A tough end sets up a new beginning.
Creative Staff:
Story: Charles Soule
Art:Jethro Morales
Colors: Jim Campbell
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
What They Say:
To save the innocent, to save his sister, to save himself…Jedi Master Porter Engle must embark on one of the most epic instances of lightsaber combat ever recorded in the Chronicles. It will change him, and Barash, forever.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
My inability to keep up with or connect with the novel side of the High Republic era frustrates me but what’s helped is that I’m thoroughly enjoying all of the comics coming out for it. This series has one of the architects of it telling a four-issue tale with Charles Soule, who has been my favorite of the Star Wars comic writers for several years now. It comes across as a continued maturation of storytelling within the universe and I’m glad for it. Soule works with artist Marco Castiello – oops, wait, he’s not involved in the finale but Jethro Morales, who worked on some of the previous issue, returns here. It captures a lot of the same look as the run so far. Once again, it delivers an engaging look and style with the characters and technology and the color design from Jim Campbell lets it show through really well and highlights some of the artwork’s strengths well.
The tightness of a four-issue run definitely makes for a packed finale here in the ways that we expected it to. A lot of the action is naturally focused on Porter as he deals with the Bethunians the mercenaries they brought in. The lead merc, General Veiss, makes it clear to Porter that she’s a Jedi killer and he’s intent on stopping her but also not killing anyone. It’s a lot of big action as he fends off the attacks while destroying their bigger weapons and it unfolds well as he just throws himself at it over and over. The problem is that the mercenaries have decided to stop paying attention to what the Bethunians are trying to do and just want to raze the city and plunder it for all its worth whereas the Bethunians need it intact because of what it does for them as a society. Suffice it to say, things are going from bad to worse pretty quickly.
What changes the narrative in this is that Barash discovers that the rogue princess is actually in cahoots with her beholden to create this situation as a way to dethrone his mother in order to help advance the society in general. They view her as holding back progress and trying to unify things but it got out of control because of the mercenaries. That puts a lot of blood and death at their feet but it’s Barash that it hits the most. While the storyline here manages to wrap up simply and quickly with this reveals, it puts our two Jedi in a difficult place. For Barash, she listened to the young woman instead of the Force and now feels disconnected from things and has opted for a sabbatical of sorts from the Order – but not leaving it. That throws Porter in a huge way and you can see how it’s possibly going to break him to not have her there, which sets us up for the next series. It’s an interesting design but I’m glad to have more of this coming as I like both of these characters a lot.
In Summary:
This series was a lot of fun in general because it played things straight and series, focused on adult characters, and dealt with some traditional story ideas that you’d find in feudal era works and slapped some lightsabers on it. That’s one of the core elements of Star Wars when you get down to it and mixing it into this part of the High Republic with an outlying disconnected world hits some good notes. I really liked the artwork overall but it all comes down to whether the characters work. And both Barash and Porter deliver separately and together, so I’m hopeful we get more of both of them in the sequel miniseries that’s coming. Definitely an easy recommendation for someone wanting the space wizard side of Star Wars without it being a part of the Skywalker saga.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: March 29th, 2023
MSRP: $3.99
