– Spoiler Review –
While their time in animation is seemingly over for now, you can’t keep a good clone down, as Clone Force 99, aka the Bad Batch, returns for more hijinks in Hyperspace Stories: The Bad Batch – Ghost Agents, a comic miniseries from Dark Horse that’s written by Michael Moreci. Capturing the spirit of the show issue after issue, Ghost Agents is a fun time at the comics and one fans, especially of the prequel era, won’t want to miss.
Since the ending of The Bad Batch in May of 2024, I’ve been eager to learn more about the years after they settled on Pabu and what comes afterward with Omega heading out into the galaxy, but both this series and the upcoming Sanctuary: A Bad Batch Novel are focused on earlier times for Clone Force 99. I wasn’t sold on the idea of returning to the Batch’s A-Team inspirational roots when I first heard about Hyperspace Stories: The Bad Batch – Ghost Agents, yet the team involved and the series’ description convinced me to give it a chance, so I wasn’t surprised the first issue alleviated any concerns and kept me eager to see the miniseries through. Moreci’s writing not only captures the sense of adventure and hijinks we know these characters can get into, but also their distinct personalities, so much so it’s the biggest reason which kept me coming back issue after issue, as seeing Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, and Crosshair in their prime, before the galaxy got more complicated than it already was, is both entertaining and packs some interesting new meaning given what comes next for them in their show. Moreci continuously puts them in unique or new situations, from going undercover at a bar, dealing with strange creatures, making deals with bounty hunters, and so much more, there’s something interesting and fitting of an episode of their show in each issue. The overall plot fits their specific skills well, recovering a stolen list of undercover operatives, as it’s something which needs more than a regular clone squad’s skills and a less showy operation than if a Jedi was involved, so Ghost Agents ends up feeling more like a fun time with the characters and less about the plot anyways. There are several familiar The Clone Wars faces which show up throughout Ghost Agents, and I particularly enjoyed Aurra Sing’s time in the series and how Moreci managed to put Asajj Ventress in their way but it still fit with how they didn’t know who she was initially in her season three appearance in their show. Moreci proved his chops for a handle on this era and the clones with IDW’s The Clone Wars: Battle Tales back in 2020 (we had the chance to interview him back then too!) and takes it to the next level with Ghost Agents.
On art for the entire miniseries was Reese Hannigan on pencils, Elisabetta D’amico on inks, Michael Atiyeh for colors, and Comicraft’s Tyler Smith & Bobby Bradford on lettering. Of all the things to focus on first for art, this might be the most unconventional, but it’s a small thing which worked so well, I almost wish other series did it more often. Given how the Bad Batch are both clones yet wholly unique, assigning a color to each character’s dialogue box could become distracting, hard to keep track of, and would look messy, so Ghost Agents’ art team took a different approach: creating little icons next to a dialogue/narration box!! Again, this might seem silly to be excited about, but this simple choice for when a character wasn’t necessarily in a panel did a lot of heavy work throughout the series. For starters, by going with the icons and everything else about their dialogue bubbles/boxes being the same, it sticks with the theme of them being clones but also unique. It also helps readers ‘hear’ their distinct voices from the show, as the moment you see the icon, you know exactly how Dee Bradley Baker’s voice acting might’ve said these lines, while it made it very easy to follow conversations. Another minor thing I appreciated a bunch was Atiyeh’s color work for the Batch themselves, as while there wasn’t any “reg” clones to compare them to (but the Ghost Agent they rescue at the end is way more white than them) and at times it hued a little closer to the show, if the Batch had their helmets off, their skin tone was much darker than it was lighter, to the point I feel like those of us supporting the Unwhitewash The Bad Batch campaign should all be happier with their appearances here than any supposed corrections the show did; these two things might be little, but they matter and are greatly appreciated! Hannigan and D’amico handle drawing the Batch in their armor with ease it felt like, as the visual closeness to the show aided in giving Ghost Agents the sense it was part of the show, and I really liked Asajj’s mask, as it gave me the sense of a snake coiled and ready to strike, and I’m glad these two didn’t seem to shy away from tackling the armor issue after issue, rather embracing it. They were then allowed to go big in other areas, like the two-head shark since it’s like a roid-ed out Jaws (happy anniversary!) or the sea serpents Wrecker eventually befriends, with their colorful scales and Asian-inspired designs, or just how damn cool Aurra Sing, Asajj in a hood and mask, and Embo all looked in comic form.
Here are a few other things:
- Starting in February, Ghost Agents just wrapped up in July, while its collected trade paperback edition is currently schedule to hit shelves on November 18.
- Sanctuary: A Bad Batch Novel, written by Lamar Giles, is out August 5, but reviews are already scheduled to hit July 22. I’ll have mine up, so check back at the Manor to see if there’s more Bad Batch fun to be had with the upcoming novel!
- Dark Horse’s Hyperspace Stories banner is bringing stories from all over the eras. Currently out, Hyperspace Stories: Codebreak follows Poe Dameron in a story set before The Force Awakens (we’ll have a miniseries review once it’s done); starting July 30, Hyperspace Stories: Tides of Terror goes to the prequel Jedi and sees Kit Fisto take center stage (also expect a miniseries review); and another original graphic novel, Hyperspace Stories: Grievous, finally has a release date of January 13, 2026! Dark Horse is also bringing the scares starting in September with the first issue of Tales from the Nightlands! With SDCC next week, maybe the Lucasfilm Publishing panel will have details on more Hyperspace Stories to come?! We can only hope!
- Moreci wrote for the new Syfy show Revival, based on an Image comic series, which is a twist on the dead coming back to life. Check out the trailer!
Hyperspace Stories: The Bad Batch – Ghost Agents miniseries feels like the start of more fun adventures for the titular clones, or a nice little check-in for fans, even if it doesn’t add much new to their overall story.
+ The Batch comes to life on the pages of the comic with a well-written script
+ From Batch icons, skin tone corrections, and going big for action and the evolving story, art team made it feel like an extension of the show
– Won’t add much to their story
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him and the website on Bluesky.
THE BAD BATCH REVIEWS
Season Three: 3.1/3.2/3.3 Confined & Paths Unknown & Shadows of Tantiss | 3.4 A Different Approach | 3.5 The Return | 3.6/3.7 Infiltration & Extraction | 3.8 Bad Territory | 3.9 The Harbinger | 3.10/3.11 Identity Crisis & Point of No Return | 3.12 Juggernaut | 3.13 Into the Breach | 3.14 Flash Strike | 3.15 Series Finale – The Cavalry Has Arrived
Season Two: 1.1/1.2 Spoils of War & Ruins of War | 1.3 The Solitary Clone | 1.4 Faster | 1.5 Entombed | 1.6 Tribe | 1.7/1.8 The Clone Conspiracy & Truth and Consequences | 1.9 The Crossing | 1. 10 Retrieval | 1.11 Metamorphosis | 1.12 The Outpost | 1.13 Pabu (by Katie) | 1.14 Tipping Point | 1.15/1.16 The Summit & Plan 99
Season One: 1.1 Aftermath | 1.2 Cut and Run | 1.3 Replacements | 1.4 Cornered | 1.5 Rampage | 1.6 Decommissioned | 1.7 Battle Scars | 1.8 Reunion | 1.9 Bounty Lost | 1.10 Common Ground | 1.11 Devil’s Deal | 1.12 Rescue on Ryloth | 1.13 Infested | 1.14 War-Mantle | 1.15 Return to Kamino | 1.16 Kamino Lost