– Spoiler Review –
Count Cavan Scott brings the Nightlander to the sequel era with the terrifying yet hope-filled finale, Tales from the Nightlands #3!
In my review of issue #2, I was confident enough to say this final issue would confirm what I had already felt about the Nightlander, aka Hitanaga: she’d go down amongst the franchise’s great villains. After having read Tales from the Nightlands #3, I can say with confidence I wasn’t wrong. While we know the Nightlander won’t “win” going into this series, and of course winning isn’t what makes a villain great, but what she reveals about our heroes along the way, how far Scott takes the concept, and how the artists bring her to life went a long way to making her a memorable threat in each issue. There’s a sense she could come back again, maybe get as close as she did here, while the history implied with her existence and the lore of the Nightmare Conjunction allowing the Nightlander her chances provides the concept opportunities to be revisited again. In fact, how far the Nightlander manages to get with her dastardly plans was exciting this issue, while what she planned to do, and how it involved Leia, gave it an extra memorable flair.
On the Leia front, while Rey, Finn, and BB-8 of sequel trilogy fame are front and center in the finale, how the Skywalker legacy and what Leia represents ties into the events of issue #3 really elevated the Nightlander’s threat. Hinting at Finn’s Force-sensitivity, it’s revealed very quickly he’s been affected by Hitanaga and the one who dragged them to Aaloth. As he goes missing, Leia is reunited with Daesha, the Twi’lek girl who first interacted with Anakin and then Luke and Leia, and the two must team up one last time to confront the horrors of the Nightlander. While everyone’s involved in the final push to beat back Hitanaga, this feels like Leia’s story overall, in a way giving her what couldn’t be done in the films due to the unfortunate passing of Carrie Fisher. In Leia, Hitanaga sees the brightest beacon of hope even in this dark time for the galaxy, and since she wants to spread her particular brand of darkness and despair, perverting this beacon into a symbol of darkness feels like the cosmic flourish to truly succeed in her goal. And it’s personal too, as it was Leia’s father who helped keep Hitanaga at bay and then Leia avoided her grasps while saving Luke in the process. There’s a reason Leia has the smallest cameo in Rogue One to say one pivotal word and characters are later quoting her in The Last Jedi, as she’s always represented hope, from leading the Rebellion on front lines and behind the scenes or spearheading the Resistance against the First Order when no one else is willing. To have the harbinger of darkness and despair recognize what she represents further cements the legend, a lovely choice by Scott regarding the character, and gives her the importance she so deserves in a way best suited for her.
While it all comes down to Leia, Rey and Finn aren’t boring parts of the story. Tying into the recent enough events of The Last Jedi, I like how Finn’s concerns he isn’t enough and the scale of what they face is too much is how she sneaks into his soul and breaks into our plane of existence. Finn later gives a speech that shows the leader he’ll become, bridging his character to The Rise of Skywalker. Hitanaga gets at Finn because she appears as Rose, something he realizes too late, and the Nightlander’s version of Rose flips what she said on Crait, which has the effect of showing how vital and how very on-brand for Star Wars her character and purpose was. As Leia manages to bring back hope against Hitanaga, Rey helps break Finn free, by sharing how he gives her hope and he reciprocates the gesture, and this felt like showcasing how she’s the next in the line to be the hope the galaxy needs after Leia. This makes her taking the Skywalker name even more fitting than ever and has me very excited to see her return in the eventual New Jedi Order film! Overall, I really enjoyed how Scott managed to build on their character journeys for the era even in a limited span of pages.
Closing out the Tales from the Nightlands is artist Robert Hack, with the usual suspects of Tyler Smith and Jimmy Betancourt on lettering. Where Soo Lee set a spooky precedent and Vincenzo Riccardi brought out a mystical side, Hack dives into the horrifying nature of the Nightlander. It’s a fitting choice for the finale since Hitanaga reveals her true form after possessing Finn, finally making it into the ‘brightlands’ of our reality, and it’s more terrifying than you can imagine. After last issue, I felt the shell-like structure on Hitanaga’s face was hiding a more horrifying truth, and I sort of wish I was wrong after Hack draws her final form! In a well-deserved double-page spread, Hitanaga’s full-form is daunting to comprehend, as it almost looks like the exogorth, aka the slug in the asteroid from The Empire Strikes Back, but not only does her mouth have sharp teeth, the skin around has sharp-looking horns too. Letterers Smith and Betancourt, using the creepy cool light blue and squiggly word bubble of the Nightlander, really make sure your eyes focus first on the monstrous true form, while it also gives you a sense for what a strange and unsettling voice she must have. Finn and Leia look like little toys compared to the full size of Hitanaga, as Hack’s scale makes it seem like a small cruiser compared to them. Combined with all the little spawn of the nightlands, mini versions of Hitanaga’s full form, flying around, it seems overwhelming despite Leia’s nonchalant response to the nightmare’s goading. Hacks uses a deep purple coloring scheme in the scenes where Hitanaga is involved, with blacks on the edges, and it really makes it feel claustrophobic, like her presence is smothering not only our characters, but us readers as well. The second most frightening thing was the transformation of the Nightlander’s version of Rose, as we get a hint things are about to get creepy when she fades into the shadows behind Finn, but it’s the splash page afterwards that gives us the first scare of the issue. Rose’s fingers are elongated and sharp, her arms massive, and her face has the little sharp teeth all over it like Hitanaga’s final form does, another hint at what we were going to see later on. It’s a creepy image that only gets more unsettling when multiple Rose’s appear, holding down Finn, and Hitanaga’s essence seeps into his mouth. Hack makes this the scariest issue of the three, which gives more weight to the stakes and how far Hitanaga gets in her plans!
Here are a few other things:
- At this moment, not only is this Cavan Scott’s final 2025 Star Wars comic, he doesn’t have any new comics or books scheduled (yet) afterwards. I’m hoping he’ll at least be back for another spooky series for 2026! But he’s got plenty of other stories in the works, if you follow along with his website, and currently has series like Godfather of Hell with Vault Comics, Night of the Slashers with Magma Comix, and Iron & Frost for Marvel.
- I’m working on my annual Star Wars comics year-in-review article, which I’m hoping to get out in early-to-mid January. I’m sure something Scott’s done will make the Top 5 Moments cut, so tune back in to the Manor in January to find out what does!
- Aaloth is the home planet of a (in)famous Twi’lek Scott developed quite a bit in The High Republic: Lourna Dee!!
Tales from the Nightlands #3 is a great finale for the series, as its escalation is memorable and its ability to give Leia, and the sequel era characters, their due is a plan more masterful than the Nightlander ever could’ve hoped to devise.
+ Proves Nightlander is a great concept and should be revisited!
+ Leia as the beacon of hope and the next generation to carry the torch
+ Hack makes the stakes feel appropriately large
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him and the website on Bluesky.
DISCLOSURE: I received a copy of this comic 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.
TALES FROM SERIES:
Tales from the Nightlands: #1 | #2
Tales from the Rancor Pit (graphic novel) | Tales from the Death Star (graphic novel)
VADER’S CASTLE SERIES:
Tales from Vader’s Castle (miniseries) | Return to Vader’s Castle (miniseries) | Shadow of Vader’s Castle (one-shot) | Ghost of Vader’s Castle (miniseries)