Arriving a bit unexpectedly, but totally welcomed is another entry in The High Republic Show, hosted by Krystina Arielle, who we are so damn lucky to have as a host of these wonderful videos! Episode 5 might not reveal any new details on the previously announced Wave III content for Phase 1: Light of the Jedi, but it does reveal covers for the upcoming titles, announces The High Republic Adventures Annual 2021, has a great chat with authors Justina Ireland and Cavan Scott plus Executive Editor Jen Heddle, and shows off a fan-made model of Starlight Beacon!
Before we dive into the reveals, I’d like to chat about the opening, interview, and other portions of the show as well. For starters, it continues to be awesome how they are giving us small animated shorts alongside host Arielle’s recap of current events, providing art for characters we haven’t gotten yet! In the interviews with Ireland, Scott, and Heddle, Arielle passed out the questions fairly, though her first is one many of us keep pondering and we all know he wouldn’t answer: is the Master Trennis referenced in Scott’s Dooku: Jedi Lost a reference to Keeve Trennis of his The High Republic comic?! I’m impressed by his poker face, but while he obviously won’t answer that now, he does get to chat a little about Keeve and tease she has plenty of changes she’ll go through during this era (and he already knows how her story will end), while Ireland and Arielle reference her hair changes as a small but important part of representation lots of people might overlook. Heddle remains a Reath Silas fan, based off published and unpublished work, which judging by the cover for Wave III novel Midnight Horizon, things are going to get worse for the once book-minded Jedi before they have a chance to get better. And when Arielle summoned Kelsey Sharpe, a Jr. Creative Executive at Lucasfilm, to answer a user question about attachments and love for the Jedi of this era, holy wampas is her answer astoundingly good; Definitely make sure to give it a watch!
How damn cool is this model of the Starlight Beacon?! Both THRS and an article on the official site offer more details into how Jason Eaton put together this incredible build. I hope we’ll get to see this out at a convention in the near future, as I’d love to see it up close and you know, get a picture next to it or something! As cool as this is, too bad things don’t look so good for Starlight Beacon in the upcoming Wave III novels…
As exciting as the cover art for the Wave III novels is, which I’ll get to in a moment, I’m honestly more excited by the shows reveal of The High Republic Adventures Annual 2021, as it will bring together the 5 luminous authors for the first time ever, telling stories about some of the favorite characters of the era. Hitting in December, the 48-page one-shot will be filled to the brim with unique new tales to help flesh out and expand the era. A press release from IDW offered clues or reveals about each author’s story, though the two covers should have enough hints on their own:
- Justina Ireland will write a Vernestra Rwoh and Stellan Gios tale when they were still Padawan and Master! Hopefully it’ll include one of their many mishaps while flying ships.
- Claudia Gray makes her first jump to comics writing who else: the crew of the Vessel! Affie Hollow, Leox Gyasi, and Geode get more comic appearances and I’m so excited for it!
- Cavan Scott returns to writing Tempest Runner Lourna Dee as she has an epic face-off with the Blade of Bardotta and Master Chef himself, Porter Engle!
- Daniel José Older promises to introduce new characters that we’ll see in his upcoming work, so I’m curious if that’s the main The High Republic Adventures or his Midnight Horizon novel…
- And lastly Charles Soule didn’t have anything specific to share, but as others have pointed out, Chancellor Lina Soh is on the main cover so the odds of her starring in his tale is rather high.
- Artist for the project include: Sam Beck, Jesse Lonegran, Jason Loo, Yael Nathan, and Stefano Simeone!
And now the Phase I, Wave III cover reveals! To start, we have Claudia Gray’s The Fallen Star (January 18, 2022), which looks to only further the worries regarding the fate of Starlight Beacon:
Then these awesome and similarly ominous covers for Older’s Midnight Horizon (still one of the best titles so far!), which has Reath Silas and Vitus Cohmac caught in a dreary storm and is out February 1, and Ireland’s Mission to Disaster (January 18), where Vern and Imri fight some local beasts:
Then we have the cover for Soule’s first issue (out sometime in January) of the two issue, mega sized comic event, Eye of the Storm, which digs into Marchion Ro’s history:
They also revealed some covers for January’s other comics, like The High Republic #13, Trail of Shadows #4 (is that a Nameless creature behind Jedi Master Emerick Caphtor aka the Leveler Marchion Ro used in The Rising Storm?!), and The High Republic Adventures #11 (which we just had the December solicitations for), and The Edge of Balance Vol. 2, which is going digital only for its next release (something to do with all the stores selling Vol. 1 a week early?) and it’s Older assisting Shima Shinya with the story this time around, while Mizuki Sakakibara returns for art. I recently reviewed Vol. 1 and really loved how it felt like the first THR content that felt comfortable in just enjoying being in the era, not pushing it forward. Anyways, here are the covers:
Lastly, some new character concept art (sadly, no Elzar Mann no matter how often the fans ask for it), which features: Kara Xoo, who we first met in Ireland’s A Test of Courage and later saw in her Out of the Shadows; while there’s a brand new character, Doctor Zadina Mkampa, and considering what happened to the last Nihil doctor, I’m not surprised they needed a new one, but what she’ll be up to I can’t wait to see!
That’s all for now, but make sure to check out our page below for the latest news, reviews, and release schedule!
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.