– Spoiler Review –
Age of Republic: Special #1 is special, alright, as it’s a feast of treats for any fan, with stories, from three different writing/art teams, focusing on Mace Windu, Asajj Ventress, and Captain Rex teaming up with…Jar Jar Binks?? It’s all as magical as it sounds.
“The Weapon” – Ethan Sacks (Writer), Paolo Villianelli (Artist), Erick Arciniega (Colorist), Travis Lanham (Letterer throughout)
Captured, his lightsaber broken, and hidden within 80,000 miles of tunnels, Mace Windu finds himself in a slight bind. A terrorist organization, which has slaughtered the parents of the locals kids and recruiting the orphans for their forces, has been emboldened by funds from the Hutts, thus bringing the Jedi, on behalf of the Republic, to bring them to justice. Of course, despite the odds, Windu is in full control of the situation, rebuilding his saber via the Force and, with the help of one of the child soldiers, manages to bring an end to the crime boss. But it’s the ending that lingers the most, as Mace is happy to have freed the children but Yoda chimes in that they must allow some of them be tried in the court of law of their homeworld, thus leaving the ‘victory’ feel hollow as now those kids will feel it was their fault for their terrorist actions, when really it’s due to a deadly crime leader killing their parents and brainwashing them, which is how they got stuck in this mess.
In a sense, this one short story, via writer Ethan Sacks, does more in regards to making a comment on the Jedi’s place in the galaxy, and their unknowing collaboration with the misguided ideals of serving the Republic, like the Qui-Gon Jinn issue covered, than the entire 5-issue run of Jedi of the Republic – Mace Windu. That mini attempted to prove the Jedi weren’t in the right in the Clone Wars, which is a subject well-covered in other mediums, but it left too much vague and ended the series saying the Jedi were the heroes after all. In Special #1’s “The Weapon,” we see how the Jedi being part of the system perpetuates the system, as their reluctance to help those in need comes from not wanting to step on political toes, and it’s much more succinctly told than the mini tried. As for the art by Paolo Villianelli, with colors by Erick Arciniega, was fittingly dark for being so deep underground, but there was some real spark to the action and little Mace is a cutey.
Bonus Thoughts:
- Huyang! First seen in The Clone Wars arc dealing with the Jedi younglings, Huyang (voiced by David Tennant) is an ancient droid who has been helping Jedi build laser swords for eons, and it was immensely awesome to see him helping a little Mace Windu! Fingers crossed Luke or someone in the sequel trilogy gets to meet him, though that depends on if he survived the Empire’s reign or not.
- I’m making a pact with myself since I used the above comparison between the previous mini and this Mace story: I will only bring up the Mace Windu miniseries from now on in the context of talking about the best and worst of the minis from Marvel, thus stopping repeatedly using it as a punching bag every time Mace shows up in a story, but I felt like it was important to make the comparison one last time here.
“Sisters” – Jody Houser (Writer), Carlos Gómez (Artist), Dono Sánchez-Almara (Colorist)
When Asajj Ventress walked away from it all, the Jedi and the Sith, picking up the life of a bounty hunter, it was a truly amazing moment and trajectory for a character getting a second wind from The Clone Wars show. We haven’t got much covering her time as a bounty hunter, besides her fateful team-up with Quinlan Vos in Dark Disciple, though “Sisters” is a nice little peek, as it takes place in the lead-up to her other fateful team-up with a fugitive Ahsoka Tano.
Fresh off her latest bounty, Asajj finds about the one on Ahsoka and goes on the hunt in Coruscant’s underworld, only to run into two sisters being attacked by a giant thug. At first she doesn’t feel like it’s her problem, but after a trip down memory lane regarding what happened to Asajj’s own sisters, the Nightsisters, she steps in to save them. “Sister” highlights the gray area Asajj arrived into after eschewing the battle between the Jedi and Sith, and gives us a slight glimpse of what the once young Jedi padawan could’ve been had her Master not perished and she turned to the dark side. It doesn’t quite add anything to Ventress, but it at least strengthens her characterization in the final days of her life, which Jody Houser does with aplomb is such a short amount of space. As for the art team, Carlos Gómez and Dono Sánchez-Almara, brought a little brightness to the underworld, while their nearly full page panel of Asajj’s flashback is the second best panel of the whole issue (the best involves Jar Jar and I’m not even kidding).
Bonus Thoughts:
- Jody Houser joins Katie Lucas, of select TCW episodes, as the second woman to have written original stories for Asajj in canon, while Christie Golden adapted Katie’s unproduced scripts for the novel.
“501 Plus One” – Marc Guggenheim (Writer), Caspar Wijngaard (Artist), Chris Peter (Colorist)
As the 501st takes heavy losses on Mimban, including its Jedi General and the chain of command falling to Senator Jar Jar Binks, Captain Rex makes the executive decision to withdrawal their troops rather than lose more to attack a shield generator. But Rex, taking advice from Anakin Skywalker, decides to go it alone for the attack, and just when he’s about to join the ranks of the dead, Jar Jar shows up with the dead Jedi’s lightsaber to save the day! I kid you not, Jar Jar saves Rex’s life using a lightsaber and it might be the most glorious insane but awesome thing to happen in canon. For all those who either complained about Finn using one without being a Force-wielder (forgetting Han did it awhile back on Hoth), and who missed out on Leia, Han, and Chewie rushing to Luke’s aid wielding lightsaber in Star Wars #12, this goes to show ANYONE can use them…though it doesn’t mean they’ll be good with them, as Jar Jar admits to nearly killing himself a few times and loses the blade immediately after saving Rex.
Guggenheim manages to weave a tale here that makes a Rex and Jar Jar team-up both believable and funny, honoring the work TCW did to rescue the Gungans from mediocrity due to The Phantom Menace, without lessening Captain Rex’s formidable skills. Caspar Wijngaard, who first drew for Star Wars with the excellent Doctor Aphra Annual #2, is quickly becoming my favorite artist, and joined by Chris Peter on colors, as both the intimate moments have strong facial expressions and the big, battle scenes are expressive in their own ways too. Of course the best panel or series of panels is the one of Jar Jar brandishing the lightsaber; never thought I’d see the day!
Bonus Thoughts:
- The solicitation for this issue was written incorrectly, stating Jar Jar was to have his own story and it was to be written by Chip Zdarsky, but that’s obviously not the case here.
Age of Republic: Special #1 has a little bit for everyone, with creatives teams delivery a variety of fun experiences and great stories for several characters.
+ JAR JAR BINKS RESCUING REX WITH A LIGHTSABER
+ Shades of Asajj
+ Mace’s hollow victory
+ Art teams across the board nailed it!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
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