– Spoiler Review –
The beginning of the end for Qi’ra’s unofficial comic trilogy is here with Hidden Empire #1, an issue new readers can easily jump into, where the full breadth of Crimson Dawn’s plans in the fight against the Sith and their rule of the galaxy come to light and tease an epic remaining 4 issues!
Qi’ra’s big return began in last year’s giant War of the Bounty Hunters crossover event, where her bargaining of Han Solo’s carbonite body showed the galaxy Crimson Dawn was back and it meant business, but it wasn’t quite clear what her ultimate motivations were. In Crimson Reign, Qi’ra’s true plans were revealed, that she was out to kill Darth Sidious and Darth Vader, taking power away from the Sith and giving it back to the people, eventually sowing chaos with her various hidden agents as the Sith learned of her plans. And that’s where Hidden Empire picks up, something aptly rounded up and explained in the opening moments of the issue, where the Archivist and her holocron-like device tell the story from some unknown future vantage point to two still unknown figures (that look like they wear Jedi-like robes, since we see their outlines this time). In a way, the opening pages of Hidden Empire #1 are a good enough summary for new readers to easily get the gist of everything beforehand, allowing them to jump in now to see how it all ends if they so chose. Charles Soule’s an excellent writer, hence how the dialogue here from the Archivist both sums things up but leaves it open for readers to investigate more if they like, while Steven Cummings fantastic artistic style clues readers into moments from other comic stories surrounding the Crimson Reign events to further invite curiosity, but I felt a bit like the simplicity of getting readers caught up sort of undercut the need for the expansive crossover/story so far. I had my issues with WotBH and how it took over every series set in the era, and when reading just the miniseries now in preparation for Hidden Empire, it feels truly like it didn’t need to overpower the entire era of stories given how far Qi’ra and her plans have come since; the Crimson Reign miniseries at least remains one I’d highly suggest reading prior to this, considering it’s more directly connected to the events here, has a bigger focus on Qi’ra, and sets the stage well enough on its own. Regardless, Hidden Empire #1 is a really strong, intriguing start to this final part of Qi’ra’s comic return by Soule, though I hope its remaining four issues can do the story enough justice as even CR felt like it was covering too much story in not enough space.
After Qi’ra declared Emperor Palpatine could choke on her crimson reign, Qi’ra’s agents activated across the galaxy to sow chaos and discord. We’ve seen it in small ways throughout the other series, like Darth Vader battling an Imperial Governor aligned with the Dawn (as we see in one early panel here, but the governor’s true allegiances were muddied too much in the Darth Vader comic) or the family who escapes the still under construction second Death Star to reveal its presence to the Rebellion (which played out in a few shorts issues of Soule’s Star Wars run), though since those series are focusing on their own story, it doesn’t quite feel like the galaxy is really reeling from the Dawn’s acts of sabotage, assassinations, and surprises as much as the story says it is. But it’s easy to handwave away, and there aren’t enough panels to really cover it all anyways, so thankfully the issue doesn’t linger on it long and propels itself into the next part of the story and Qi’ra’s plans to take down the Sith at the top of the galaxy.
It all involves the Fermata Cage, a mysterious dark side aligned object which looks sort of like an hourglass, captured for Crimson Dawn by the Knights of Ren as seen in Crimson Reign #5’s weirder parts. To unlock it, the Archivist relies not only on the Knights of Ren for what little connection to the dark side they have, as the Force is one necessary key, and the other is Kho Phon Farrus, an expert in the Ascendant, an ancient cult which created objects to mimic the Force to help fight the Sith. It’s really awesome to see Kho in Hidden Empire, recently leaving the pages of Doctor Aphra (Vol. 2) in a rather dramatic way that hints they might have their own goals while helping the Archivist/Crimson Dawn here, as they are not only a fun, intriguing, and deeply layered character, it’s also just great to see Kho’s non-binary representation find its way into this big Qi’ra finale and in front of more readers. It’s not an easy road to unlocking the Cage and it gets harder still throughout the issue when Qi’ra calls on the Archivist to activate it right now, regardless of how ready they are, to prove a point to the Emperor himself. But what is the Cage and why would they want to open it…and how does it play into Qi’ra’s plans to take down the Emperor?! As Qi’ra confronts Ol’ Palpy, via hologram mind you, she reveals she’s picked up where Maul left off, finding the Fermata Cage and is trying to unlock it. Inside will be an ancient Sith Lord, frozen in time by the power of the dark side, and opening it will bring them back alive, as if no time has passed. It’s a fascinating concept and fits with the Sith and their fear of letting go, of losing their power, so what better way to keep it all to yourself than be frozen in time with it forever? There’s no guarantee whatever Sith Lord inside will have done so willingly however, so who was the one who locked them inside? And why? And if not to hold power, why lock yourself in there, if that’s the case? Will it actually be a Sith Lord? Will it be someone else instead? Will we ever learn in this series? And if it is a Sith Lord…which Sith Lord? One we know, Legends or canon? A new one? While it seemed like the place where the Knights found the Cage was connected to Lord Momin, he was already pulled back from the netherworld when helping Vader build his Castle on Mustafar, so I don’t think it could be him. It’s an exciting and intriguing development, regardless of if the Dawn manages to open the Cage or not, and I hope Soule (or anyone) will get to explore it more in the future no matter what happens here.
Regardless of how much chaos we see done by the Dawn agents, the Emperor has felt its effects and watched the various crime families (cameos from Jabba the Hutt and our first canon appearance of Prince Xizor here) wastefully fight one another for his supposed favor, which he tows in line by reminding them of his anger and how they don’t want to be on his bad side. He also sends out Vader, which we see in the pages of his own comic, and even Inferno Squad, the fabled group made famous from the Battlefront II campaign and tie-in novel that includes eventual rebel Iden Versio, to hunt out the Dawn spies within the Empire’s own ranks. With the Empire’s might concentrated on finding and eliminating Qi’ra and Crimson Dawn, it’s help keep the reforming rebellion take shape and grow stronger for the coming fight at the second Death Star, though they track Qi’ra down quickly enough during the events of this comic. Hence the hologram call between the two, where one quickly gets the impression she wanted to be found, considering her preparation for the conversation.
As the conversation starts, the Vermillion powers up to confront the Imperials that found her, Sheev feels and sounds in control, speaking down to her, considering her beneath him and his notice. Qi’ra remains defiant, slowly unveiling what she has in store and how she feels about him and his superiority, yelling at him about how he doesn’t get to tell her what to do. She has this power now and she intends to use, to strip him of his, and give it back to the galaxy, a goal he’s unimpressed with, casting shade on her aspirations because she’s linked to Maul and he deemed any of his plans poisoned. We’ve seen Palpatine angry, calm, confident, but it’s rare we’ve seen him surprised, especially once he’s out in the open as the Emperor, besides maybe when Vader picks him up and throws him over the edge on the Death Star II, and he’s definitely not been anything besides annoyed with her this whole conversation…until Qi’ra signals the Archivist and Kho to activate the Fermata Cage. Palpatine senses the immense dark side efforts involved and fear appears on his face, leading him to shout at her to reveal what she’s done after she continues to play coy. Then she reveals to him she has the Cage, which she knows he knows about, and that she’s opening it up as they speak, which leads him to sit back down, his rage simmering across his face as he already plans how he’ll respond and what to do. And she continues to taunt him, digging at his insistence to stay alive as long as possible, by saying the Dawn can carry on her plans without her…which is why, as the Vermillion is fighting the Imperial blockade ensnared around it, it rams into the big Interdictor Destroyer, going up in a ball of flame, Qi’ra’s broadcast cutting out as she says it doesn’t matter if she lives as long as he dies. He orders everyone after the escape pods, as I don’t think he believes the ruse, and contacts Vader to hunt the Cage down with extreme prejudice. Knowing the Vader comic series is focused on an upcoming fight with a relative of someone from the prequels, as well as the handmaidens returning to the scene again, I’m assuming we’ll only see this hunt really in the upcoming issues of Hidden Empire, though there could always be more connections.
Qi’ra was actually on the bridge of Chanath Cha and the Orphan’s ship, and decides to let the escape pods from the Vermillion go, trying to take whatever advantage she can. Especially since it’s revealed the Archivist, Kho, and the Knights’ attempts to open the Fermata Cage were unsuccessful. The process of opening it, of tapping into the Knights’ weak connection to the dark side of the Force, involved putting collars around them, and when turned on, put them through extreme agony to suck out their power. None of the Knights die here, but after losing some in the fight for the Cage, both when going for the key at Vader’s Castle and to the Cage’s hiding place, combined with this torture, Ren decides the Knights have had enough. Now not only is the Cage not open, but Qi’ra’s “best” assets against Force-users are gone, something thankfully she suspected because I’m shocked they stuck around as long as they did. As always, Qi’ra is confident in the face of Chanath’s rundown of their worsening situation and the failure to open the Cage, but the Archivist’s holocron warns us what we already know: everything is not going according to plan. How this tragedy plays out and what it means for Qi’ra’s future is something I’m most curious to see, so even if this Cage is never opened, whatever it all leads to for her fate will be far more interesting anyways.
Carrying on from Crimson Reign is a great art team, with Steven Cummings on art, Victor Olazaba inking, GURU-eFX for colors, and Travis Lanham on lettering. Cummings and Olazaba’s work is always packed with details, rooms well-defined and laid out, while characters are realistic to some extent so they could easily be mistaken for the actors who have played some of them though they’re styled just enough the team has liberty with them. Palpatine in particular is a sight to behold, his wrinkles always prominent, even when he’s in the background or not front and center of a panel. I love their always confident, defiant Qi’ra, her mask always on, even as Palpatine chokes her from afar at one point, really gives the impression she has everything under control, even if the Archivist’s words from the future tell us otherwise. Kho Phon Farrus was arrestingly cool in their style, choosing to show Kho without their cloak and therefore the feathers underneath we’ve only seen a handful of times in the Doctor Aphra (Vol. 2) comic, while the little mannerisms they show throughout the Cage opening process don’t stray too far from what we’ve seen Minkyu Jung produce, so that visual consistency was a welcomed one. Outside of the team’s excellent character work, expressive faces and vibrant, dynamic movement, there are 3 double page spreads, a rarity in Star Wars comics, that really help fit in the amount of story already told and what’s unfolding. The first is the one where we’re caught up on previous events, the second is the lead up to the Archivist flipping the switch after Qi’ra’s order that ends with a big panel of the explosive pain the Knights are going through to open the Cage, and the last of Qi’ra regaining her composure after being choked and the Vermillion barreling towards the Destroyer. What I liked about these, beyond their composition and how it helped keep the story flowing, they build up to bigger and bigger pages/panels after them. The first one doesn’t lead anything too memorable, but the middle one leads into Palpatine’s palpable fear over what disturbance Qi’ra caused, and the final spread leads into the Vermillion ramming into the Destoryer, the resulting explosion a beautiful, fiery death for the symbol of the Dawn’s return, the pieces of it flinging out into space, the collision and explosion tilting nearby Destroyers and drawn to warp space and time around it, hammering home the impact, no SFX required. In an early page, the one after the first double page spread in fact, I loved GURU-eFX’s colors, as the future Archivist and her unique holocron have its own light, turquoise-like blue, while the following panels have clear, distinct coloring two, but blend into the last one almost. There’s a panel of Maul, as the Archivist is explaining Qi’ra’s past a little, then a panel of Qi’ra inspecting all the Force artifacts collected by the Dawn, with the Maul one a menacing red and the Qi’ra one an opulent gold, while the final panel is a pink-like color as the Archivist looks on the Fermata Cage in a flashback. The pink feels like combination of the gold and the red, playing to the story of how Maul started this plan and Qi’ra continued it, while it’s a unique, not often used color in Star Wars so anytime the Fermata Cage comes up, it’s a stark reminder this isn’t anything normal and something everyone should be concerned about, even those opening it. I like how Lanham’s lettering even sells us on the strength of Qi’ra’s convictions in her plans, as when she shouts at Palpatine about not telling her what to do, it’s just bolder, bigger writing in a bigger bubble, but when Palpatine yells at her over what she’s done, it’s surrounded by a red outer layer, his shouting far louder and from a place of fear as hers. Same when she’s being choked, as since it’s interspersed with shots of the Knights screaming from the Cage process, she still has normal-ish looking words despite the shaky word bubble; Qi’ra’s always in control, or at least really good at always making it look like she is, which helps make so many people follow her and believe her.
Here is one other thing:
- While we won’t have to wait long for the next issue, it’s out December 7, the third issue will unfortunately not be as soon, hitting comic shelves on February 8, 2023.
Hidden Empire #1 is a big, packed, and exciting beginning of the end for Qi’ra and her grand return in the Star Wars comics, with the future of the story wide open at this point.
+ The Fermata Cage’s potential, and the unnerving coloration around it
+ Qi’ra bringing fear to the Empire
+ Brilliant art sells her confidence, size of her plans
– Hoping these five issues can do a story this big justice
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.