– Spoiler Review –
Obi-Wan #3 sees the Jedi Master’s latest ruminations center on his time in the Clone Wars and what it meant for him and the Jedi Order, now that hindsight puts context to why they were in a war in the first place.
While we’ve seen Obi-Wan disillusioned by his choices and the events of the prequel trilogy before, be it Legends’ Kenobi novel or the Obi-Wan Kenobi show, but neither spent time with him ruminating on the war with all the knowledge he has now about Palpatine’s role and goals with it. Christopher Cantwell dives right into things with issue #3, as Obi-Wan uses his journals to once again confront what the war meant for not just the Jedi Order, but himself and the light side of the Force. It was refreshing to have Obi-Wan speak from this perspective, as it not only forces him to deal with his part in the war and its efforts, but also gives us a glimpse with how he felt about it during, something The Clone Wars show didn’t always have the time, space, or gumption to dig into. Recently we got a good perspective on Obi-Wan’s feelings about the war just as it’s about to start, via Brotherhood, though this is in the thick of it, in one of his bloodiest battles, and it’s a sobering reflection that has him sounding more like the Jedi of The High Republic than the prequels he’s in.
With the High Republic era, the Jedi aren’t fighting a war, for the most part, but they do find themselves in battle, often against sentient life, and they struggle with having to take it to save others. Obi-Wan focuses on the Order’s tenants of preserving life, something increasingly difficult as the battle gets worse. While he fights to save the clonetroopers around him, especially at one point a trooper carrying a flag like something out of older wars here on Earth, he gets caught up in the thrill of connecting with the Force, of preserving life, he loses the bigger picture and incurs even more losses. Those are compounded by the ones they must make to cover their retreat after obtaining the objective, blowing up the bridge with troopers still on it, leaving Obi-Wan rather shaken by the whole battle. He awaits a sunrise afterwards, which he saw earlier before diving into the fog of war, to confirm to him that light can prevail, his older self confirming then what he hoped: light can still prevail. Seeing Obi-Wan contemplative, torn by the efforts of the war was a nice change of pace from his more swashbuckling antics in the animated show, laying the groundwork for how the horrors ahead could weight so heavily on him years later.
As is tradition with this series, Cantwell is joined by a new artist team, besides stalwart Joe Caramagna on lettering: Alessandro Miracolo on art and Frank William for colors. Together, this team conveys the chaos of war, of the battle for Abrion, with lots of little SFX by Caramagna filling in for the explosions and fighting happening off panel and surrounding our heroes, as well as how Miarcolo stacks the bodies around characters like Obi-Wan and human Lieutenants joining them for the assault to show the growing cost, or the literal fog of war that surrounds them and makes it hard to see the full picture. The moments where Obi-Wan has clarity of purpose, the fog lifts, and we can see the larger scale, and I liked how the team used that throughout. William’s colors are heavy, never going bright besides when it’s necessary or fitting for the story’s themes, like the bright light of the sunset or the opening few panels as Obi-Wan begins reminiscing, as the Jedi haven’t quite begun fighting the war just yet. There’s a two page spread that was my favorite of the issue, as it felt like the storyboards for a film or even TCW show and one of its big battles, giving the issue a sense of scale for its set piece.
Here are a few other things:
- The delivery of Obi-Wan’s line about how his friends keep trying to kill him, be it Anakin or Cody who this issue has more in focus, is something I could hear in Alec Guinness, Ewan McGregor, and James Arnold Taylor’s voices with a sardonic twinge.
- Just a day prior to this issue’s release, Kiersten White’s Padawan novel, which follows a teenaged Obi-Wan struggling with his place in the Order and with himself, came out! You can read both mine and Chris’ reviews, which found a lot to love in the YA’s pages, even for Chris who isn’t the biggest Obi-Wan fan.
Obi-Wan #3 went dark last issue in a literal way, this time it does so psychologically for an intriguing glimpse at a man dealing with the skeletons in his closet before his greatest adventure yet.
+ Obi Hindsight
+ Fog of war art
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.