– Spoiler Review –
The Fifth Brother steps up to the plate next to take down the growing inspiration of Jedi Tensu Run’s actions, but both find more than they bargained for in the process in an even more intriguing than the first Inquisitors #2!
A theory emerged in my mind when The Battle of Jakku maxiseries comic was announced (I wrote about it in the article) which links Inquisitors to the upcoming series despite it taking place after Return of the Jedi and I felt like issue #2 served up a nice helping of confirmation bias for my theory. In the announcement of the upcoming 12-issue maxiseries, which will consist of three different miniseries of four issues each, Marvel revealed all four solicitations for Battle of Jakku: Insurgency Rising, and one mentions Luke Skywalker will be fighting a brand-new Inquisitor during the year leading up to Jakku’s pivotal place in ending the Galactic Civil War for good. The two most recent four issue miniseries like Inquisitors, Jango Fett and Mace Windu, have both teased more to come with their characters and story, so I imagine this series will do much the same, though since the finale won’t come until October I can’t say for certain…but it does coincidentally come out the same month Insurgency Rising begins its near weekly release. Since these recent four issue minis seem like set up for something else, it would track the new Inquisitor Luke will face could come from this comic series and there’s no candidate better than…TENSU RUN! But wait, Head Butler of Mynock Manor, isn’t Tensu a Jedi?! Tensu currently is a Jedi, there’s no mistaking that, but between a flashback conversation we see he has with his Master and his actions within the issue, the potential for Tensu Run to stumble and fall to the dark side really took shape in Inquisitors #2.
Before Tensu’s Master took up residence on the Voyager Dawn, aka the Jedi Order’s retirement ship, Elan and Tensu were on the run together, hiding from the Empire and its hunters. While Elan felt this was the best course of action, Tensu grew restless, expressing his desire to do something instead of leaving innocents in their wake for the ideal the Jedi Order’s return promises to the galaxy. Writer Rodney Barnes really does a great job with this conversation, as Elan makes some valid points though they sound obtuse enough where the younger, brasher Tensu might understand what his Master’s putting down, but it might not be enough, as he seems like the type of person who’ll need more hands-on guidance to deal with his growing frustration over their in-action. At the end of the first issue, Tensu promised to take the fight to the Inquisitors, tired of running, in the hopes of preventing the loss of more innocents protecting him, so it already seems like he’s not listening to his Master’s advice, though maybe he’ll find a way to balance action with keeping the ideal and hope of the Jedi alive? Maybe not, as the following scene in issue #2 after the flashback, where the sloth-like Pii-lor gathered some friends and tries to collect on Tensu’s bounty, sees Tensu take some drastic action. During the brief space battle which ensues, it felt odd Tensu talks out loud to himself, though if it was to help him justify, not only to himself but to those who have come to attack him, his actions since he kills two of the three fighters, it’s a little less weird. I thought maybe narration boxes would’ve worked better here regardless, unless he was trying to mess with those who came to attack him, but overall if my original thoughts equating Tensu to Chris Pine’s character/acting in the D&D movie, it could just be a character quirk. While Tensu spares Pii-lor, during the battle he shares his concern killing the others could taint peoples’ image of him, admitting through the scene’s first narration boxes that later, in quiet moments, he’ll have to try and justify to himself about killing them but for now he’s hiding those thoughts behind focusing on facing the Fifth Brother. If he’s more focused on the future and what’s to come, not worrying about the now and what his actions could mean, he’s already slipping from Elan’s teachings, and he basically cues us into this in a prerecorded message the Fifth Brother finds, where he says he wants his desires to meet the Inquisitors’ desires, something he and Elan talked about in the flashback sequence. Am I reading into all of this only to confirm my theory that Tensu will fall and become an Inquisitor, eventually facing Luke Skywalker in a separate upcoming comic? Maybe, but how else will the Inquisitors be able to tarnish Tensu’s growing reputation than turn him to their side?
The Grand Inquisitor meets with Darth Vader, keeping his head only because he killed Elan in hopes of eliciting Tensu’s darker edges, and now the Dark Lord calls off the top dog and sends in the Fifth Brother instead. First introduced in Star Wars Rebels, and later appearing stories like Obi-Wan Kenobi and the novel Jedi: Battle Scars, while we’ve spent time with the Fifth Brother, especially in the aforementioned book, it’s only ever been a tantalizing glimpse. Inquisitors #2 doesn’t go any further with Fifth Brother than anything before it, but it manages to capture a rather complex picture despite its limited page space. The Fifth Brother’s early segments in the issue seem much like what’s come before, big, brutish, and eager for a fight, but as he ventures through the remains of the abandoned city he’s searching through for Tensu Run, his ruminations on the battle fought over the city, and how there was little to no reward in winning, allows him to voice he’s left more complex thoughts go a long time ago, hinting he didn’t always treasure his goal of Jedi extermination, yet he’s obviously found it futile to resist the notion of its purpose. Later on, when Tensu shows up and the two battle, the Fifth Brother obviously doesn’t care that much about carrying out Order 66 if he’s so willing for Tensu to cut him when he has the Inquisitor dead-to-rights, as it seems he’d rather die than face the consequences of failure. But Tensu’s too bold now and wants the Fifth Brother alive so he can tell his boss he’s alive and well, ready for a fight. I hope we can get similar little snapshots of more Inquisitors in the final two issues, especially since the Seventh and Ninth Sisters will be in #3 out in September!
Once again on art is Ramon Rosanas, with Guru-eFX coloring, and Travis Lanham lettering. I really loved what the team did with Gerrigon, the abandoned city (and maybe the whole planet?*), especially since I’m a big fan of The Last of Us series of games and other post-apocalyptic stories (mainly ones where nature has reclaimed the landscape, like Enslaved: Odyssey to the West or the Horizon series). We’re so used to seeing cities like Gerrigon’s full of traffic in a galaxy far, far away, so it being so empty is already a strange, but quick way to differentiate it, but it’s the amount of green plant-life which covers its many cracks, crevasses, and abandoned buildings which set it apart visually and catch the eye despite being in the background. It feels like a fitting place for the Fifth Brother to ruminate on the eternal battle between the light and dark sides, as it hints at the futility of conflict, which is why Tensu’s strategy and the Inquisitorious’ may lead them both down a similar path. That’s why Rosanas offers so much detail to the abandoned city, especially in the background of Tensu and Fifth’s confrontation at the end, as when Tensu arrives they stand before one another and next to them is verdant greens by Guru-eFX climbing walls, taking over the builds, while broken bits and crumbled concrete from the surrounding building litter the streets and point to the depth of the conflict and how little it’s mattered who was right. Since Rosanas wasn’t on any series during the Dark Droids crossover event (which feels both very recent and really long ago), where an entity started taking over droids and later fleshy beings, it feels like he got his chance to show off what he could’ve brough to the table here, as the Fifth Brother trips a security device and a bunch of broken droids emerge to kill him. After the page where Fifth leaps into action against the droids, the follow page has a really good close-up of the droid horde, many with missing mouth areas, glowing, lifeless, yellow eyes, while they all have dings, dents, and grime all over them, making for an unnerving appearance which would’ve fit in with the Dark Droids event. On the same page, I appreciated how thick Fifth’s lightsaber swings look and how hefty Lanham’s sound FX are alongside the swings, denoting the character’s strength and mighty swings of anger, which makes the following page’s first panel, where he stands amongst the carnage, his blade small and thin, unmoving, all the more quiet if not for the echoes of the previous page.
Here are a few other things:
- There’s a page devoted to Tensu’s two friends/advisors/whatever-Tensu-considers-them discussing him taking the fight to the Inquisitors. It leaves more questions about who they are and what they want, as in the end, the two decide they can’t ever change Tensu’s mind and are content to simply wave goodbye, with seemingly no care either way if he returns or not. Is there more to these two than meets the eye? How did Tensu get wrapped up with them anyhow? Hopefully this series will expand on them in some way before it’s over.
- How did Elan go from being on the run with Tensu to being able to reside on Voyager Dawn? Seems like the Empire might’ve had a problem with that. Maybe Elan cooperated to some degree and the Empire allowed it? Or maybe they don’t monitor the ship…so how many Jedi could’ve hidden within its confines and enjoyed a nice life, amongst Masters, during these dark days? Either way, something definitely happened that led to Tensu and Elan’s separation, as Elan has both their legs, as far as I could tell, in the flashback but while on the Dawn they had one robotic one, so could the pair have run into an Inquisitor before? I’m sure we’ll find out before the series is done.
- *Not only does Gerrigon look great it’s very interesting to me it’s been abandoned and not claimed ever since, as I’d suspect an enterprising criminal would find it a suitable home to hide in and use as a base of operations if it’s considered haunted. Is the whole planet like that or just that one city, with other cities still thriving? It might be a long time before we’d learn more about the place, but I’m looking forward to seeing them fill-in-the-blanks someplace, sometime.
- Seriously need to see more of Pii-lor’s species, and soon, love the sloth-y look!
Inquisitors #2 offers deeper layers and an escalating story which promise an exciting final two issues.
+ Uncovering Tensu Run and Fifth Brother’s many layers
+ Art team delivers on isolated feeling
+ Offering more questions to pull readers back…
– …but will they be answered?
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Bluesky, Twitter @MynockManor, and Instagram @mynockmanor.
INQUISITORS REVIEWS
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