– Spoiler Review –
2020 was meant to be the start of so many new things, a new decade and the relaunch of Marvel’s many Star Wars comic series, but we all know what happened next. The relaunch came and was abruptly delayed, but many months later the entire first arc of the Star Wars series’ relaunch, “The Destiny Path,” found its way to comic shelves. Dealing with the fallout from The Empire Strikes Back, “The Destiny Path” feels like an organic continuation of the story, but it also contains glimmers of where it plans to take us next, all while containing writer Charles Soule’s deft ability to combine past, present, and future for memorable and surprising moments.
By following the end of TESB, the focus of the arc lands on what I’ve dubbed the L-Squad, Luke, Leia, and Lando (and later Lobot!), pushing them through the revelations and repercussions of the film’s cliffhanger-like ending. Luke’s journey might take the literal and figurative spotlight, but Leia and Lando get plenty of focus in the beginning of the arc too. I was most invested with Lando’s story, considering the place he’s in after the events on Cloud City: he’s essentially besieged on all sides from his own actions, the persona/lifestyle that fuels them, those who need a place to lay their anger/frustrations after what happened on Cloud City, and his struggles living up to a promise he made to his best friend. Lando’s backed in a corner within the Rebellion, with no one, especially Leia and Chewbacca, willing to trust him after his betrayal got Han Solo captured. Things seem rather copasetic in the final scene of TESB, almost too calm and peaceful between this group despite what happened, and the comic’s opening two issues dig into the time between the escape from Cloud City and the relaxing, hopeful shot of everyone back with the Rebel fleet. Lando isn’t wearing fuax-Han Solo clothes just yet, instead Leia is continuing her distrust in him while Chewie’s reluctance to work with him to track down Han and Boba Fett results in some of the funniest moments of the entire arc; his deal with Jabba to get out alive certainly leaves some questions but shows his quick thinking. In fact, in typical Lando fashion, he takes all the negativity in stride and finds ways to appease his biggest detractors, roping Luke into his plan to go back to Cloud City and rescue his friend, Lobot, left behind in the shuffle. Luckily Cloud City is important to the rest of L-Squad and they agree to go with him, where we’re introduced to “Lando Style,” as he uses the ace up his sleeve (literally) to cause havoc for the Empire invading his home and manages to get Lobot free, though Lobot’s plan with the Mouse droids is the real MVP. Lando’s loyalty to his friend helps appease Leia’s doubts about the man, knowing he might be an ally after all, but it also leads to a moment building off a thread seeded by writer Soule way back in 2015; If I have a chance to tell people to read the 2015 Lando comic, I’ll always take it, and this is a great reminder to do so, as while not reading it won’t affect the moment from landing, it does make it land a smidge differently/stronger. Not only do they get Lobot and Luke’s X-wing back, but their rescue includes several employees of Cloud City, who show their appreciation to Lando, calling him a hero even and bestowing upon him a hug. The smile looks genuine on his face, despite the surprise, and he turns to Lobot, simply stating “Huh.” Alone, it reads as Lando understanding why his old pal Han joined the cause, but when you factor in Lobot’s final wish, before he allows the cybernetic implants to take over his mind in an attempt to save Lando and his ex-girlfriend, that Lando pursue something more than himself, (a moment which took my top spot in Unforgettable Comic moments of the last 5 years) the look at Lobot shows him also understanding his friend’s message. We got a glimpse of Lando finding satisfaction in looking out for more than himself in last year’s Age of Rebellion – Lando Calrissian #1, but this taps more directly into Lobot and Lando’s big moment and pushes him closer to his burgeoning role with the Rebellion and fighting for the cause.
Of the three L-Squad members, Leia gets shorted changed a bit, but it’s a solid next step for her while it seems her focus will hit in the following arc. Leia and Han only just solidified their feelings for one another and now he’s in carbonite as Boba Fett’s quarry, but as usual, this Rebel leader doesn’t have the time to fixate on that. The Empire have broken the Rebellion’s coded transmissions and the fleet the L-Squad have found themselves with need a leader, so Leia steps up to the plate, pushing her feelings and worries aside for Han and focusing on the bigger, more important problem at hand. It’s very typical Leia, finding a way to soldier on despite any personal trauma, showing how much stronger she is than Lando or Luke, both dealing with their own problems/revelations and needing extended trips to take care of it. While Leia pushes it aside, she does see Lando and Luke’s mission to Cloud City as an opportunity to plan ahead, diving into the carbon freezing chamber to learn how to wake up Han whenever they manage…only to end up frozen herself! She’s quickly rescued by Luke and Lando, but she proves again her helplessness is always only temporary, grabbing a blaster and leading a revolt to get them out safely. While she steps up big time to help lead their division of the rebel fleet, it looks like the next arc might be putting her in the spotlight, as her team begins Operation Starlight and will come into combat with Commander Zahara (spelling), who has a specific distaste and hate for Leia; More on her shortly.
And then there’s Luke, the star of the arc, taking his next step on “The Destiny Path.” Hearing your father is Darth Vader has to call into question everything Luke has done since leaving Tatooine: why did Obi-Wan and Yoda lie to him, or omit the truth? Is he really meant to be a Jedi, if his father is a Sith Lord? Can Vader really be his father? And without a lightsaber, is he really a Jedi? These questions are fertile story ground and Soule explores it like an expert gardener tending their crops, leading readers to a bountiful harvest of answers and character moments for the burgeoning Jedi spread out over the first six issues. Luke doubts the Jedi path laid about before him by his teachers, Ben and Yoda, considering Vader’s revelation counters things they’ve said to him or even those they straight up omitted if it turns out to be true. And without his lightsaber, feeling emotions like anger, Luke’s confidence in himself to become a Jedi is dwindling, so it makes sense he’d jump at the opportunity to go back to Cloud City to get his lightsaber if the Force sends him a vision of it there with a strange woman. Considering Luke’s journey so far, expanded by the previous volume of this comic, it’s already natural for him to be the Jedi Knight we see at the beginning of Return of the Jedi despite Vader’s revelation, but I loved seeing him come around to the conclusion as well, that he still needs to be a Jedi regardless of his parentage. First he realizes a Jedi doesn’t need a lightsaber to help others and, as he’s runs into Verla, he later commits to all the potential pain, suffering, and hardship of trusting the will of the Force; after all, would it have led him this far, or even started him down this path, if it knew who his father was? Luke has always wanted to be a hero, dreaming of joining the war for excitement and adventure, but after Yoda’s teachings, he realizes becoming a Jedi allows him to help others, and while there might be excitement and adventure along the way, bringing peace and justice to the galaxy is far more important. His time with Verla, and later his short duel with the immortally damned Grand Inquisitor, offers glimpses of the future, both in his acceptance following the Jedi path could mean his death and how he’ll have doubts again about his path and his purpose in the Force, as seen in The Last Jedi.
The L-Squad dominates panel-time, but a few other characters wiggle their way in, setting up for the expanded roles in the upcoming arc. Two familiar faces return, revealed first in Soule’s section of the Empire Ascendant one-shot: Shara Bey and Kes Dameron, aka Poe Dameron’s parents! Shara is an excellent pilot and Kes is part of the elite Rebel Pathfinders, though neither shows off their abilities quite yet. Soon they will, as they’ll be vital to Operation Starlight (more on that below, as it ties into The High Republic!), the Rebels’ plan to work around their cracked transmission codes. They have to formulate such an Operation thanks to Commander Zahara, a whip-smart Imperial commanding the Tarkin’s Will Imperial Star Destroyer, a damaged ship meant to remind the survivors, and its enemies, thus fueling their work with some real proper motivation. Her tactics are unorthodox, backing the fleet against a star and creating a web out of ISB laser fire, but sound and solid, and she looks to be a fearsome opponent for the Rebellion to battle in the coming issues. As I mentioned before, uncovering why she’s so eager to destroy Leia should be a fun thread and sets up Leia’s bigger role next arc.
The usage of Verla and the Grand Inquisitor were both moments of genius, as Verla’s story has been a question mark since Soule’s 2017 Vader run, while the Grand Inquisitor’s ultimate fate proves his final words even more hauntingly true than ever before. Verla, swept up by a Jedi Knight after the fall of the Republic, is left to fend for herself for over 20 years after her ‘master’s’ failure at Mon Cala, dodging the pursuit of Vader and the Inquisitorious, as she attempts to become a Jedi…only to give up on the mission as fatigue sets in. The Force pushes many of the remaining Jedi after Order 66 as a way to test them for what’s to come, as the way of the prequel Jedi training and comfort has been brushed away, replaced by hardships and constant vigilance internal and external; Verla’s choice isn’t a failure, by any means, it just shows either she’s unwilling to commit due to the potential sacrifice involved or this might be her purpose all along, while the path of Caleb Dume aka Kanan Jarrus shows he’s cut out to be a Jedi despite all that’s happened, adapting to the new circumstances and accepting it might mean his death in the process. As for the Grand Inquisitor’s ghostly appearance in the Jedi Temple Luke investigates, it takes his final words to Kanan to a whole new level of spooky and terrifying. Original, it seemed ol’ Grandy’s words meant the arrival of Vader, but it now means an unthinkable fate awaits those in service of Vader: an undying existence of servitude guarding Temples from Jedi-hopefuls. I imagine Ezra and Kanan’s trips to the Lothal Temple are what inspired Vader’s usage of the Grand Inquisitor, knowing Luke would likely pursue them for knowledge and help as well. In my review of issue #6, I thought maybe ol’ Grandy’s time knighting Kanan in the Lothal Temple meant he had redemption for a brief time, and Vader corrupted his spirit to serve him, but it turns out Grandy’s been in this terrible position since his death, as the Rebels Recon (around the 1:40 mark) for “Shroud of Darkness” revealed Yoda is behind what Kanan sees, so it wasn’t the real Grand Inquisitor.
All of this above is aided by an excellent art team in Jesús Saiz, with Arif Prianto assisting on colors, and Clayton Cowles on lettering. Saiz’s style, a grittier and darker look than anything we’ve really had on the Star Wars series to date, certainly fits L-Squad’s lives after the failures and setbacks in The Empire Strikes Back, as it’s not all cheery adventures and whimsical moments for them, now lost, broken, and attempting to gather up the pieces of Rebellion to fight again. Saiz really emotes characters well, staying rather consistent with their recognizable faces but making them his own, offering so much additional humor, sadness, or excitement to a scene that tracing can’t even begin to hope to match. I enjoyed his take on Lando the best, capturing the suave from the style (his outfit when visiting Jabba is my favorite non-movie outfit to date for the character), his movements, and of course expressions, especially when he’s . Surprisingly, even though he doesn’t have tons of panel time, Saiz manages to tie Phil Noto as my favorite artist’s take on Chewbaccca, as several panels produce much harder laughs thanks to Saiz’s work; Chewie reluctantly letting Lando fly the Falcon, and when he side-eyes Lando for making a cold joke considering what just happened to Han, are some of the funniest moments of the arc and it’s how the art helps the writing hit that much better. My favorite art moments of the arc include: the look of Serelia, the planet Verla lives on, with how the orange sky contrasts with the blue ocean; the water chase on Serelia, giving a water chase lots of depth; the mouse droid attack of the stormtroopers on Cloud City; and the whole sequence with the Grand Inquisitor. In fact, his haunting appearance is such a killer display of Saiz’s work, with Prianto’s colors, as the missing chunks of his body, the always burning fire, and snarling face inspire so much fear, showing Luke’s resolve to resolidify his desire to be a Jedi despite facing something so frightening; as I talked a lot about in my issue #6 review, overall, hands down the best panel of the year, is the final image of ol’ Grandy, reiterating his final words about things worse than death, pieces of him floating away/missing, the fire covering his body, to how the word bubble fades with him…the sadness and defeat are so evident. Considering we’re getting a new artist for the next arc, this team really went out on a spectacular high note!
Here are a few other things:
- Luke’s intense and thrilling meeting with the Grand Inquisitor’s tortured spirit was foreshadowed in Soule’s The Rise of Kylo Ren #2, as he mentions visiting a Jedi Temple which nearly killed him. Many thanks to Florian of Jedi-Bibliothek for reminding us all!
- When Luke cracks the glass, struggling for guidance after Vader’s revelation, Soule admitted it was an intentional callback to a similar moment for Vader himself, way back in 2015, when he learns he has a son. That moment made Chris and mine’s Top #1 and #2, respectively, Comic Moments since 2015!
- I’ll be curious to see if Lando’s little deal before his audience with Jabba the Hutt is what tips them off about Han’s arrival to Jabba’s Palace.
- The innocuous trooper banter for those who capture Leia briefly, and the Imperial Lieutenant bugging the Cloud City worker, were funny little moments I greatly enjoyed. If you liked that opening scene for The Mandalorian‘s season one finale, it’s more of the same.
- As one of the architects of The High Republic, Soule has been layering hints in his works and “The Destiny Path” had a few! Operation Starlight gains its inspiration from Starlight Station, a beacon built in the Outer Rim during the High Republic as the Republic, alongside the Jedi, expanded into the unknown; Luke visits a Jedi Temple on Tempes, said to be from the High Republic era…I originally misspoke about the lightsaber he finds there as one from the HR, but it’s actually a Jedi Temple Guard saber. I’ll be compiling all the references in canon prior to THR’s release in January, so check back at the Manor’s The High Republic hub page for all that and more!
Star Wars (Vol. 2) #1-6’s “The Destiny Path” lays a rich tapestry of what’s to come in Soule’s time on the flagship series, all while deftly dealing with the L-Squad’s fallout from the events of The Empire Strikes Back.
+ L-Squad dealing with the events of TESB
+ Lando and Luke’s journeys offer rewards and surprises
+ Soule’s ability to work in parts of the past/present/future (Grand Inquisitor, Verla, THR, etc.)
+ Terrific artwork from start to finish, ending on quite the high note
– Leia’s parts aren’t as expansive…yet
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.
STAR WARS (Vol. 2)
The Destiny Path: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6