The latest Phase II High Republic Show has arrived, first with an excellent round-up video of Phase I, a look at all the incredible cosplay at Celebration Anaheim 2022, and then spending a lengthy time with the newest authors to the initiative as they tease what’s to come in October, while showcasing some new concept art (with a Jedi I’m already the biggest fan of) and covers of course.
Kyrstina Arielle is back to host another THRS and, while I’m already so excited for the next Phase, her own thrill about the era and the way she interviews all the new authors is infectious and increases my hype even more. The opening video summarizing Phase I is really cool, using new and old animations to build the narrative, and if you’ve wanted a wider overview of the general story of the era, this is absolutely perfect. Alongside that, the official site released a chronological reading order, and while it’s great they finally did so, I actually liked this one by Amy on Twitter more, as it’s easier to visual and breaks down the specific issues of a comic to read between books. Can’t go wrong with either, but glad to have the resources out there for fans looking to catch up or join in!
Now that #StarWarsTheHighRepublic Phase 1 has finished & we're gearing up for Phase 2, people are trying to catch up on the stories. Some have been asking about the ideal order to read everything, including individual comics issues. Here's my visual attempt at a reading order. pic.twitter.com/1qPs3a4GyY
— Amy's playing JFO again (@guerraDgalaxia) July 29, 2022
Before they dove into the story of Phase II and some new characters, there’s a lovely section about all the brilliant cosplay at Celebration Anaheim 2022. I saw some in the photos people were posting around that time, but this video shows far more and it’s so cool these fans get a chance to be in this video. Make sure to watch!
This latest video focused exclusively on the new authors and started with them sharing what they plan on bringing to the High Republic’s story. Zoraida Córdova said romance, which while we had some in Phase I, the focus on the Jedi hasn’t always allowed it so hopefully she can bring more; George Mann promised adventures, surprises, and monsters (he is writing the 4-issue comic for Dark Horse, The High Republic Adventures – The Nameless Terror aka the Nameless monster will be it, so he’s not lying!); and Tessa Gratton’s focus on teenagers and coming of age stories will fit right in!
The comics weren’t in focus this episode, instead the first wave of books for Phase II, starting with Convergence, by Zoraida. Some of the details shared were already revealed when the blurb showed up online last month, but as she was talking about the Forever War between Eiram and E’ronoh, the planets in Into the Dark’s flashbacks and the eventual site of Starlight Beacon, she mentioned how other planets were getting involved (say nothing of the Hutts who get involved in Phase I), and it sort of made me think of the Saga comics, though where a coupling between the two warring factions leads to more drama, the hopes of a marriage between the two sides here brings the potential for peace. We get concept art for Alex Graylark (see above), mentioned in the blurb as well, who’s Chancellor Greylark’s son (one of two Chancellors at the moment, by the way) and he’s described like this era’s Lando, as someone who doesn’t take things seriously but now has to prove himself on his mother’s behalf. She goes on to describe Jedi Knight Gella Nattai, graces the book’s cover, as someone who is deeply committed to the Force and is a restless adventurer in spirit, some Zoraida can relate to as she loves to travel (I hear you on that!). The video includes some gorgeous concept art for what I can only assume are the two planets in question as well. Here’s the blurb again:
The next adventure in the High Republic begins expanding the new era of Star Wars, with a story set generations before Light of the Jedi.
It is an age of exploration. Jedi travel the galaxy, expanding their understanding of the Force and all the worlds and beings connected by it. Meanwhile, the Republic, led by its two chancellors, works to unite worlds in an ever-growing community among near and distant stars.
On the close orbiting planets of Eiram and E’ronoh, the growing pains of a galaxy with limited resources but unlimited ambition are felt keenly. Their hatred for each other has fueled half a decade of escalating conflict and now threatens to consume surrounding systems. The last hope for peace emerges when heirs from the two planets’ royal families plan to marry.
Before lasting peace can be established, an assassination attempt targeting the couple tilts Eiram and E’ronoh back into all-out war. To save both worlds, Jedi Knight Gella Nattai volunteers to uncover the culprit, while Chancellor Kyong appoints her son, Axel Greylark, to represent the Republic’s interests in the investigation.
But Axel’s deep distrust of the Jedi sparks against Gella’s faith in the Force. She’s never met such a puffed-up, privileged party boy, and he’s never met a more self-serious, relentless do-gooder. The more they work to untangle the shadowy web of the investigation, the more complicated the conspiracy appears to be. With accusations flying and potential enemies in every shadow, the pair will have to work together to have any hope of bringing the truth to light and saving both worlds.
Tessa dives into her and Justina Ireland’s book, Path of Deceit, covering details about Marda Ro (distant relative to Marchion Ro, of course!) and more about the Path of the Open Hand cult, some of which were from Celebration Anaheim’s panel. In regards to the Path of the Open Hand, as described at the previous panel, the Mother is the leader of the group, though here she’s described sort of like the Avatar, as she’s the voice of the Force for their religion, while the Herald functions more like the day-to-day manager of things. To them, the Force is sacred and they want to live in harmony with it, gain clarity through it without ever using it (so as you can imagine, they might not enjoy Jedi!), and I found the way Tessa talks about Marda and her ultimate commitment to the group the most interesting, as she wants to spread the word of the freedom of the Force; That’s some curious verbiage, but I like what it implies, as to them both the Jedi and Sith are strangling the Force as it were, using it for great feats of help or hinder, instead of just letting the Force be, so like I said, the Path and the Jedi meeting will cause plenty of friction. PoD takes place on Dalna, a place we know the Path calls its home at this point, but we’ve also heard throughout Phase I, especially at its end, is the site of a great misunderstanding with the Jedi the people of Dalna don’t want to talk about. In the book, the Jedi arrive on the planet to investigate stolen Force artifacts, so friction is of course coming, probably leading to the Ro family beginning its long, but meditated revenge on the Jedi that Marchion was enacting through Phase I.
As for George Mann, he explores some aspects to his upcoming Quest for the Hidden City, also bringing back up some stuff revealed in the Celebration panel but also unveiling one hella-cool Jedi Master, Silandra Sho! You can see her in all her glory above, alongside her shield! That’s right, she’d rather be the shield than the sword, though she’s been known to throw it around with the Force in battle, like Captain America or something, and I am SO here for this. She is case #673983637 that we need some action figures for this era, and stat! Sho’s Padawan, Rupa Natani (spelling might be off, got it from the captions), was shown in the video above, and George describes her as someone who is tired of the training and the diplomatic missions and craves adventure, but he promises adventure is going to be a big surprise for her. He also brings back up some stuff from the Celebration panel that ties into the thrust of the story, as Sho and Rupa and their Pathfinder team find one of their communication droids damaged and in the wrong place, leading them to realize another Pathfinder team has gone missing and they all set out to ascertain what happened to them. Revealed in the Celebration panel, the Pathfinders are exploration teams that seek out new planets and races, made up jointly of Republic workers and the Jedi, alongside droids. With the communication droids, as at this point in the era communication is rough in the Outer Rim so these droids are essentially the network connecting the Pathfinders and Jedi back to the Republic, passing messages along, so as you can imagine, and the story already shows happening, misinformation could spread if someone nefarious gets their hands on them.
Before some new covers, the final thoughts from the authors included characters they liked/said we should look out for: George said Sho’s Padawan, which I relayed earlier; Tessa says Padawan Kev Mo (spelling unsure of again), who is the third character that graces the cover of PoD, because Tessa put everything she’s ever wanted in a Jedi into him; and lastly Zoraida said the second Chanceller, Mollo, since he prefers to have his boots on the ground, out visiting the citizens of the galaxy in his own starship. Below, two variant covers for The High Republic #2 – Phase II, which feature the main characters the new volume, Vildar Mac and Matthea Cathley.
And to close us out below, while we got this at SDCC, now it’s not just blurry photos or pictures of the poster, it’s a hi-res take on the opening crawl for Phase II (which got the classic opening crawl animation in the video!)
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