– Spoiler Review –
The Rise of Kylo Ren #2 delivers on the first issue’s promise of an impactful, dense, revealing, and exciting miniseries, showing no signs of stopping its high level of quality content.
Before going any further, this review contains spoilers not just for this issue, as my spoiler warning at the top always indicates, but also from The Rise of Skywalker, so you’ve been warned!
When reading the first issue, I had yet to see The Rise of Skywalker, so I was curious how much in tandem Emperor Palpatine and Snoke worked on Ben Solo, but the answer the movie provided resulted in another, confusing question: Palpatine literally created Snoke, in a tube and everything, so was Palpatine puppeteering him the whole time or not? Palpatine’s line about Snoke training Ben Solo seems to imply he was autonomous, though it’s never implicitly clear. But this revelation also collides with moments in The Rise of Kylo Ren in different ways: for starters, in issue #1, Ben’s condolences to Snoke regarding Luke Skywalker’s actions implies Luke gave Snoke his scars, or hurt him in some way, so if the Snoke clones in the vat in TROS have the same scars, did Luke actually hurt him or was Palpatine growing them with those imperfections so the illusion could continue? In a less confusing collision, in issue #2, there’s a grand panel of Snoke proclaiming to Ben, as he really sinks his teeth in about pushing Ben along the next steps towards Ren, that he wasn’t born Snoke, but he became Snoke. In light of TROS’ revelation over his creation, this both highlights all the lies Snoke tells despite offering Ben a lie-free zone and it feels like a wink and nod to readers with what we know now.
Regardless of all the minutia above, I really enjoyed the conversations between Ben and Snoke, both in the “present” and the past, when Ben is younger and on a mission with Luke and Lor San Tekka. In the present, aka just after the destruction of Luke’s Temple, Snoke’s friendly demeanor is already showing its darker cracks, as he dives into Ben’s broken feelings and points out how one should never deny their true nature, pushing him to embrace his resentment and repudiation of his legacy. Their discussions even brings out Ben’s feelings on his name, from his alienation regarding being named after a legend like Obi-Wan, whom he’s never met, and his anger over the lie that is his father’s last name, Solo (making me wonder if he knows Han’s real name), while Snoke discovers Ben has had the alternative name Kylo on his mind since he was just a child. Growing up with such a legacy hanging over your head, and not being able to live up to it as too many adults worry over him/hold him back to be cautious with his training, it makes sense a child would concoct an alternative identity where they could be whatever they want, not what everyone else wants; That’s the beauty of Snoke’s (and/or Palpatine’s) manipulation of Ben, as while they want to mold him into something specific, they are letting him go about it in his own way, so it feels like he’s the one in control of destiny, not some overbearing parents or mentors. Snoke telling Ben all this while on a giant garden planet built in an attempt to fight back the darkness of the unknown regions and it turns on its creators only adds to the idea fighting your inner nature is futile, something Snoke loves to remind Ben throughout their conversation, from breaking the bones of one of the skeletons devoured by their plants or holding a skull between them. Beyond Snoke’s words showing cracks in his hug-worthy demeanor, he artfully deflects a call from General Brendol Hux, though it’s a nice reminder he’s the Supreme Leader of the First Order for us readers and leaves Ben something to ponder, if he wasn’t so wrapped up in his own drama and convinced Snoke is someone trustworthy.
Ben wants to take his next step into the darkness by confronting the Knights of Ren, which brings us to a flashback when he met them alongside Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and explorer Lor San Tekka! When Lor gets words of an ancient depository of Jedi knowledge, Luke rushes out to investigate, and in the remote temple the Knights of Ren, already chilling and plundering, confront them. We already saw the might of Jedi Master Luke in The Last Jedi, making the most Jedi-like move in the history of the Jedi (that we’ve seen) by being all about defense, never attacking, and as the Knights attack here, we get to see more of his remarkable skills. Luke emits defensiveness in every motion, calm and in control of the entire situation, barely breaking a sweat as he disarms and defeats them, never killing, making a one versus seven fight seem unfairly stacked against the seven; it’s as stunning as his display in TLJ and also cohesive with it and his place as a Jedi at this point. Left in awe, Ben doesn’t participate however, told by Luke to guard Lor, something we know from his internal conversation with Snoke before landing irks him, as Luke never allows him to do much besides learn and watch.
This makes the moment Ren, the leader of the Knights of Ren and holder the Ren Lightsaber, taking off his helmet all the more enticing to the young Solo. Ren, with his self-made power (beyond holding the Ren saber) and rather casual and charismatic attitude in his discussion regarding who gets the Temple’s spoils, could be an alluring presence to someone like Ben who desperately wants to forge their own path and is constantly put in a box, especially when Ren offers a spot within their group. And it also helps if that person…looks exactly like you! Or, at least that’s how I interpreted Will Sliney’s art, as the unmasked Ren looks eerily similar to an older Ben Solo; there’s nothing quite like seeing yourself in someone you secretly aspire to be, making it far easier to see yourself in their boots. If the intention wasn’t for them to look alike, and I’m just seeing the connection, then the more important factor remains: Ren is a clean-faced individual, handsome even, spitting in the face of all the horror stories Ben has likely been told regarding those who join the dark side, as I’m sure he knows Vader was hideous under his mask (even if he didn’t know it was his grandfather at the time), and his approachable face makes the path he presents a little less frightening and even more alluring (something Soule teased a few weeks back in an interview with the official site). In the “present,” Ben returns to the Temple and puts on the mask Ren dropped all those years ago, through which Ren reveals to Ben where they’ll be next, waiting for him. But before he takes off to meet them, the three remaining students of Luke’s confront him! Considering he let them live before, but since being pushed further along his dark path already, will he show them mercy again? I’m betting he’ll find a way to do so, but they’ll be the sacrifice he has to make to join the Knights of Ren.
Capturing and bringing to life the little nuances of Adam Driver’s acting is no simple feat, but for the majority of the issue, Will Sliney (art) and Guru-eFX (color), with Travis Lanham as letterer, manage to make it look somewhat effortless. There’s some fantastic visuals again this issue, like all the creepy skeleton stuff with Snoke as I mentioned above, but the biggest highlight has to be Luke’s takedown of the Knights of Ren, as the purposefulness of his motions and actions carries across in the stiff, but posed position he is in each panel. I liked the look of young Ben, capturing his ungainliness and awkwardness even then, though I’m curious if “Ren” really is supposed to look like a grown-up Ben, if it’s a trick of my eyes, or that’s just something that happens with Sliney’s facial work. All in all though, another excellent showing from the team and I can’t wait to see where they take us next in the final two issues.
Here are a few other things:
- Turns out the Ren saber was not only extremely difficult for “Ren” to procure, but it also has a self-destruct feature?! Like, what sadist made that…and why would they even need it?! I’d LOVE to hear the story behind it i.e. the strength of Soule’s writing at work, folks. Wonder if it might be something we’ll see in Project Luminous, if the rumors below are true…
- There’s been some rumors going around regarding what’s next for the Star Wars franchise, and in particular what exactly the enigmatic Project Luminous is all about. I don’t normally like to comment on rumors, but their might be some truth in these legends. Over at Ziro, a Hungarian fan-site, they have heard through a contact that Project Luminous will take place some 300-400 years before the prequels. I won’t get into too many details as they reveal a bit of the story, so follow the link at your own accord, but that timeframe would seem to place the project within the “High Republic” era, a designation mentioned in this issue. The fact we only heard “High Republic” once before in Cavan Scott’s Dooku: Jedi Lost (thanks for Florian of Jedi-Bibliothek for the tip on that), and considering Scott and Soule are two of the five Project Luminous writers, lends some credence to the rumors. The official reveal for the Project is set for this month, so we might not have to wait long to find out if it’s true or not!
- In my 2018 Year-In-Review (I’m almost finished with my 2019 one!), one of my favorite parts of the year ended up being the “Soule-verse,” the loosely connected works of Charles Soule. A bounty hunter from his first Star Wars content, the excellent Lando miniseries, got a brief cameo/origin story in Darth Vader – Dark Lord of the Sith, while a creepy, ancient Sith helmet from the same miniseries took center stage in the final Vader arc, to name a few. In this issue, the Soule-verse continues to expand and interact: Luke mentions finding Jocasta Nu’s cache of Jedi knowledge here, buried by her assistant after she didn’t return from a mission into enemy territory on Coruscant, and which we got a glimpse of in the final panel of Dark Lord of the Sith issue #10, as Jocasta’s final words about the Jedi always returning play over Luke uncovering her Nu-School for Jedi; the rifle Ben glimpses in the Temple is the same kind as the one Jocasta wields in battle against Darth Vader, which needs a kyber crystal to power itself, so it was neat as hell to see another and makes me wonder if it’ll be something we see more of in the rumored stuff above; and lastly, while Lor San Tekka was originally in The Force Awakens, Soule wrote far more Lor in his Poe Dameron series, and I particularly loved the conversation he had with Poe regarding what the Force means to him in issue #25.
- It didn’t occur to me until just now, but what if we’re building to a moment in the final two issues that overlaps with the momentous events of Bloodline (set 6 years before The Force Awakens), where the galaxy learns Leia and Luke are the children of Darth Vader! Beyond whatever price trying to join and rule the Knights of Ren will enact on him, learning such a truth, and knowing it was kept from him for so long, on top of his other grievances here, would be quite the final straw to break the camel’s back. It would also be some tasty payoff nearly 4 years in the making and it’s potentially possible since we don’t have a definitive word on when exactly the “present” set events of TROKR take place.
After issue #2, if you’re not reading The Rise of Kylo Ren at this point, you’re doing yourself, and one of the sequel trilogy’s most complex characters, a disservice by missing out on this excellent exploration of Ben Solo’s downfall.
+ Jedi Master Luke F@&#ing Skywalker, everyone!
+ The allure of Ren to Ben
+ Snoke and Ben’s discussions
+ Art team continues to deliver
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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