– Spoiler Review –
Dark Horse is in their miniseries era it seems and the latest is Hyperspace Stories: Tides of Terror. Written by George Mann with art by Luis Morocho and Le Beau Underwood, Tides of Terror puts the charming smile of Kit Fisto to the test, as the Jedi Master must unravel a dangerous situation on an underwater research station. The four-issue miniseries is a fun, quick read hiding some bigger messages along the way.
Continuing to expand his Star Wars storytelling beyond the High Republic again (before he returns to it later this year*), George Mann started 2025 with the finally released Hyperspace Stories: Qui-Gon OGN and later kicked off his new miniseries, Tides of Terror. Beginning in July and hit with a few delays, the finale released January 7, 2026, and now I’ve put together a review of the miniseries! When the Jedi are called to help mediate the future of Tordus’ underwater research center, dueling viewpoints, sabotage, and aquatic creatures threaten to derail everything. There’s a twist or turn here and there to keep the story engaging, while the setting appropriately gets played up like we’re watching a disaster movie, so there’s always something for our heroes to overcome. Yet it’s not just external threats, it’s also the people with them and how the Jedi choose to interact that help determine how the situation on the Axil Research Station is resolved. Its stakes are small, but it’s all relative and as more layers are uncovered, we grow to care about the situation and who and what it all affects. Altogether it’s a quick read, and there’s some fun to be had, while Mann does sneak in some bigger themes stemming from the main conflict.
One of the things I’ve been wishing for is more stories centered on non-human characters, hopefully letting them star in leading roles. Mace Windu’s inclusion early on left me concerned this might be the case, but he’s more of a side character to Kit Fisto’s lead and Nahdar’s co-lead status. This Jedi Master and Padawan pair are central to solving the situation unraveling on the Axil station and I feel like Mann does a good job of not only providing their personalities, but giving them some depth too. Of the two, it’s surprisingly Nahdar who gets the most room to grow, but I’m thankful for it, because if readers have seen The Clone Wars, then you know Nahdar needs some attitude adjustments due to his restless, punky attitude, like he knows best or needs to show off a bit; at least, that’s how it felt to me. Tides of Terror starts off with Nahdar being very Nahdar and I was a little worried this was how it’d be throughout the miniseries. As the situation gets more perilous on the research station, Fitso and Nahdar must split up, with the Master trusting his apprentice to help fix the situation. Believe it or not, it’s Nahdar who thinks up some good ideas and attempts to reach the saboteurs for help, showing readers what Fitso saw in him besides what we’ve limitedly seen from him. Fitso’s bubbling personality reaches through often, making him a fun counterpart and keeping the doom and gloom of the situation at bay. I’d have liked more expansion on his characterization than what we’ve already had, but it was nice to see him teaching, his teasing nature both prodding Nahdar’s internal issues but helping bring out the better parts of him too. Overall, it was also neat how Mann managed to make an underwater scenario for amphibious species like Nahdar and Fisto perilous, all while making use of their particular ability at the same time.
As for the conflict around the Axil Research Station, what is says about respecting nature and not taking advantage of it feels timely as ever. In a sense, it felt like the research station represented AI data centers popping up over the world, polluting the air, ground, water, and human beings around it all in the name of company profits. The ancient lands of the Axiloth are the precious resources surrounding the datacenters, while the Xorfin, the giant aquatic creatures who live amongst the ruins, are the locals who will be most affected by it. This might be an imperfect comparison, as the miniseries ends with a research station being rebuilt, though the new one has the stated purpose of protecting the Xorfin instead of exploiting them, so maybe I’m not too far off. Wouldn’t that be what we all hope happens instead? Building things that protect what limited resources we have left, rather than exploit and poison them for chat machines that are more likely to lead users to suicide than anything worthwhile, create disturbing images, or give only misinformation? Within the story itself, I appreciated how it was Fisto’s ability to sympathize with the creatures most harmed but all that was being done that led to not only a happy ending, but the bad guys not getting away with it. Hopefully one day, in the real world, consequences will catch up to those who most deserve it too.
The art team for Tides of Terror consists of penciller Luis Morocho, inker Le Beau Underwood, colorist Michael Atiyeh, and letterers Comicraft’s Tyler Smith & Jimmy Betancourt. Given the cartoonish styling, it fits rather well having more non-humans in important roles, as Morocho and Underwood can stretch bigger facial expressions to fit the unique profiles of Nautolans and Mon Calas. This means Fisto’s signature smile is as wide and grin-inducing as possible whenever he’s kind enough to flash it, which is several times thankfully, and on that alone I was more than happy with the art. My particular favorite is a moment in issue #2, a double-page spread where Fisto and Nahdar fight underwater against several creatures. At first, it’s just carcaros (aka little sharks), which they are leading away from the repair room so the team their can do their jobs, but then a squid-like creature joins the events. Atiyeh applies a blue filter over the events, among the better underwater looking coloring I’ve seen, and it gives the scene a cold and confined feel, as they are swimming through small shafts within the station. Having both the carcaros and the squid to deal with then feels even more fraught for these two, though the image of Fisto leading the carcaros towards the squid, pulling up at the last moment, and Force-pushing them all out of the station looks both tricky yet effortless for the Jedi Master. The Xorfin themselves reminded me a little bit of the “bigger fish” Qui-Gon Jinn talks about in the waters of Naboo, as it’s almost Godzilla in size and intimidating as hell. There’s a big splash page in issue #2 when it first fully bursts onto the scene, with a slithering tongue, dagger-like teeth, and webbed hands, it feels like nothing can escape its grasp. When Fisto understands the reality of the situation and connects with the Xorfin, they look less frightening, docile even. It goes a long way to say they were only scary looking given what people said about them and the situation we found them in, seemingly attacking the escape pods, yet in the end we learn they helped those pods escape, not destroy them, and I like how the art matched the expectations we were given and changed alongside them. As for the research station itself, I loved the imagery of it falling in issue #3, the donut shape building crashing, to a great “crash” sound FX by Smith & Betancourt, and all the bubbles and debris it kicks up showing how destructive the moment is to the ecosystem. It really amps up the danger heading into the finale, as issue #3 final panel is one of it at rock bottom, the still seemingly dangerous Xorfin in view, larger and above it, as if they have all the power in the situation now.
Here are a few other things:
- Tides of Terror’s trade paperback is scheduled for April 26, 2026 currently, if you’re waiting to pick it all up at once.
- As I mentioned earlier, Mann returns to the High Republic era in March’s The High Republic Adventures: Pathfinders! It’s a six-issue miniseries that picks up 25 years after the events of Phase II, while there are hints some fan-favorites from Phase II will appear. It seems it’ll just be the start of what they are calling “Phase More,” expanding on the era in more stories to come!
Hyperspace Stories: Tides of Terror is an old-fashioned no-frills fun time at the comics, putting some lesser-followed Jedi at the center of an underwater disaster movie.
+ Fisto and Nahdar front and center, with Nahdar gaining some growth
+ Larger themes and fun artwork for the watery setting
– Would’ve liked more for Fisto and about the planet/its people
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him and the website on Bluesky.
DISCLOSURE: I received a copy of this comic from the publisher at no charge in order to provide an early review. However, this did not affect the overall review content. All opinions are my own.