Age of Republic is the first “Age” of the Age of Star Wars maxiseries, and thus there were plenty of unknowns about how it’d work and a lot of expectations and hopes on its shoulders. If Jody Houser’s work, along with the art teams’, is any indication for how the rest of the maxiseries will go, we’re in for an excellent series of deep, well-thought out character portraits.
When Age of Republic began with Qui-Gon Jinn #1, I wasn’t quite ready for how the series would work/feel, and thus wasn’t too impressed with the issue because some plot threads weren’t completed and it was more of a psychological profile than anything of import happening. After the second issue dropped, Darth Maul #1, I understood the series more and appreciated how it wasn’t preoccupied with just showing us cool new, fill-in the blank spaces of their lives canon moments, but rather exploring what makes each one tick and their effect on the galaxy at large. I won’t change my Qui-Gon original review, but I definitely feel differently about it now and would say it’s another strong entry in what was a consistent piece of work by Houser as she dissected these familiar and popular characters, presenting their strengths and weakness evenly each issue. While Age of Republic would’ve been fine being a group of strong character portraits, Houser elevated the series by rhyming each month’s villain and hero pair, comparing and contrasting their place and purpose in the galaxy.
I originally didn’t catch onto Houser’s rhyming scheme, that falls to Eleven-ThirtyEights’ Abigail Dillon, who wrote a couple great articles about it, and it was a revelation that completely changed how I enjoyed and read the series. Not only was each issue an intriguing portrait of its character, I was now anticipating the following issue to see how it compared/contrasted the villain with the hero: Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jango Fett’s mentorships of their “kids” made it even more obvious about the differences in their styles but how each version was helpful to the lives of their wards; we see how Padmé’s words have a long lasting impact and Grievous speaking through actions only makes a dent on the surface; Qui-Gon rejects the warrior label of the Jedi and Maul’s belief in it sets him down his tragic path; and for Count Dooku and Anakin Skywalker, it’s how each one uses emotions to further their goals, providing out of the box thinking strict rules can’t quite match. And for me, it seemed like the Grievous issue and Qui-Gon issue rhymed together, bringing the series full circle by beginning on a message of hope and ending on a similar message, while Abigail’s retrospective found the series, in every issue, was a story of challenging authority, an insight I truly love. This rhyming scheme dug even deeper into the respective characters and was easily my favorite aspect to Age of Republic, and while it isn’t quite clear if Greg Pak and Tom Taylor will use a similar conceit for their “Ages,” it would be a smart move for them because Houser’s work has definitely set the bar high.
My second favorite aspect of Age of Republic, and one I know will continue into the other “Ages,” is the dueling art teams, one for heroes and one for villains. For the Hero issues, the art team was mostly the same, but had a few additions here and there: Cory Smith and Wilton Santos (artists), Walden Wong and Marc Deering (inks), and Java Tartaglia (colors). For the Villain issues, the team stayed the same throughout: Luke Ross (art) and Java Tartaglia (colors). Joining these two together was the work of Travis Lanham for letterer. Both teams did great work, and I hate to say one “won” over the other, but the Villain team did an arguably better job capturing a villainous look, from the gritty style, heavy shadows, and atmospheric locales. The Hero team definitely made their issues feel heroic with big hero panels for Anakin or Obi-Wan or their clear, clean style, but it didn’t quite reach the levels the Villain team was able to achieve. Some of the best examples of their great work include: the panels of a young Boba Fett surprising with a sudden act of violence; Dooku holding a bunch of guns over his head, lightsaber in hand; or all the truly horrific and spooky moments in the General Grievous issue. Just like Houser set a high bar with her writing, both teams put up work that will be hard to follow, though the Villain team of the following “Ages” will have the much harder time after Ross and Tartgalia’s fitting work.
Beyond the main Hero and Villain issues, there was a Special issue, which brought in different writers and artists to tell 3 short extra tales about other characters in the prequels, each one a great micro tale in the style of Houser’s main work. Jody Houser returned for “Sisters,” joined by Carlos Gómez (artist), Dono Sánchez-Almara (colorist), for a great little tale of what made Asajj Ventress such a compelling character; “The Weapon,” by writer Ethan Sacks, with Paolo Villianelli (artist) and Erick Arciniega (colorist), builds on the Qui-Gon issue by showing again how the Jedi are trapped within the political system already and heading down a course they can’t escape; “501 Plus One,” written by Marc Guggenheim, with Caspar Wijngaard (artist) and Chris Peter (colorist), the true delight of the Special issue is this Jar Jar Binks and Captain Rex story, as it gave us the wonderfully absurd and awesome moment when Jar Jar saves Rex with a fallen Jedi’s lightsaber. It really puts the “special” in Special and it’ll be hard pressed for the upcoming “Ages” to top something like that.
Here are a few other things:
- At the end of each issue, various writers provided character essays with behind-the-scenes gold, personal insights, and so much more (there was only one I had a problem with), and it was really cool to see fandom voice like Bria from Tosche Station be featured there. I imagine this feature will return for the subsequent “Ages,” and I wonder if we’ll get new writers or the same ones.
- Houser recently took to Twitter to share some fun little Age of Republic inspirations while watching Attack of the Clones.
- The concept art variant covers were my favorite for the miniseries, as it’s really cool to feature images many might not get a chance to see, while it was a preferred version to pick up because I was not as impressed with the main covers.
- This Wednesday, 4/10, sees the beginning of Age of Rebellion and, over the weekend at Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019, we’ll be getting details on the final “Age,” Age of Resistance. Some details leaked earlier last week, found by the ever resourceful Jedi-Bibliothek team!
As I’ve said multiple times this review, the Age of Republic’s strengths set a high bar for the rest of the Age of Star Wars maxiseries.
+ Rhyming the villains and heroes to show comparisons and contrasts
+ Deep, insightful character pieces
+ Dueling art teams (with Team Villain the clear “winner”)
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
AGE OF STAR WARS Maxiseries Review
AGE OF REPUBLIC
Qui-Gon Jinn | Darth Maul | Obi-Wan Kenobi | Jango Fett | Special | Anakin Skywalker | Count Dooku | Padmé Amidala | General Grievous | Miniseries Review
AGE OF REBELLION
Princess Leia | Grand Moff Tarkin | Special | Han Solo | Boba Fett | Lando Calrissian | Jabba the Hutt | Luke Skywalker | Darth Vader | Miniseries Review
AGE OF RESISTANCE
Finn | Phasma | Special | General Hux | Poe Dameron | Supreme Leader Snoke | Rose Tico | Rey | Kylo Ren | Miniseries Review