– Spoiler Review –
Hello there! Christopher Cantwell’s Obi-Wan comic miniseries dropped its first issue on May 4th, celebrating Star Wars Day in exquisite style through Ario Anindito’s art! It’s a unique enough opening, with our first glimpse at a youngling Obi-Wan in a moment which will affect the rest of his life.
Obi-Wan opens with the titular Jedi Master deep into his exile and watch over Luke Skywalker on Tatooine, though he senses something dark, yet wrapped in destiny, approaching. With a deadly sandstorm on its way, he decides what time better than now to jot down a few memories in his journals. His journals will one day find their way into Luke’s hands, giving us other glimpses of Obi’s life or other tales he felt the need to write down, but for this miniseries, each issue will focus on a different part of Obi’s life. The issue opens with the much older, Alec Guinness-esque Obi-Wan, worn down, stoic, but determined, allowing for a rare exploration of the character in the moments leading up to A New Hope. While the character is set to have some of his Tatooine exile time blown open in this month’s Obi-Wan Kenobi show, which in a way calls into question the need for this series that this opening issue doesn’t quite hurdle, it seems highly likely only comics or a novel could give this little grace period before the Force calls him to action any justice. What certainly did this framing story the most justice is Ario Anindito’s artwork, with Carlos Lopez on colors and Joe Caramagna on lettering, as he switches how he draws to bring a gritty, dare I say sandy look to older Obi-Wan’s time on Tatooine. Ario didn’t have to go this hard, but he did, as he’s able to convey the weight of Obi-Wan’s time on Tatooine and capture the gravitas Sir Alec Guinness brought to the role. There’s a clear purpose to his movements and steely gaze, hardened by the Tatooine suns, while the encroaching shadows as he speaks of his ominous feelings makes his hut even more lonely than I imagined. Lopez’s colors shout the brightness of the twin suns, almost blinding us readers, but he’s also able to make the shadows pop and feel more leering and spookier. Caramagna’s lettering during this section is so contained, almost smaller than normal even though it’s not, providing loneliness in Obi-Wan’s thoughts to himself.
Obi’s tale in his journal for this issue is a rare glimpse at his youngling days at the Jedi Temple, where he’s more like the Padawan he’ll train than the Master he becomes. As a youngling, little Obi-Wan is still a rules follower, but is more attached and caring of those around him like Anakin Skywalker will be later in his life. Case in point, Gehran Rand, a fellow youngling in Obi’s Clan Kybuck, who Obi-Wan claims is his only friend. He’s still unsure of himself and the Force to some degree, but from the moment we meet Gehran, her purpose and commitment are clear, and it’s not a surprise when she says she will leave the Order to help her father, whom she’s having nightmares about being in pain. While Obi-Wan initially lets her go alone, he decides to follow her, much like he was considering doing for Anakin once they are Master and Apprentice, because while he doesn’t form attachments, he does care deeply about those around him and will do anything for them. Having Obi-Wan follow a friend into the depths of Coruscant to help them rescue a parent they are having nightmares about gives us a hint at how things might’ve been different had Anakin been able to or felt able to tell Obi-Wan more about his nightmares of his mother, because if the Jedi Master hadn’t been on his own investigation, I bet he’d gone to Tatooine with Anakin to help him figure things out, potentially avoiding the slaughter of the Tuskens. While Gehran’s first option to leave Coruscant results in a big fight, she’s still so sure of her purpose, still so attached to her previous life, as evident by the pendant she still holds from her family, she decides to let Obi-Wan and the Jedi Order go. I could see this moment reverberating through Obi-Wan’s life, setting him up for the decision he came to regarding joining Anakin if he left the Order (like I mentioned earlier), but as Yoda makes him late night sweep the Temple and mull on what happened, it will also teach him to help let go in the moments it matters most, like with Satine, and maybe help him in his exile get over what happened between him and Anakin.
Ario switches up his art style to what we’re used to him from his talented The High Republic work, which he was kind enough to talk about with us in an interview! There’s also an interview with the official site today where he dives into his styling choices and what he was hoping to convey in both eras of the story. I’ve already gone over Old Obi stuff, so now let’s dive into his youngling Obi work, which like I said, is more of the style I’m used to from his previous work. One of my favorite panels in the entire comic happens in the youngling section: when Nodrus Cay appears from the shadows, her Zabrak horns bathing in the shadows, both eyes red and piercing in the darkness, recalling Anakin’s red eyes on Mustafar, and it’s a panel fitting amongst Anindito’s many fine horror-ific moments. It gives Nodrus an immediate, intimidating presence in the story, helping her stand out from her goons and be the clear problem in Gehran’s escape. While the more cartoonish style never makes the trouble the two younglings get into feel inescapable, it still manages to convey the seediness of the Coruscant underworld, the team once again using shadows to their advantage, with some of the scratchy style from Old Obi sections leaking in, while Lopez’s colors give the scenery extra dirt and darkness. Caramagna’s lettering goes much bigger here, not stoic, lonely boxes anymore but now his narration is in the middle of the action, crowding the scenes to convey a lack of loneliness, while there’s some fun SFX of the little Jedi beating up gangsters.
Here are a few other things:
- The next issue won’t be out until June 22 due to delays, but it’ll feature Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan on a mission together, so you know I am PUMPED for it whenever it arrives. Issue 3 will be out in July, bringing us a new Clone Wars tale that hopefully will feel unique despite the overplayed setting.
- By the time we read the next issue of this miniseries, the Obi-Wan Kenobi show will have premiered on May 27 and have its finale airing the same day! The latest trailer was quite the show stopper!
- Brotherhood, written by Mike Chen, is a stellar, all-time great novel exploring pivotal time between Attack of the Clones and The Clone Wars series with some of the best characterization of Obi-Wan and Anakin to date. Don’t miss out on it May 10!
- Cantwell met Ewan McGregor at one point in a funny, yet short tale he shared on Twitter.
Obi-Wan #1 features gorgeous art and some important glimpses of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s life in a deeper, more retrospective look at the character’s past.
+ Eye melting good art by Ario and team!
+ Neat exploration of Obi’s youngling days
+ Lots of promise…
– …though specter of the coming show looms
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.