“Now or Never, Part 1”
Creative Staff:
Story: Daniel Jose Older
Art: Elisa Romboli
Colors: Michael Atiyeh
Letterer: Comicraft’s Tyler Smith & Jimmy Betancourt
What They Say:
Zeen, Jedi Knight Qort, and droid 5A-G3 have been following every clue to find answers about their friends who are missing–and presumed dead–since the Starlight Beacon disaster. Together with an assemblage of battle-ready Jedi, smugglers, and pirates, they’ve got a new lead to pursue and it is taking them straight to a Nihil prison ship . . . Dare they hope to discover surviving allies there?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I’ve struggled with a lot of the High Republic era works for a while but I continue to try various works to see what connects and what intrigues. This series, of the Phase III era, is something that complements what I’m reading on the Marvel side taking place at the same time. Here, Daniel Jose Older continues to plot the course of a few key characters and he’s joined by Elisa Romboli on the artwork. With the color design from Michael Atiyeh, it’s an interesting book that reminds me of some late Grimjack-era works and the kind of very busy and filled-in world that’s full of life but can sometimes feel like it’s too much to take in for an engaging read as you’re drawn all over the page. It’s filled with all sorts of alien creatures and some great designs to give us a feel for them from a different period in time as well.
With this installment, things are moving forward but it’s such a sprawling cast of characters (who are at least getting named through a tagging system here) that it kind of becomes too much. The general idea is a good one, however, as we see how the Republic with the help of the Jedi are going to try and stage a rescue on a Nihil prison ship that’s coming into Republic space for, well, reasons. This provides a good opportunity to get back a lot of Jedi that have been captured since the fall of Starlight Beacon and bring them back into the fold. There’s plenty of good reasons to run the mission and for everyone to work together. Of course, a lot of the early setup material also involves Zeen trying to sort her feelings in how to talk to Lula now that she’s back but also working through her recovery. I’m curious to see how far it’ll go but right now it’s just a tease and Lula appears to be oblivious.
The Nihil prison ship itself is interesting in that we do get a number of Jedi that have remained hidden there for the past year. They make it cleat it was a necessity as the Warden carried through on threats to kill others if the Jedi fled or anything so the sense of danger and protecting others is pretty straightforward. But they’re also sensing, as the ship comes into Republic space, that something is coming together. It doesn’t help that one of the Nihil folks have some disturbing if small creatures that unnerves the Jedi but that element seems to fall more into comedy than anything else, though I can imagine it can still turn serious. But the main problem here is the same as the first half in setting up the rescue mission: there are so many characters and no real sense of continuity or actual character behind them to connect with. So it becomes more akin to a video game in watching a sprawling cut scene play out than anything else.
In Summary:
I continue to like the High Republic era but it also continues to be a challenge in a lot of ways. I still feel like that since I’m not reading the novels that I’m missing out on what makes so much of this work and that they’re written more for novel readers than casual readers. There are interesting moments within here but it doesn’t feel like it’s able to capitalize on a lot of it, whether because of the intended age that they’re trying to appeal to or just not sure how to enrich it. I’ll admit, after Andor, I expect a bit more out of a Star Wars prison story. This one with the Nihil could have gone in some interesting ways considering how they operate but it’s pretty bland overall and with a cast that doesn’t exactly resonate.
Grade: C+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: March 13th, 2024
MSRP: $3.99
