– Spoiler Review –
As we reach the end of the Obi-Wan comic miniseries, written by Christopher Cantwell and with art from various artists, we’ve seen the titular Jedi recount darker and darker tales from his past, with the prevailing message of hope and light always within sight. In Obi-Wan #5, old Ben shows how, despite it all, or because it all, he’s the great Jedi he is today, even hiding out on Tatooine watching over a young Skywalker.
Whereas the last 4 issues have dealt with stories from Obi-Wan’s past, framed as him writing about them in his journal which Luke Skywalker will later find and read, the finale to the miniseries focuses on the framing story’s present. With the sandstorm over, various factions on Tatooine continue their never-ending struggles, the Sand People raiding for supplies and the Imperials retaliating, and old Ben finds himself helping an unlikely person: a stormtrooper. The Tusken Raiders, as we know, are an intelligent group, no matter how much the Imperials like to snarl about their actions or the locals think them savages, and during the sandstorm they raided supplies from an Imperial garrison. Knowing there would be retaliation, they lay a trap, decimating the stormtroopers and gaining their valuable weapons beyond the supplies they already pilfered. It’s a conflict without end, the Imperials seemingly there to stay and the Tuskens never leaving, and sort of mirrors some of the stories Obi-Wan’s regaled us with in the previous issues, as the war between these two sides leaves dead on both sides and it’s just over little things like supplies and weapons. If the stormtroopers would learn to leave them alone, the Imperial bureaucrats giving them space or offering a small portion of their supplies, neither side would have to come to blows. But it’s not how the Empire works, nor often the Tuskens, and thus Obi-Wan has learned to hide from both, respecting both in their own way, while learning how to profit on the battles between the two.
Inspecting the site of the trap, Obi-Wan’s able to refill his power supply from the remnants of the Imperials, instead of being gouged price-wise by the Jawas like we saw in Obi-Wan Kenobi (we’ll be talking about that show again in a moment), when he stumbles onto a stormtrooper who’s barely still alive. This is JM-909, a stormtrooper commander who initially questions an officer’s demands they go and wipe out the Tuskens for stealing supplies, but he goes along because those are his orders and the Empire is his life. He and his troops talk about all the rumors spread regarding what the Tuskens are, showing how they’ve been dehumanized by everyone, but he’s the only one to speak about them like people, not animals. Regardless, he and his men fall for the trap and Tuskens beat him up pretty badly, leaving him to die, so of course he’s feeling a little less magnanimous about them and skittish when he awakes on Ben’s eopie, scared even by the sight of the lightsaber on Ben’s belt. The wounds are too much and he passes out, eventually awaking in Ben’s hut, the older man patiently looking over him, tending to him. JM-909, or “Jim” as Ben coins him, is quick to grab the lightsaber in view, telling off the old man, before dropping it and taking off back to the Imperial base.
The narration this issue speaks about darkness again, this time about how we all grope our way through it, hoping for some moment to spark or illuminate what should be our correct paths in life, but life is really what we make of it, as even as we wait for those signs to appear, we don’t even know the path we’ve chosen will work out how we’d want or hope. During this narration, we see the trooper return to his base, be berated, and know now the opportunity he had in Ben’s hut, and how he didn’t take it, sort of mimicking what will happen with Luke, who turns away the opportunity in the hut, not seeing the chance before him, too stuck in his current path and ways. But whereas Luke won’t have much of a choice when he finds his aunt and uncle burnt to a crisp, Jim does, though we are left unaware of what he does next. The narration continues, how Obi-Wan admits he’s felt alone, but he knows he’s had the Force (and more visits from Qui-Gon, I hope, though I’m curious if Cantwell was given insight into that reveal from the show or not while writing this), and with the Force, no matter what comes next, there’s light in the darkness. Those final words take an interesting turn when the issue dissolves into panels depicting Obi-Wan’s death by Vader’s hands on the Death Star, showing he had peace and purpose on his mind in those final moments, though it was pretty clear from the film, this adds another layer to it.
In the final issue, the latest art team is Adriana Melo, with Wayne Faucher on inks, colorist Dono Sánchez-Almara, and lettering by Joe Caramagna. Adriana is the first female artist and first female identifying creative at any level for this comic (besides from the Story Group), which is disappointingly so late in the series, but glad it at least happened; she’s previous contributed to Dark Horse’s now Legends Empire comics in the early 2000’s, so it’s also a return to Star Wars for her after almost two decades! The landscapes are my favorite part of Adriana’s pencils and Faucher’s inks, especially the two page splash of panels showing the troopers wandering in the desert to the Tusken camp or even single shots like Obi-Wan’s hut in the opening panel or the spooky way he’s framed, standing over a scared Jim, with the moons blaring light onto the scene, there’s a sense of scale and vastness to the desert of Tatooine that isn’t always captured in comics; it’s looks overwhelmingly large and empty, yet there is so much that happens across its sands, full of people, sort of building into Ben’s point that as alone as he feels, he’s always had the Force, and these events are the Force for the vast and empty desert in a way. I did really love the panel of Obi-Wan, hooded, standing over Jim after he drops off the eopie, those moons shining past him, making him look frightening. A lot of what makes this issue all work is owed to Sánchez-Almara’s colors, doing a better job than some films and TV shows with the moonlight setting, bringing a sense of darkness with black in the sky and the way the sand looks, and the red of the Tusken’s blaster fire as they spring their trap feels sudden and deadly, much like their attack ends up being, though how quickly the colors return to the darkness show how all encompassing it is in the night of Tatooine. Caramagna’s lettering similarly feeds into the vastness of the desert, as the SFX are mostly non-existent until the Tuskens attack (though the SFX for the Tuskens is small and precise, showing they are in control of the situation, like the Imperials’ are bigger and more sporadic, not in control) and dialogue bubbles/boxes often try to live in the margins of the wider shots.
Here are a few other things:
- The collected edition for the miniseries will be out in December, in case you’re waiting to get it altogether!
- I finished the Paper Girls TV show Cantwell executive produced and quite enjoyed how they handled the story of the comic so far, so it’s disappointed to hear it’s been cancelled! Hopefully someone else picks up the series!
In the end, I felt like this Obi-Wan comic worked both as an epilogue of sorts to the recent show and also as some explanation for him having a journal for Luke to even read in the first place, originally introduced in the comics some 6 years ago. In regards to serving like an epilogue, Obi-Wan takes everything from it and afterwards, like the Maul encounter and meeting Ezra, and bridges the final gap to A New Hope and beyond, as Obi-Wan’s words about the Force being with us even in darkness being a fitting lesson Luke needed to learn after his Master’s death. But at times, I couldn’t help but feel like the show overshadows this comic, a solid offering in its own right with some great issues and intriguing aspects to add to Obi-Wan’s final days, but releasing it around the show has sort of buried it in importance next to those screen events. For those looking for a quieter, more contemplative overall story of Obi-Wan Kenobi, issue #5 cements the series as a unique take on the storied Jedi Master’s life while capturing the different parts of what make him such a fan-favorite character.
+ The Force will be with you, always
+ Really liked the sense of scale and vastness in the 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.