“Children of the Storm Chapter 3: The Taking of the Ataraxia”
Creative Staff:
Story: Cavan Scott
Art: Jim Towe, Marika Cresta
Colorist: Jim Campbell
Letterer: VC’s Ariana Maher
What They Say:
THE TAKING OF THE ATARAXIA! LOURNA DEE’s treachery has been revealed! But can she escape as the REPUBLIC DEFENSE COALITION combines forces with an unlikely ally? JEDI MASTER KEEVE TRENNIS must board a ship she thought was lost, but is anyone prepared for the extent of Lourna’s ruthlessness? INNOCENT LIVES hang in the balance as Keeve makes a monumental decision!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
My relationship with the High Republic era continues to be complicated simply because I’m only really engaging with the comics, outside of one of the early novels. Thankfully, Cavan Scott is writing this series and he’s been one of the better comics writers and heavily involved on the novel side so it tends to dig a bit deeper than some other books. And this one is working to seed the next phase of this era in some familiar ways. For this issue, we get Jim Towe as the artist this time on the artwork with Marika Cresta back again from the first issue and they do well in capturing the Star Wars work so there’s a solid bit of familiar “house” style with it here and the execution is pretty strong as expected since there’s a lot of familiarity with previous works for The High Republic era to build off of.
With three or four different High Republic books going on at the same time, it’s easy to get confused or not feel like things are cohesive. Thankfully, this series is coming together well and with this issue it feels like it’s hit a groove most other books haven’t for me in this realm. The focus is straightforward thanks to it revolving around Keeve as she’s all about finding Sskeer. While believed to be dead, word of a Trandoshan Jedi in the Occulsion Zone has her and others working hard to get there. That has them attempting to recapture the Ataraxia which Nihilist Lourna is in control of. Keeve needs the ship since it has the particular drive that the Nihil uses that will let them cross into the Zone. Keeve’s also smart enough to not tell anyone about this beyond Terec and Ceret as when they do recapture it at the end, it’s off to the Zone against Commander Jahen’s orders.
The book spends a lot of time on the recapture and it works well and is pretty entertaining. We get some action in space thanks to Ceret and what Jahen and her ship are doing, which Lourna pushes back against well enough. But it’s Keeve using her fighter to get close and on board the Ataraxia that’s the most fun as she’s able to slice her way in, take out some droids, and go one on one with Lourna. Since the two have a history overall and both know each others backstories, it makes for a compelling piece in the big picture. We also get to have some fun with politics in this installment as we watch as Jahen does her best to manage the situation with the Hutt, Skarabda, who is all-in on an alliance now. That’s something that will be much more complicated back on Coruscant and in Hutt space itself, but her trying to keep that in play while trying to stop Keeve from revealing that the Ataraxa has Nihil drive on it is a lot of fun.
In Summary:
What’s definitely helping this series right now is that it feels like it’s got a clear and straightforward approach to what it’s trying to do. There are a lot of trappings and places on the side to step into along the way but the reality it’s about Keeve trying to find out if her master, Sskeer, is still alive. It’s a good manageable motivation that lets other things fall into place, which Cavan Scott avoids going too weird with and largely keeps it Jedi-grounded in a way that feels authentic. There is a solid mix of things going on here and all of them could spin out of it in interesting ways with a bit of time and devotion to it but it’s also keeping its focus largely on Keeve, which is a huge plus. Probably one of the more enjoyable High Republic books I’ve read in a bit.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: January 17th, 2024
MSRP: $4.99
