things. I love that it all circles back to the Rebellion at the end and the hope that becomes inspiration with Luke having his lightsaber and Leia understanding the importance of this. Soule’s script covers a lot of ground here and provides a really great look at something unexpected with the Sith side that’s utterly haunting. The main thrust is on Luke and his optimism but it’s well-balanced with Verla’s experiences, which can only feel like tragedy upon tragedy compared to what we saw some like Kanan manage over the years.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 9+
Released By: Marvel Comics via | ComiXology | Kindle
Release Date: September 16th, 2020
MSRP: $4.99
