– Spoiler Review –
Saber-for-hire and monster hunter extraordinaire Ty Yorrick is enjoying the thrills of life behind the Stormwall, but between her impatient squire and a call for help, she’ll have to choose between credits or honor in The High Republic Adventures: Saber for Hire #1, a fantastic start for the character’s latest miniseries.
Ty Yorrick, former Jedi turned saber-for-hire monster hunter, has been an absolute delight across Phase I, as her miniseries The Monster of Temple Peak delved into her interesting past, revealing what’s made her so detached, and showed she’s still a Jedi to the core despite it, while her teamwork with the Order during The Rising Storm’s Valo attack further highlights her sense of justice despite her detachment from anyone or anything. While she rejected a young hopeful’s desire to train under her as a monster hunter, Drewen Qweebjillan returned thanks to KL-03’s machinations, Ty’s sarcastic admin droid, and Ty decided to take him on this time despite her earlier objections, as seen in the framing story for the Phase II miniseries The Nameless Terror. Trapped behind the Stormwall in the year since Starlight Beacon’s fall, Ty’s been having the time of her life, raking in the credits since she’s the only one available or willing to answer the call for help (no Jedi to interfere or run into) with local monsters. While she’s been enjoying the lifestyle, Drewen hasn’t, as he’s growing fed-up she’s not teaching him, at least in a way one would traditionally expect, and he isn’t against making his problems with her known even if it’s in the middle of their latest monster encounter. He even tries to show off his skills, like going invisible or using her weapons to help defeat the creature, but he only ends up in a pile of mud and with admonishments from Ty, who finishes the job and barely speaks to him in the aftermath. This isn’t anything new between the two and it feels like the breaking point is only inches away, as once they barely evade the Occlusion Zone prowling scav droids and make it to their next job, Drewen confronts her about her lack of training, and how she’s making him stay with the ship, by invoking her former Jedi Master’s words she mumbles in her sleep. Drewen’s not wrong, nor was her Master Cibaba, on how being in the field together will be one of the best ways to learn, yet it’s Ty’s past with her friend in the Jedi Order, Kilas Teradine, which holds her back and prevents her from truly trying with Drewen. The last time she let someone close, Kilas, he ended up blaming her for not holding him back after being possessed by an ancient artifact and she had to kill him to end the situation (though part of me wonders if he actually died), so a scar like that, especially on her own and without more Jedi training in the years since, is a hard one to heal over and it’s led to such a rift between her and Drewen. I’m really enjoying the next step of their journey already in the first issue and I’ll be interested to see how they both deal with the situation, if she can overcome her fears of the past and he can accept she’ll be a bit more unconventional.
Ty and Drewen aren’t the only pair Saber for Hire #1 focuses on, as the issue actually starts with Jom Lariin and Kitrep Soh! Since the beginning of Phase III, Kip and Jom have been MIA and, as far as Republic Chancellor Lina Soh hopes, they are alive and somewhere behind the Stormwall. It’s not clear if they are behind the Stormwall in the beginning of Saber for Hire #1, but what is clear is the young couple is enjoying a life away from, well, everything, living it up on an idyllic planet, camping and making do off the land and community around them. After the attack on Valo and being prime targets for the Nihil, as well as the constant spotlight in the Holonet from being the Chancellor’s son, and the chancellor’s son’s boyfriend, I can understand the desire to get away from it, be themselves and enjoy one another’s company for a little bit, even if it’s running from the trauma of the event. As the pair makes trades with locals for supplies, Jom learns a startling truth that shatters their peaceful life: they’re stuck behind the Nihil’s Stormwall. Kip does his best to ignore this news, saying there’s not much they can do anyways and at least they have one another, but they won’t be able to ignore it all much longer: an enterprising Frigosian recognizes Kip as being wanted by the Nihil’s Ministry of Information. How Ty and Drewen collide with Kip and Jom, and if they can make it through the trials ahead, will be very interesting to watch unfold.
Speaking of Ty and Drewen, as Ty leaves him to work on fixing the ship due to her rash actions, she makes her way to the people of Temerancé who called reached out for help. She realizes quickly they didn’t request her help with her typical monsters, but rather the Nihil, which they believe are the same thing but for her, at least so she can avoid being useful and have people rely on her, they aren’t. She tells them she’s no Jedi and is about to leave when one of the villagers pleas with Ty, telling her the Nihil are taking the village’s children, though only those who display the ability to use the Force, and she just lost her oldest daughter and doesn’t want to lose her youngest, Lene. We don’t see how Ty responds, but she doesn’t leave, so one can imagine the emotional appeal and helping poor innocent Force-sensitive children knocks heavily at the good person deep down inside and whatever amount of Jedi is left within Ty. As for the Nihil taking children and this woman’s story, there’s two intriguing moments here. For starters, the children are likely being taken on behalf of Baron Boolan, as we’ve been seeing in Scott’s The High Republic – Phase III series at Marvel and are hearing about in other Phase III stories, as he’s turning them into Children of the Storm, weaponizing their abilities to hunt down Jedi. As for the woman’s story, she looks to be part of a new species we’ve never seen before, yet her daughter’s name means we’ve certainly heard about their species already: I have no doubt this young Lene ends up being Lene Kostana, an Altiri who grows up to become a Jedi Master who trains Sifo-Dyas and mentors Dooku during his time with the Order, as seen in Scott’s Dooku: Jedi Lost! This was a very nice surprise and I’m curious if what little Lene might see and experience here will form the backbone of her eventual concern about the Sith’s return, while I hope we’ll see how she ends up with the Order after this, and it’s left me wondering if this means she could be in The Acolyte at one point!
It’s crazy to think it’s been almost three years since we last had interior art from Rachael Stott, as that’s when the previous Ty miniseries ended, but thankfully the long wait is over, and she’s joined by Nicola Righi on colors and the usual Dark Horse pick of Tyler Smith & Jimmy Betancourt on lettering. I love the stark differences in the opening scenes for Kip & Jom and Ty & Drewen, as Righi’s colors for the young couple are bright, peaceful purples, golds, oranges, really hammering home the idyllic lifestyle they are enjoying, but when we shift to the monster hunters, there are dull and harsh colors, brown life-less looking rocks or deep reds of dangerous magma, making sure readers see and feel the difference if the two group’s situations and the developments between them. The opening monster hunt is a wonderful showcase of the whole team, especially Stott’s dynamic and beautiful work, which kicks off with the first two-page spread, containing the harsh shift in colors I already spoke about, the giant, many limbed creature snarling, with a dripping sound FX, after Ty and Drewen, Ty looking determined and the squire looking frightened. There’s more good action, be it the rest of the monster hunt or Ty powering her ship through the scav droids, but the sequence when Drewen confronts Ty about not training him, how being out in the field is important, was a highlight of the teams work as well. There’s a scene setting panel which shows a relatively temperate look to Temerancé, and then we’re inside Ty’s ship, where the lighting gets a little moody, with both Ty and Drewen in the shadows of the repair bay, hinting at the confrontation to come. Stott does a really good job of showing Ty doing everything not to look at Drewen basically since the end of the monster hunt and she returns to it here, so when he invokes Cibaba’s name, her purposefully looking at him, with a big zoom in on her eyes, makes it feel like it was better for Drewen to not have her gaze on him; Cibaba hangs like a ghost over Ty’s shoulder in the close-up on her eyes, though I almost missed him initially, as I was so drawn to her piercing eyes at Drewen. The next page opens with three panels on the upper half, the first with Drewen tugging at his collar, nervous as all heck, realizing that wasn’t the smartest thing to say but he’s still honest how he heard it in her sleep. The next panel is her grazing down on him, Stott giving Ty a fierce snarl, Righi laying on the darkness with shadows. The final of the top three is of Klo, head hung down low, Smith and Betancourt putting Klo’s words of concern for Drewen far above her head, with small, small letters in a much bigger box, leaving no room for error in interpreting her reaction to what just went down between the two of them. I like the design of the Altiri, as they didn’t get too much description in Dooku: Jedi Lost, but here the mother and daughter have purple and pink skin, respectively, long locks of white hair, and a big diamond, with two smaller ones, on their forehead.
Here are a few other things:
- Between the kiss Kip and Jom share here and the one between Tey Sirrek and Vildar Mac (finally!!) in The High Republic #6 – Phase III, Cavan Scott is pushing hard for queer representation, pulling off two gay relationship kisses in ONE MONTH. Quite impressive and we love to see the Saga continue to cater to all fans!
- Scott not only has the Marvel comic and this miniseries, but he’s also in charge of the next original audio drama, Tempest Breaker, which features Lourna Dee, Avar Kriss, and Keeve Trennis!! It’ll be out in December.
- Daniel José Older writes the main The High Republic Adventures – Phase III series, which returns with its fourth issue on April 24, and it’s been covering the return of several fan favorites of Phase I yet showing how much they or their lives have changed in the year since.
The High Republic Adventures: Saber for Hire #1 is off to an impressive start with great character dynamics and a pleasant surprise for what’s to come in the next three issues.
+ Ty is SO back…and maybe having too much fun, per drama with Drewen
+ Kip and Jom pushing rep and enjoying bliss…but not for long
+ Stott and team put up quite the opening show
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.