– Big Spoiler Review –
As Phase III of the High Republic era begins, Daniel José Older returns for more The High Republic Adventures, bringing back Phase I fan favorites and picking up their stories one year after the fall of Starlight Beacon. With The High Republic Adventures #1 – Phase III, Older whips up something anyone with a pulse should be cautious reading, as my heart and soul are still aching after finishing the tumultuous, funny, and mind-blowing issue.
Picking up a year after Starlight Beacon’s fall, with a small reference to events seen in The Eye of Darkness, the opening adult novel of Phase III, The High Republic Adventures – Phase III centers us on Zeen Mrala’s life since that fateful day. If you saw the first preview panels for the issue on Older’s newsletter, then you saw the very first page of the issue, as Zeen is seemingly now a singer in a band at a Republic outpost bar on Eriadu! She’s providing the many revelers in attendance with an outlet to honor the dead and show them they didn’t die in vain, with holograms of those presumed missing/confirmed dead joining them in the room, but unlike all the other nights, tonight a face far too close to Zeen’s heart joins the holograms: Lula Talisola. Lula’s fate has been hanging in limbo, alongside other THRA – Phase I characters like Farzala Tarabal and Torban “Buckets of Blood” Buck since early 2022, but we got a fresh injection of pain and mystery with the Free Comic Book Day 2023 issue which provided the smallest of updates but kept all their fates unknown. Upon seeing Lula’s hologram, Zeen’s absolutely done, the old Corellian funeral shanty in full swing with all the revellers in her absence, as she goes to track down who would dare suggest Lula has passed. Her manager states it was only Republic policy which brought Lula to the list, but the determined and intensely focused Zeen lets her anger out (unlike what Kantam Sy told her the last time we saw them together) over the choice, only for the now older Qort to tell her she’s so caught up in her feelings she didn’t even notice it’s officially been a year. She’s certainly changed since the events of THRA – Phase I and Midnight Horizon, assured and confident in herself, and a whole lot of anger layered under it as Lula’s fate remains unclear and the Nihil are only stronger than before behind their impenetrable Stormwall. Her design reflects this, as she has a more mechanic-like look, like she’s out there getting her hands dirty and doesn’t need anything superfluous on her, while it’s much starker look than the glowing robes and pleasant outfits she had in Phase I. It’s a fun, interesting, and saddening change to see, though not unexpected given everything, and her murderously angry and zero-cares given attitude propel much of the plot, but the new persona hits a wall by the issue’s end and will leave fans hollering, shouting, and crying on the floor.
Qort’s thankfully there to quell, or at least attempt to ease, Zeen’s more boisterous ideas. I love the change to his design, as it fits well with his new groove, as he’s fully speaking Basic now and, while slightly dark and mysterious with his hood up, wise and calmer than Zeen. They make for a good friendship, as Qort holds her back from going too far and yet she helps push him to do things the rules he follows might not allow, as he knows he can trust her as much as she trusts him and his council. In the absence of their other friends, their closeness and reliance on one another is fitting, understandable course to take. With the reminder of Lula hanging out there, and Qort revealing Marchion Ro’s way of celebrating Starlight Beacon’s fall, Zeen has a renewed purpose to search for her friend and her heart. Thanks to the delightfully silly, not too over-the-top, and used just enough void-contemplating droid, 5A-G3 accompanying the two, Zeen and Qort pour over all the rumors and tips again in search for something about any of their missing friends. One comes across their eyes, which we find out Padawans didn’t catch earlier, that implies some warlord has what “the Mikkian” wants. Zeen’s ready to go out there and murder this Tartak Vil and take whatever he has, almost besides herself she hasn’t already flown out there and done so, but Qort thinks due to the Guardian Protocols set by the Jedi Council (essentially telling Jedi to stay home and only travel in pairs), they’ll never get approved to go….so Zeen hops in a ship and flies out there with Qort and 5A in tow!
It turns out Zeen isn’t the only Mikkian who’s heard this message, as dozens of them are impatiently waiting outside Warlord Vil’s doors, demanding to go in and take whatever he has! Recognizing Zeen’s ship as one flown by Jedi, the group asks for her help storming the fortress, and being someone who also lacks patience yet has the determination to do anything to get Lula Talisola back, she agrees to storm the Nihil stronghold with the others, against Qort’s wishes. She lets the group basically be a distraction as she breaks past Vil’s main guardian and rushes into the stronghold, finding the masked Warlord and screaming at him to give her back HER Lula, pinning Vil to a wall with a weapon she stole from his guardian. And then the issue drops the absolute bomb on fans, even if many have been theorizing there was more to Warlord Vil than met the eye, as the truth still hits like a ton of bricks and tears at one’s heart, especially with Harvey Tolibao and team’s wrenching artwork of the spectacular moment, landing it an instant Top 5 Moment of the year status (my year-in-review should be out early January).
Before Zeen and Qort landed on Bracront to visit Vil, we get a one-page flashback to a scene from Midnight Horizon where Zeen lets all her feelings out, the full truth, to Lula in a hologram message, hoping her friend and her heart gets it and returns safely back to her to work it out. As Vil and Zeen are locked in close proximity, Vil produces said hologram, saying it and Zeen’s face got them through countless nights. Just typing about this and I’m getting tears! Zeen is floored, the possibility of Vil’s real identity something she’s not ready to accept. And then Vil takes off their helmet and…IT’S FREAKING LULA TALISOLA!!!!!!!!!!! The two kiss and the issue ends, leaving us absolutely hanging with tears, questions, hopes, fears, and absolute wonder on what could come next. It’s a mic-drop finale and, as I DM’ed Older shortly after reading, I would be in his walls if I wasn’t on the floor and many days later I’m still here, on the floor, unable to cope with what just happened. Like I said, I was basically tearing up in joy and shock when reading and even days later, typing about it, as it’s so wonderful to get Lula back, to have these two kiss, but the lingering questions absolutely beg for more and holy mother of moons, can it be January 17 yet when the next issue releases?! How did Lula get to this point? Why did she not come back to the Jedi, to Zeen? Is it because she was unsure how to deal with her feelings for Zeen and be the Jedi she’s always dreamt she would be, much like issue #13 of Phase I pointed towards? Something the Nihil’s inscrutable Baron Boolan did to her, as he’s been experimenting on Jedi? And does Krix Kamerat, the little shit, having anything to do with this? We know from comic solicitations that Lula’s Master, Kantam Sy, comes to Bracront to face Vil, who we now can confirm is Lula, and a story about Sy’s past about pursuing love and eventually coming back to the Jedi Order, as seen in MH, could be the key to helping Lula through what all comes next.
Harvey Tolibao was the main instrument for the opening run of THRA and he returned for two issues in the Phase II run, with Toni Bruno as the main artist instead, and he’s back in a back way to kick-off Phase III, joined by colorist Michael Atiyeh and the go-to letterers Tyler Smith & Jimmy Betancourt. There’s a lot to gush over, as this is Tolibao we’re talking about of course, but I can’t help but focus on the big ending, specifically the double page of Tartak Vil pinned to the wall by Zeen, slowly revealing the shocking truth about her real identity. In the center, as has been from the Phase I iteration of the series, are Zeen and Tartak/Lula, but little panels circle around them like chunky pie pieces, the smaller panels and little details helping readers quickly circle around these two, while the design overall gives the sense that, while what Tartak/Lula is saying helps Zeen and us understand the truth, the focus in the middle on these two tells us everything we need to know. Atiyeh’s colors are dazzling, especially in the image of Zeen and Tartak/Lula in the middle, pulling our attention to them and to them only, as these panels around them fall in order but keep feel like they want us to look back the two characters in the center instead. The lettering by Smith & Betancourt certainly direct readers around the edges, but it remains almost as far away as possible the entire way around from the pair in the middle, as if it’s afraid to get in the way of what comes next, of the truth about to be revealed. On the page where Zeen confronts Jackaby about Lula’s hologram, the second to last panel is one of my early favorites of the issue, as Zeen begins to tap into the Force through her anger, lifting objects, her hair tendrils flowing straight up, as she begins to shout about Starlight not falling a year ago. The objects she begins to float around break the edges of the panel, as does one of her hands, giving us the impression she’s going to far with her anger, yet in the background is one super chill Qort, eyes closed, looking like he doesn’t approve and isn’t concerned. He’s the one who interrupts her shout, revealing Starlight’s anniversary was yesterday, making Lula’s inclusion due to the rules understandable. Atiyeh draws our attention to Zeen and it’s almost only thanks to Smith & Betancourt’s lettering we even see Qort, as Tolibao makes him very small and Atiyeh gives his outfit muted colors. 5A-G3 has such a fitting look for her chaotic energy, from the swirling red lines inside her yellow glowing eye, the mouth-like separation shortly under the eye along its thin, tall neck, to the spider-leg-like appendages, while the mainly grey paint to their body means readers will be wandering across any panel she’s in to the creepy eye, making her comments all the funnier and bizarre. And while it’s not as cute as one of Zeen’s head tendrils wrapping itself around Lula’s hair in the Phase I finale, how Zeen’s had a hair tie around her tendrils throughout the assault on Tartak/Lula’s fortress, once Lula takes off the helmet and pulls Zeen into her for the kiss, her suit’s hand going into Zeen’s hair has caused the tendrils to be free, much like her pent up anger and apprehension about finding Lula has gone, at least for now, away.
Here are a few other things:
- Thanks to some advanced solicitations, we learned about an upcoming one-shot, The High Republic Adventures – Crash Landing (out March 2023), which picks up Crash Ongwa’s story on Corellia, continuing a thread from Alyssa Wong’s short story in Tales of Light and Life, itself a sequel to the events of MH!
- It wouldn’t be another run of The High Republic Adventures without a Galactic Database page and it’s definitely one fans will be happy to have: a map of the Nihil’s Occlusion Zone! Fans were putting together their own so combining this issue’s representation with their work should make the extent of the problem and all the specific planets caught in the net more clear….though I’m curious if this is before or after the events of The Eye of Darkness…
- I’ve mentioned it a few times but it’s all for good reason, as Midnight Horizon overlaps, expands on, and continues character arcs and beats from the finale of The High Republic Adventures – Phase I, and will only add to the emotional saga for readers about Zeen and Lula’s story. Also, it’s just a fun book with some great new characters and a heckuva entrance by a familiar Jedi Master!
- Insightful views on the world today, the writing process, previews/details on his Star Wars work, and so much more, it’s definitely a great idea to check out Older’s newsletter! In some recent posts, he’s revealed (in the entry with the preview images for this issue) artists like Nick Brokenshire and Elisa Romboli will be joining the series too, while the entry out 12/5 includes the lyrical inspiration for Zeen’s song, all from a band he helped bring together! The layers to this man, I tell ya!
The High Republic Adventures #1 – Phase III is an emotional wallop, leaving readers on the edge of their seats to learn what comes next for these fan-favorite characters.
+ The emotional wallop it is to be with these characters again
+ Lula’s surprise-laced return
+ Zeen’s (and Qort’s) new groove(s)
+ Tolibao and team dazzle from the anger of Zeen to the beauty of the reunion!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Bluesky, Twitter @MynockManor, and Instagram @mynockmanor.
DISCLOSURE: I received a copy of this book from the publisher at no charge in order to provide an early review. However, this did not affect the overall review content. All opinions are my own.