– Spoiler Review –
The High Republic initiative returns with Phase II: Quest of the Jedi, delving 150 years before the start of Phase I! Despite the time jump, Cavan Scott and Ario Anindito return to Marvel with The High Republic #1 – Phase II, and if the first issue is anything to go by, as well as their pedigree from the Phase I series, we are in for an unforgettable, shocking treat where we’ll be cursing their names and loving every minute of it.
The High Republic #1 – Phase II, which includes a backup story but I’ll cover it later in the review, follows Jedi Master Vildar Mac as he arrives on Jedha to be part of the Convocation, a gathering of Force beliefs meant to foster understanding and mediation between one another in the holy city. He’s picked up by Padawan Matthea Cathley, Matty for short, at the docking station, but she’s got new plans for them, investigating the theft of a Force-related artifact from a Shrine…though they take a detour to enjoy some of the strange and unique Force-related sites on Jedha. A fight breaks out as various members of various beliefs bicker over who’s correct or able to demand authority, though a theft commands Vildar’s attention but he quickly loses the thief in alleyways of Jedha he’s never been to before. Heading to the shrine after the fight ends, after Vildar has a panic attack as someone who breaks it up reminds him of childhood terrors, they find the same thief from earlier…and a big surprise for both Vildar and Matty that reminds us readers how wickedly good Cavan Scott’s writing can be.
Vildar Mac, a Kiffar so he has a tattoo like mark underneath his eyes otherwise is human, is an interesting Jedi to follow. Much like the ones in Phase I, he’s complicated from the start, as while Jedi are supposed to have their emotions in check, he still has lingering nightmares from his youth. We see his nightmares in the opening of the issue, where a sorcerer of sorts attacks his home, killing villagers and his family, while the sorcerer’s spooky appearance, almost like a zombie his face is so desiccated, is a haunting vision to anyone, even a Jedi. We don’t see how the sorcerer is stopped from killing Vildar, 4 years old then, as he awakes on the shuttle to Jedha, so I’ll be curious if we’ll learn more about what happened or not, as the ending of the issue sort of promises we won’t get to learn more…but also might. Regardless, Vildar is a Jedi Master for a reason, so even though he has some lingering trauma, as long as he can put the emotions down and be one with the Force as it needs him to be, that shows some great control. But his choice to be part of the peaceful (though in reality not so peaceful) deliberations of the Convocation instead of being on the Togruta war front are our first hint he’s not as in control as he likes everyone to think. The next hint is how he drops everything to chase after the thief, unsuccessful in the alleyways he’s not familiar with, showing he has a lot of confidence in his abilities. The last hint isn’t one, but rather a big, giant warning sign. As the fight continues to escalate, Vildar trying to calm everyone down once he returns from his fruitless chase, a being approaches in armor that looks similar to the sorcerer of Vildar’s nightmares, and he freaks out. He’s the little 4-year-old again for just a moment, but now he has the power and ability to stop the person before him, and he ignites his lightsaber to confront the newest arrival. Matty gets in his way, pointing out Adept Tarna Miak is the Sorcerers of Tund’s representative in the Convocation, and Vildar remembers himself enough to deactivate his blade. With Tarna getting the fight under control, Vildar and Matty make their way to the shrine where the object was stolen, and once again Vildar is quick to judge and chase, finding the same thief from earlier over a dead body and instead of asking questions, he starts swinging his lightsaber. The thief easily dodges Vildar’s prideful, righteous attacks, and pins down Matty, delivering a surprise to the two and readers alike! But we’ll get to that in a moment…
Keeve Trennis was the main character of Scott and Anindito’s Phase I story, a Jedi Knight connected to her emotions, often swearing in the face of danger, and quickly became my favorite character of the era and Phase. Matty is a far different, but just as interesting character, as she’s fast talking, eager, and excited by everything around her on Jedha she’s willing to overlook being spit on from time to time. Vildar seems off-put by her initially, her rambling catching him off guard, but she carries on no matter his reaction to her. In fact, he later admits he’s not even listening to her at one point, and while she’s a little shocked by the honesty, she rolls with it. She’s as street smart as Keeve is, so it’s no wonder she’s not as quick to react as Vildar is, willing to let some things play out or get all the information first because I’m sure she’s used to things not being so black and white as Vildar seems to think. He was ready to attack the Tund simply because they wore similar clothes to the one that attacked his village as a child, lumping all Tunds together instead of thinking it through, but Matty seems like someone who’d assess first, attacking later if necessary. I’m already as big of a fan of her as I was of Keeve Trennis after only one issue and I can’t wait to see more from her throughout the next 9 issues of the maxiseries. Especially after what happens at the end, as her relatively peaceful, minus the aforementioned spitting, life is turned upside down.
Like the previous series, narration boxes are abound, and from the start it’s a little different, as it reads more like third person omniscient than first person for Vildar Mac. It’s got a bit of humor to it, a playfulness that doesn’t quite seem like Vildar either, but it has to be Vildar right? The person’s talking about the Jedi’s dreams, it can’t quite possibly be anyone else… at least, that’s what Cavan wants us readers to think, using the narration boxes for an absolutely delightful and surprising twist. When Vildar battles the thief, his pride gets the better of him, not believing the thief when he says he knows the special ability to stop someone’s heart with the Force…and Vildar finds out the hard way when his heart is stopped!! Vildar dead on the floor, Matty pinned to a wall, the thief, Tey Sirrek, runs away and, while I was already putting it together but too much in shock over Vildar’s apparent death to think clearly, it becomes clear the purple narration boxes by letterer Ariana Maher weren’t for Vildar, but actually Tey!! It was such an amazing way to play with our expectations, as why wouldn’t the narration be by the Jedi, the main characters of this era?! Cavan has such a deft skill at wielding the medium he’s playing in, it’s like a god playing with food, able to bend it to whatever he desires to give readers the exact thing he’s intending to bring across. This twist, not only Vildar’s death, but that we have been listening to Tey instead is a high contender for one of my Top 5 Moments of the year in the comics when I’ll be doing my year-in-review, and a shoe in somewhere in the Top 10 overall when we do another of those. Regardless, I found it interesting Tey says death is only just the beginning for Vildar Mac…does he mean because he can become one with the Force, or because he isn’t truly dead yet, either Matty, the Force, or someone/thing bringing him back after Tey stopped his heart? No matter the answer, I suspect it’s going to be a wild time, because if this is issue 1 and there are only 9 left, who knows where it can go from here!!
While the writing mastermind is back, artist Ario Anindito makes a glorious return as well, alongside inks by Mark Morales, Frank Williams on colors, and Maher on lettering. At the recent NYCC panel for The High Republic, Ario said it took him two whole days to put together the full splash of Jedha City, Vildar’s shuttle hanging in the foreground. It’s a beautiful, majestic look at the city, where the view of Jedha immediately feels familiar to its Rogue One appearance yet different, the shadows of Imperial oppression (aka the Star Destroyer in the film) and battle scars no where to be seen in this peaceful era for the city. Anindito’s work must make Morales sweat from this two-page spread alone, while Frank Williams is brave yet up to the task of giving extra colorful life to all the extra details penciler and inker bring to the panel. His colors for the sunrise, and how it makes the city feel bright, enlightened if you will, paint the picture of a holy, at harmony city… from far away. It fits with how everyone views the city and thinks it will be, like how the bright-eyed Sarkan woman reverently seems to act towards it, but once we get into the streets it all changes. The bickering that unfolds shows Jedha’s not what everyone thinks it is, but it certainly feels as packed with travellers as it’s in the film, despite this harsher reality, thanks to Ario’s tireless commitment to quality. He makes the city feel alive and vibrant, the Truthsayer of Bpfassh’s show and the crowd it grows feeling like something one would see and be curious to watch at a carnival like Matty does here, regardless if it’s fake or not. The next big splash page of the Tund’s arrival to the fight, the shocking fire bird creature it creates to catch everyone’s attention, was a beautiful and frightening moment, so I can sort of get why Vildar reacts to vividly to the Tund. For starters, the shocked citizens behind the Tund, as he shouts “Enough” with a red-lined, bold, and giant bubble by Maher, gives off the impression to us this is scary for them, something not as normal as the bickering we’ve already witnessed, while Williams’ colors here look like the sun, bright, deadly, and unconcerned with the tribulations of beings, so the giant fire bird is menacing yet beautiful. The close-ups of Vildar’s face, where Ario flashes between Vildar scared, with a small, whisper-like word bubble from Maher, the young Vildar, and then a scrunched and wrinkly face as Vildar turns to anger and shouts “never again,” the world bubble the exact opposite in every way to the earlier whisper, shows his inability to suppress his emotions. Adept Tarna remains stone-faced throughout the entire encounter, whether in response to Vildar’s blade or Matty’s overdone smile to help play up the idea he’s just suffering from hyperlag, giving us another reason to doubt Vildar and his mastery, while also showing not all Tunds are created equal, unlike what Vildar thought. Matty’s easy and charming smile fits with her talkative personality, and I loved her forced smile about Vildar’s hyperlag, as I’ve used something similar in situations like that as well, while her grumpy look only two pages later when Vildar is direct with her is relatable to how I felt when it was clear he wasn’t listening to her funny dialogue. I’d love to talk about every page if I really could, I’ve truly missed Ario and his work, while the entire team thrives both because of him and for their own strengths as well.
Backup Story: Peace and Unity (Written by Cavan Scott, Art by Andrea Broccardo)
If you were curious about the Convocation, the back-up story gives us a chaotic glimpse into just how well it’s functioning as a body to mediate differences and understanding amongst those who use or connect with the Force. In short, when I say chaotic, that’s a calm word for what’s happening, as one member is wrapping another up in vines, the one in the vines is trying to kill someone trying to join the convocation, and when Jedi Knight Oliviah Zeveron arrives and attempts to mediate, they come after her too. If you’ve read Path of Deceit, by Justina Ireland and Tessa Gratton, the opening story in Phase II, then you’ve heard about the Convocation and one of the characters there dreams of joining it, but it’s not as auspicious, refined, and peaceful as anyone imagined. Everyone is at the tipping point, no matter how much they like to say otherwise, as evident with the tussle in the main story and tussle amongst the leaders here. Jedha is dry kindling hovering near a growing fire, ready to ignite at any moment, and it’s easily avoidable if everyone involved didn’t believe their view of the Force was the only right one in the room, even if they claim to be there in the hopes of understanding. It’s not hard to draw real world parallels to our various religions vying to be proven the right one over the others, willing to feign interest in working together in hopes of bringing one another down, claiming to be open to all but shunning those who don’t believe. It’s interesting that once again Cavan Scott sort of alludes to crusades as well, much like he did in issue #9 of the Phase I series, as it’s hard not to imagine Jedha igniting or some of these religions going away because they all start to all-out fight for control of the holy city. This is often referred to as the ‘Camelot era’ to some degree by the authors, and Jedha is literally a holy city, and the real world crusades came out of fighting over holy cities, so it’s not surprise he’d visit the idea and really dive into the possibilities when focusing the story on Jedha. I’ll be interested to see how much further the authors take the allusion, especially considering the upcoming aptly titled “The Battle of Jedha” audiobook out in January.
Oliviah seems to be the only one, including her Master Leebon, who doesn’t believe in the Convocation anymore. It’s easy to agree with her given what we see here and how willing the other members are to sweep the recent disagreements under the proverbial rug, unlike her who wants to discuss what happened, so it’s hard to imagine this group will last much longer. I do wish we got a hint of them being a little more functional before we saw them already unraveling, but I’ll pull up a seat and have some popcorn alongside Oliviah as the drama unfolds.
Arriving at the end of the story is Sunshine Dobbs, a smuggler who ends up joining the Path of the Open Hand, the group run by the mysterious Mother that already featured prominently in Path of Deceit, their dealings in the book containing several connections to Phase I stuff already. They’re going to be very important in the stories ahead for the two-Wave long Phase II.
Artist Andrea Broccardo returns after a nearly three year hiatus in Star Wars comics and what a great return it is! He has a lot of characters to draw, all the Convocation members, and I love the very distinct, unique, yet familiar looks he brings to the table. My favorite is the Lonto representative, her scaly appearance, grey skin, and various shades of earthy green on her outfit is eye-catching, but also feels like it makes sense she’s the one shooting out vines, à la Poison Ivy. The Yacombe’s stillness throughout the entire ordeal, when everyone else is claiming she’s a dark side and the danger in the room despite Fallanassi representative Sirené literally wielding swords, shows she’s more at balance with the Force than anyone else in the room. The scale Broccardo pulls off in the opening page of the backup story, the last of the remaining giant statues (I think it’s the one we see on the ground in Rogue One) in front of a meditating Oliviah sets the stage for how insignificant the fight between the Convocation members are and puts us in Oliviah’s mindset about there being larger things to worry about in the galaxy.
Here are a few other things:
- In case you were interested like I was considering some of the names sounded familiar but some were clearly knew, here are all the Force religions in both the main and backup story and where we’ve heard of them before or not: Sorcerers of Tund, mentioned in canon by Scott in Dooku: Jedi Lost, were originally from Legends in the Lando Calrissian Adventures!; The Lonton are new, as far as I could tell. It was the woman in green who created the vines; Truthsayers of Bpfassh are also new, but Bpfassh isn’t, as it was a planet that featured in some Legends backstory created in the original Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn; Matukai, whom the Kel Dor claims to be from, is new; Church of the Force comes from Lor San Tekka and the earliest days of the new canon; Disciples of the Whills is different from the Guardians, but associated and was from Rogue One as well; Fallanassi are from the Black Fleet Crisis in Legends, often mentioned throughout, but are in canon already as they are responsible for the ability Luke Skywalker uses at the end of The Last Jedi; and the Yacombe were created by Scott in Dooku: Jedi Lost (a treasure trove still to this day!); the Followers of the Black Eye are well…either a joke by one character in the main story’s fight or actually another potential group.
- The release calendar for The High Republic is shifting as always (we keep it up to date as much as possible on the THR page), but for now November is still a packed month, with Quest for the Hidden City out November 1; Art of The High Republic on November 8; THR #2 – Phase II on Nov. 9; Convergence, the first adult novel on Nov. 22; and The High Republic Adventures #1 – Phase II on Nov. 30!
- At NYCC, we got a great collection of some new covers and new content, both for Phase II and elsewhere, like a YA Anthology which spans all three Phases! All the latest, news, reviews, and updated release calendar are on our THR page!
The High Republic #1 – Phase II seeps you in the new part of the era and plays with your expectations in unforgettable and brilliant ways, promising a truly wild ride over its 10 issues, while its backup story helps to expand the Phase even more.
+ The real narrator twist
+ Vildar dies?!
+ Matty’s potential
+ Painting the Convocation as a powder keg…
+ Top tier art all around!
– …though already too broken to fix
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.