– Spoiler Review –
Yoda #2 sees the situation unfolding in the maxiseries’ opening storyline grow a little more complicated, more so then the vacationing Jedi Master hoped and expected.
After Yoda made the slightly surprising choice to stay with the Scalvi in the opening issue, I’ve been curious if this meant he did so at the detriment to his other duties as a Jedi Master of the Order’s Council. He couldn’t truly decide to only stay on Turrak for an undetermined time, could he? Thankfully issue #2 reveals Yoda isn’t skirting his duties, and in fact comes back and helps where needed when the Jedi Order requests it, he just returns not to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant but rather to the Scalvi on Turrak as his home. I feel this was a pretty important, though minor thing to establish, as it would be very unlike Yoda to not be willing to help as many as he can in favor for teaching and assisting the one race on one planet, while it also paves the way for other stories to still be told during the time between Phase II (150 years before Phase I) and Phase I (200 years before The Phantom Menace) of The High Republic era, which is when this takes place. After all, if anyone knows how and where to set a tale during this era, it’s writer Cavan Scott, an architect of the publishing initiative, so I trust this will make sense to the larger story, though Yoda’s absence in Phase II storytelling so far has been curious, though it’s not related to this opening story for the Yoda maxiseries. Either way, I liked seeing Jedi Masters Pra-Tre Veter and Ela Sutan awkwardly trying to connect with Yoda, going so far as to pretend they might like his musical skills on the little device he got from the Scalvi, in an attempt to lure him back to stay at the Temple with the Order. After he leaves them for the Scalvi again, back on Coruscant they debate about Yoda becoming too attached the people there, but it also reads of jealousy, painting the Scalvi as something inferior to Order and its influence, which is part of the problem the prequel Jedi sort of get into by staying locked away in their Temple too much (thankfully Phase I Jedi aren’t there yet, but their scuffles with the Nihil and now the threat of the Nameless in the era sure seem to be pushing them towards such a move). I get the concerns around attachment, but if the Jedi can’t see living with the denizens of the galaxy as helpful, then are they really serving all the Force wills or what they hope the Force wills? I’m curious if the third and final issue of Scott’s storyline will dive into that a bit more and what it could mean for the Jedi going forward.
On Turrak, the Scalvi are growing more confident, building a giant watchtower in Yoda’s absence and training with him while he’s there, readying themselves for the next attack by the Crulkon raiders. Bree, the young tinkering Scalvi Yoda has mainly befriended, has even taken some of Yoda’s stories* to heart, learning from them and installing devices throughout their village to help aid in any potential raid. But Yoda and the watchtower seem for naught, as the raiders launch an attack from the forest instead of the water and Yoda suddenly goes missing in the opening moments of the raid, though Bree’s device ends out a sonic pulse which sends the Crulkon fleeing. They are in such a rush to leave, one of their skiffs is left behind, full of weapons, which Bree, his friend Litah, and Trikk all take once it’s clear Yoda’s been taken by the Crulkon. Yoda’s training of the Scalvi has paid off, as they manage to sneak through the base and rescue him, but things take quite the turn in the process. Before they arrive, the Crulkon leader Riak is requesting Yoda to help them like he’s helped the Scalvi, with a little hint Riak is sick to some degree. Yoda doesn’t answer Riak and shortly after the Scalvi arrive and make their way to Yoda, though in the process of freeing the Jedi Master with his lightsaber, Yoda shows him children cowering the dark, watching the scene unfold. What’s the deal here? What seems to be wrong with these children? Are the Crulkon and their children sick, maybe from the gaseous emissions from where they live, and something the Scalvi have or harvest in their village is the keeping them healthy? We’re left pondering those questions after Bree sees this and assumes the worst, attacking Riak and skewering him with Yoda’s lightsaber, despite the Jedi Master’s pleading not to. I had a good feeling from the opening issue the situation on Turrak wasn’t as black and white as it was made to seem, and the situation with the children and Crulkon certainly readies us for the eventual muddying of the waters. I suspect there won’t be any chance for peace or cooperation after Riak’s death, even if it would be needed to help both societies live, and I’ll be interested to see how Yoda manages to clear things up in the final issue of this arc.
The art team of Nico Leon, colorist Dono Sánchez-Almara, and letterer Joe Caramagna stays put for Scott’s arc. I didn’t notice it so much in the opening issue, but then again, a lot of the time we spent with the Crulkon in panels was during their nighttime raids, so the darker lighting and not always being the panel’s focus meant we didn’t get the best look at them, but issue #2 finds Leon seemingly drawing some comparisons of the two species, further driving my suspicions about their need to rely on one another and makes me wonder about their past more and more. They could be the same species, driven apart by some ancient fight or dispute over using the machine Bree is working on to dig something up that leads to the gaseous emissions the Crulkon’s deal with, or the similarities are from how they used to bond and intermingle before whatever rift tore them apart; in fact, the cowering children above where Yoda’s being held look more like Scalvi than they do Crulkon, Sánchez-Almara’s coloring the same as the Scalvi, at least in the dim lighting provided by his work and Yoda’s lightsaber in the dark halls of the Crulkon’s complex. I really enjoyed the final page, as Caramagna’s lettering for Bree’s shout of “Animals!” before he spears Riak and the lettering for Yoda’s hushed surprise and disappointment in Bree’s actions, are great juxtapositions of one another, as Bree’s shout is giant, bold, with dense outer lining to the bubble, place right at the center of the action as he spears Riak, while Yoda’s admonition has the usual word bubble put the words themselves are small, as almost said in a whisper, indicating how shocked and saddened Yoda is by the events. Likewise, Leon’s art hammers home the size matters not of the situation, the little Bree almost half of Riak but the weapon he’s using and the anger he has in his shout show the might of his supposed righteousness, Sánchez-Almara’s work drawing your eye to the terrible moment, as the bright, shocking green of Yoda’s saber lights up Bree’s angered face and Riak’s shocked one, while the rest of the scene is in shadows so your eyes arrive first at the scene of the crime. On the flip side, I really enjoyed the little montage scene earlier in the issue, seeing the Scalvi eat and be happy, Yoda watching Bree tinkering, or Yoda sitting on the roof trying to learn his new instrument, as it shows how less stifling and less boring being with would be over the Jedi at the Temple, framed once again in moody sunset light, where fun seems to have vanished from the place.
Here are a few other things:
- *The story Yoda shares with Bree and the Scalvi involves events on Dalna, a story we’re going to be reading in 2023 in Phase II’s second and final Wave of content before Phase III kicks off in November. It’s been something Phase I was hinting at, so I’m looking forward to be finally in on the tale ourselves!
- The second arc of the Yoda maxiseries sees Dooku, after he left the Order, and Yoda working together as concerns rise about the latest batch of Padawans. The story starts in issue #4, out February, and it ramps up quite a bit in issue #5, out March, per the solicitations.
- The Wheel station seen in the opening pages is a Legends pull brought into canon by Scott in Star Wars Adventures Annual 2018.
Yoda #2 asks some important questions about the Jedi, attachments, and the bigger truth to any situation, and sets up for an intriguing finale to this opening arc of the maxiseries.
+ Deepening the situation’s mystery
+ Asking intriguing questions about the Jedi and their goals
+ Art making size matter not
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.
YODA MAXISERIES REVIEWS
Light and Life: #1