– Spoiler Review –
The Rise of Kylo Ren #1 begins what is looking to be one of the most epic stories yet to be told by Star Wars comics, living up to the promise in one single issue alone of showing us the story of Ben’s fall to Ren, where answers bring new and intriguing questions with them.
Where to even begin? For one single issue, there’s a lot to unpack here, and it’s all told exceptionally well by writer Charles Soule, with rather gorgeous art throughout by Will Sliney (spelling) and colors by Guru-eFX, with Travis Lanham as letterer. I guess I’ll start with the Knights of Ren, where we learn some rather surprising tidbits, including who Ren actually is: Ren isn’t a person, even though the current leader claims it as his name, but is actually a…lightsaber?! As we saw in some Aftermath Trilogy interludes, and even in Soule’s Lando mini/Darth Vader series with Lord Momin, the spirits of Sith attach themselves to items and continue to influence those who possess the objects, so maybe that’s what’s going on here, with only the strongest of the Knights being able to possess it without going crazy (which is a relative term). Or there is no Sith spirit infused with the item, because as “Ren” puts it, the actual Ren is simply nature, as it lives and consumes and never apologies, a description which sounds less like a Sith-spirit with a goal and more of an ideal passed down from Ren holder to Ren holder. I have a feeling we might never quite get an answer on that, which I’m okay with, but it’s intriguing thing to ponder. Either way, we see them here fulfilling the Ren’s MO while looking to recruit a new member, though membership requires the ability to use the Force, or shadow as they call it. With the membership application ultimately rejected, they continue on for something else to burn, though we aren’t quite done with them in the series just yet, as teased here and in the solicitation for January’s second issue.
Which brings us to Ben Solo, standing in front of Luke Skywalker’s burning Jedi Temple, confronted by three of Luke’s students returning from a mission off-planet. Voe, Tai, and Hennix all have different takes on how to approach and deal with Ben, seeing what they see and hearing what he tells them, and reluctantly they all think to subdue him, which he deals with without much effort. They set off to pursue him when he flees in a ship, and instead of destroying them for doing so, he disables their ship and takes off. From what we’ve seen and heard about Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, it seemed more than likely he didn’t only bring his hut down on Luke, but went on to destroy the Temple and its students, but this issue proves otherwise. Letting those other students live doesn’t quite sound like someone who went and killed the entire Temple only minutes before, because he actually didn’t: that’s right, Ben Solo only had his confrontation with Luke, but it was the voice in his head which took down the Temple. Before we dive into all the questions with that voice, while Ben might not have pulled down the destructive storm on the Temple that brings it to ashes, his action against Luke allowed whomever controlled it to swoop in and do so. Ben has quite the bit of rage against whomever is in his head, denoted by a red-ringed word bubble filled in black with white writing, as he seems to blame them for bringing Luke Skywalker against him, asking them why they did it, and he isn’t happy with the destruction of the Temple shortly after, even if the voice says it was Luke whose actions made the destruction warranted. From what we’ve seen of Kylo in the films, and what we learned in TLJ about him and Luke, he’s definitely been conflicted about what transpired, hence the continued worry about the pull to the light for him, but I always imagined he directly destroy the Temple, though it turns out not to be the case here and I liked how we’re already seeing not everything happened as assumed by Luke or audiences. As Ben flees the planet, he goes to some welcoming arms for a nice big hug from…Snoke?!?!
We’ve known Snoke played a long game with young Ben Solo, but coming off as a friendly fatherly-type, chilling in a giant planet-sized dome for plants, wearing a cute little cap, giving Ben hugs, is something I never would’ve considered as part of the ruse but I absolutely love it. Part of me wonders, with Emperor Palpatine’s return in The Rise of Skywalker, if it’s at all possible he’s the voice in young Ben’s head, and who sent the storm to devastate the Temple, though it’s more likely a combination of Snoke and Palpatine, where Snoke is the one actively messing with Ben/the voice, but the Emperor, however he’s survived, has been working from the shadows on making the two collide (though I haven’t seen the movie as of this writing, so there might be answers to this there but I am unaware for the moment!). Regardless, we know Snoke won’t be so kind going forward, from what we’ve seen in the movies and in this year’s Age of Resistance – Supreme Leader Snoke #1, so when will the façade drop? Will we see it unfold in the issues ahead? As we await answers to those new questions, how about another one to ponder, out of the million this issue alone has raised: Ben apologizes for what Luke did to Snoke…did Luke make Snoke into the scared individual we know and see now? What happened between them prior? Another part of Snoke’s ruse with Ben? With every great answer this series provides, it offers intriguing and exciting new questions!
I originally wasn’t too excited about the art after I saw the preview of the first issue, as the big panel of Ben Solo taking in the burning Temple made it look like Sliney had taken the thic-ness of Ben Swolo and applied to his face, but thankfully it became a minor issue I had with the art as Sliney and Guru-eFX do some excellent work throughout. I was impressed by how Sliney captured the nuances of Adam Driver’s performance as Kylo Ren, and while some faces I could’ve swore were traces, it was too hard to distinguish from what wasn’t so bravo to Sliney. I also really liked how Snoke ends up looking more like a cute old person than wickedly scared dark sider, the big panel of the Knights of Ren laying waste to some fools, the distinct look to each of Luke’s surviving students (for now), and the giant plant dome Snoke is chilling in. As for the design of Ben’s ship, I can’t stop thinking about the heavy Millennium Falcon hints in the tail-end of its design, and how purposeful that decision was by Soule and Sliney, potentially as a way to show how he’s trying to gain his father’s attention/outdo him. Not only is the story delivering tasty morsels, so too is the art team!
Here are a few other things:
- See some concept art for the series and gets some teases for the second issue with the latest interview with Soule and Sliney over at the official site.
- The next issue comes out after The Rise of Skywalker and I might have some spoilers for the film in it depending on what the issue uncovers next so you’ve been forewarned!
The Rise of Kylo Ren #1 proves the series is more than likely to live up to all expectations, and surpass them, with ease, offering fun new questions while answering just as many.
+ Wait…what happened?!?!?
+ So Ren’s a what now?!?!?
+ Ben didn’t destroy the Temple, but someone else did?!!?!
+ We see Snoke give Ben a hug before either of his parents do?!?!?!
+ Each answer offers its own new questions
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
THE RISE OF KYLO REN
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