“Heart of the Drengir: The Galaxy Unites”
Creative Staff:
Story: Cavan Scott
Art: Georges Jeanty. Karl Story
Colors: Annalisa Leoni
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramgna
What They Say:
A frontier in crisis. The Jedi of Starlight Beacon have joined forces with a feared enemy to face the terror of the unstoppable Drengir Horde. While Avar Kriss and her new allies fight nightmarish creatures on the lava world of Daivak, can Keeve Trennis save her former master from complete absorption? And, who or what is the Great Progenitor?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With so much work to do to establish this time period if the comic is your first experience with it, I’ve really appreciated in the opening four issues what Cavan Scott did to deal with that. Though I fell out of the book during the start of its run for various reasons, going back now after reading one of the novels (belatedly, finally) hopefully will help this be just a bit more accessible to me. With this kicking off a new arc that continues the first, Georges Jeanty and Karl Story are on board for the artwork here and they’re working well with colorist Annalisa Leoni as there’s a distinctive feel to things while still feeling a part of the larger Star Wars universe. I like the detail we get with all of the creatures with the Drengir and the layouts are pretty solid all-around so that it has a good flow to it that makes it engaging to read.
The storyline is certainly focusing on two tracks here that are completely connected. With the events of the first arc being felt here, the outer rim worlds are in a decent state of panic and fear over the Drengir and what they represent as they infect a growing number of worlds. The focus we get is with Daivak where Kriss and her group of Jedi, now in an alliance with the Hutts, are doing their best to stave off the creatures. The Hutt, Mayaga, is amusing in a grim way as she just wants to carpet bomb the planet, but it’s all up close and personal here. It’s the kind of situation that gets grimmer and grimmer the longer it goes on and you can see the toll it’s taking across the board. That, in turn, has them finally calling for backup from the Starlight Beacon.
Events on the Starlight Beacon itself are intriguing as I wish it went into things more about those uneasy about the alliance that Kriss has set up. But the main focus here is on Keeve as she’s focused heavily on Sskeer and happened before with the Drengir. Keeve has decided to take a chance on how to help him as the medical sciences are coming up empty and that means sharing in his connection to the Drengir as she enters the protected space with him. They’re given a way to connect mentally, a Force-ish telepathy of sorts, so she and Sskeer can Having this pairing working together to try and use the hive-like mind of the Drengir to figure out where it’s from, where it’s sourced at, and how to defeat it makes a lot of sense. And while it does seem like it comes easy even with the risk at hand, it feels like this is just the first slice of what difficulties lay ahead in grappling with this threat that many feel is the darkest since the Nightmare Conjunction,
In Summary:
With the mention of Mulita as a place to go and the Nightmare Conjunction, Cavan Scott is tying into things he laid some of the foundations for back with the Dooku novel he wrote a couple of years ago. I’m curious to see how far it goes and what we will really find out about it. It’s another of those tales rooted in myth and the passage of time that can be interpreted in interesting ways. With this issue, I like both of the stories and just the craziness of a combat-happy Hutt, but the time with Sskeer and Keeve works the best. Georges Jeanty and Karl Story are a solid team for this series as they capture the look and feel of this era well where it has familiar trappings of the Age of the Republic era but making it its own thing with how the Jedi act and operate.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: June 30th, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
