– Spoiler Review –
Age of Republic: Obi-Wan Kenobi #1 continues Jody Houser’s streak of using this series to explore important, pivotal, and intriguing moments about well-known characters and shows her ability to expertly capture their characterizations.
Set in the early days of Obi-Wan’s training of Anakin Skywalker after the events of The Phantom Menace, a mission to recover an unearthed holocron leads to both Master & Apprentice* gaining confidence in one another and themselves. For Obi-Wan, he’s a fresh master and uncertain of his apprentice, so when a new mission pops up, he decides to keep Anakin at the Jedi Temple…again. There’s an appropriate appearance by Yoda, who suggests Obi-Wan should take Anakin along because of the boy’s unusual circumstances/Obi-Wan’s concerns, but Obi-Wan calls Yoda out about not wanting to have the boy trained in the first place (a nice call back to TPM as we enter that film’s 20 Anniversary), though Yoda counters that if Anakin must be trained, he wants it done well. There are plenty of witty conversations like this one throughout the issue, but this one might be my favorite, as it really nails both characters and the nuance of the Jedi Order’s own ineptitudes they don’t like to admit having. As happy as Anakin is to go on the mission, he feels Obi-Wan considers himself stuck with the boy due to his promise to Qui-Gon, and of course Obi-Wan fumbles when telling him it’s not the case at all. Anakin manages to prove himself ready and useful during the mission, causing Obi-Wan to come to a realization about himself as a new master. He admits to Anakin he felt the boy was stuck with himself as a Master, instead of Qui-Gon Jinn, a wise Jedi whom Obi-Wan never hoped to emulate, but he has since come to terms he’s the one Anakin has so he might as well step up to the plate fully. And he also comes to understand that one’s training is never truly done, as a Master/Apprentice relationship functions as the next stage of training for both members involved. This really highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi, as he cares deeply for his Master but he can always take a step back from such a connection, as he follows the strict rules of the Order to the letter, and if he had a little leeway there, maybe he could’ve been more helpful to Anakin as the young man dealt with his own compassion for others.
Houser brings the Anakin/Obi-Wan dynamic to life expertly, especially for readers who were fans of The Clone Wars and their friendship built there. Sure, this is set MUCH earlier, but Houser’s ability to capture the spirit of the characters despite them being in a different period of their lives is a great feat, making the interactions here feel organic. The story within the issue about a Jedi holocron being found in an archaeological dig, and that the Jedi don’t have any records on whose it could’ve been, was an intriguing way to pull us along to uncover the issue’s far more important aspect: a significant development in Obi-Wan and Anakin’s time learning from one another. I’m getting used to how Houser is setting up some interesting plots that get resolved within the spread of each Age of Republic issue, even if many questions stay unanswered, and how the character development/exploration is the far more important aspect, something I feel like both Darth Maul and Obi-Wan Kenobi have done a better job of it than the Qui-Gon issue, but I’d go a little easier on that in retrospect. If Houser keeps this quality up, it’ll be a lot for Greg Pak and Tom Taylor to live up to with their work on Age of Rebellion and Age of Resistance, respectively.
On art we’re back to Cory Smith, with Wilton Santos joining, as pencilers, Walden Wong as inker, Java Tartaglia on colors, and Travis Lanham for letterer. Without as a chaotic scene as Qui-Gon Jinn‘s opening, I found myself enjoyed the art team’s work far more this time around, but both issue have been solid from this team. It definitely feels more brighter and is far less grittier than Luke Ross’ work for Darth Maul, more befitting of a tale about heroes than villains, and this was a smart move when conceiving this series. In particular, how flashbacks were handled was my favorite aspect of the art, from the opening shot of a young Obi-Wan at the Temple, interpretation of scenes from The Phantom Menace, to how the lettering for the narration differed as well.
Here are a few other things:
- *Master & Apprentice is the title of this year’s novel concerning Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan, by Claudia Gray, and I couldn’t pass up being punny and mention it here as it’s easily one of my most anticipated books of the year and of the new canon. It’s out April 16.
- When the solicits for this issue dropped, I wondered if Houser was potentially going to step on the toes of Charles Soule’s Obi-Wan & Anakin miniseries from 2016, but as she showed here as well as with the Darth Maul issue, she’ll both respect what came before and build off it for her and the reader’s gain.
- I do really want to learn more about the holocron, and I’m curious if this is some stealth set-up for a story we’ll learn one day. I’m also wondering if the one of the flashback scene of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan with those weird creatures will end up as part of the story in Master & Apprentice…
- Wookieepedia doesn’t have an answer (as of this publishing), nor have I seen an answer anywhere on Twitter (which I should probably ask), but the gang of pirates who show up sure do look like the Fosh, an avian based species best known as the ambiguous Legends character Vergere.
- For the briefest of moments I had hoped Doctor Aphra would be the archaeologist who unearthed the holocron, but she’d not even be alive yet so that thought quickly vanished.
- Over at Eleven-ThirtyEight, Abigail Dillon shares some extremely insightful analysis of the first two issues of Age of Republic, Qui-Gon and Darth Maul, on how they rhyme with one another, focusing mainly on the vision quest in each. It’s not something I caught when reading them, but it’s a genius catch and important way to view the issues. Now I’m wondering if Houser will be pairing both issues per month in some way, as it already feels like the Jango Fett issue (out next week) dealing with him taking his son Boba along for a mission, could mirror Obi-Wan’s issue. I wonder if I’d have ever picked up on this without Abigail’s article, so big thanks her way for discovering it!
I grow more confident in the “Age of Star Wars” maxiseries thanks to Jody Houser’s continually better work, as Age of Republic: Obi-Wan Kenobi #1 is another great entry in a fun exploration of the biggest heroes and villains.
+ Obi-Wan and Anakin relationship building
+ Witty, fantastic conversations
+ Obi-Wan’s realizations
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 | 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