“Jedi’s End: The Battle of No-Space”
Creative Staff:
Story: Cavan Scott
Art: Ario Anindito, Mark Morales
Colors: Carlos Lopez
Letterer: VC’s Ariana Maher
What They Say:
Since MARCHION RO attacked the Republic Fair on VALO, everything has been leading to this moment. Now it’s THE JEDI’s turn to strike the heart of THE NIHIL. AVAR KRISS VS. LOURNA DEE. JEDI VS. NIHIL. JEDI VS. JEDI. A line is about to be crossed!
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, it took some time but I’m definitely enjoying what Cavan Scott did to get things in order and moving – though it’s not without its faults. With the book now in its second arc and expanding on everything, we’re definitely getting to things off the beaten path of what we saw in the prior films. Ario Anindito and Mark Morales step in for this installment as part of the rotation on this series and they’re working well with colorist Carlos Lopez, who has done a lot of work on the Star Wars properties in general to help keep to that familiar style and tone. I like the detail we get with all of the creatures with the Nihil and the layouts are pretty solid all-around so that it has a good flow to it that makes it engaging to read.
The push to deal with the Nihil after recent events was being somewhat modulated by the Jedi but as we saw the last time around, Avar Kriss is intent on dealing with this situation that she sees as spiraling out of the Jedi’s control. For the Nihil that escaped, they’ve gone to their safe spot for the moment are in touch with Marchion Ro looking for some guidance on what to do next. Ro is clearly not coming to be a part of this as he has his own path as the Eye and the sudden arrival of the Jedi as led by Kriss it not a great sign. While it’s a misread that the Jedi won’t attack first, it’s also not a bad assumption. The reality is that we know that Avar isn’t herself at this point, which is why Keeve has been assigned to keep an eye on her as even Sskeer can see just how bad things are getting for Avar.
While the Nihil does set up for a defense as they’re being boarded quickly, it’s hard to deal with a group of Jedi with an actual mission. Especially with Avar being intent on taking them in a way that feels violent. She’s not looking for prisoners, she’s looking to eliminate those that hurt Terec and Ceret, which puts Keeve in a real bind. We see how Keeve does try to talk Avar down, and while I won’t say she’s giving into the dark side here, she is giving in to her emotions at this point. I find the purity of vision as presented in the Age of Rebellion to be a little too simplistic so I’m liking some of the gradients of things that the High Republic era can explore. Seeing how Avar is composing herself here, struggling with what’s before her, and then being motivated to go all-out against Lourna Dee makes sense in the context of events that are playing out.
In Summary:
While the material with the Nihil falls a bit flat as I don’t think they’ve been handled well overall in laying out who they are at this point, I do like what we get here in showing some of the chaotic hierarchical elements of it. And why Lounra can run roughshod over so much of the Tempest Runners. The real focus is on Avar here and it helps that we had a dialogue-driven issue the last time around to let us get a handled on the characters a bit more. As she falls more to her emotions and basically wanting to deal with those who have killed and destroyed so much in a clear and simple fashion, it puts her in a place where she likely realizes just how bad she’s gotten but can’t stop herself from this path because the problem needs to be dealt with in this manner. It’s nicely done with some really strong visuals as she goes up against Lourna.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: January 19th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
