With The High Republic era coming to an end in June, what else will publishing give fans to read in its absence? We already know some of the comics on the way, but now we have two early answers when it comes to booms, first being an upcoming manga called Path of the Lightsaber, which does have a High Republic connection, and the second being a novel about Clone Force 99 titled Sanctuary – A Bad Batch Novel, giving fans more time with their favorites! Find out more below!
Path of the Lightsaber comes from Viz Media, who have produced the various The Edge of Balance manga entries for the High Republic era, but this time they are going Sequel Trilogy era instead! Kenny Ruiz will write and illustrate the new canon story and here’s a brief description, with the promise we’ll find out more about it at Celebration Japan in April:
“In this new manga, fans will follow a young tinkerer named Nioka who dreams of becoming a Jedi like Luke Skywalker. Their life is upturned after they stumble upon an actual lightsaber while investigating the ruins of a High Republic-era ship. Of course, there are others who are after the ancient Jedi weapon, complicating her ability to learn how to properly wield the artifact as she tries to protect it and herself.”
Given Viz previous manga entries have largely been High Republic set, I’m curious if we’ll see some connections/Easter Eggs between the previous stories and this one given the ship, with a lightsaber, that young Nioka explores and finds. Guess we’ll know more in April.
Previously leaked back in December, Sanctuary – A Bad Batch Novel, written by Lamar Giles with a cover by Marie Bergeron, was officially revealed for an August 5, 2025 release! Lamar Giles’ first contribution was “Twenty and Out” in From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi, which had a fun time playing up the joke about the galaxy’s lack of guardrails, so I have no doubt Clone Force 99’s humorous interactions with one another will be a delight in the upcoming novel. As for when it will be set, it’s actually during the second season of the show, after the episode “Pabu,” as the team attempts to help the citizens of their new sanctuary rebuild, and before the events which lead to the big, sad season two finale. When I first heard about the novel, I was hoping it would show some of the group’s unknown time on Pabu between the end of season three and the series’ epilogue, but getting more time not only with the main Clone Force 99 but also several characters could be a huge plus and help flesh them out more: Tech, who perishes not too long after the novel’s events, already had some interesting exploration of his neurodivergence so Giles could keep that up (we might even see some of his early flying lessons for Omega); Phee Genoa, who had a budding relationship with Tech and I’m sure has a bunch of fun archaeological stories; Lyana Hazard, Pabu’s Mayor’s daughter, as I’d love to see more of Omega with people her age; while unfortunately this is when Echo is off with Captain Rex and it seems like this book won’t catch up with them at all. Here’s the rather dense blurb for what Sanctuary is all about:
Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, and Omega gamble on a mission to help rebuild Pabu in this thrilling adventure for The Bad Batch.
A good soldier knows that life is all about change — whether it’s on or off the battlefield. Surviving, living, means adaptation. Hunter is well acquainted with this lesson. He’s on the run from the Empire, Echo’s off on a mission with Captain Rex, and Crosshair is . . . still Crosshair, but amidst all the change, Hunter still has Tech, Wrecker, and Omega.
And it seems that his small family might have finally found a safe place to land, far from the increasingly vigilant eyes of the Empire: Pabu. But their potential new island home is in desperate need of resources if there is any hope for the fledgling community to recover from a devastating sea wave. That’s where Phee Genoa, self-proclaimed liberator of treasures, comes in, with a couple of jobs she swears will get them the funds they need. Despite Hunter’s concern with Phee’s precarious plans, the rest of the crew is fine following her lead.
Things go wrong almost immediately, as Phee’s droid blows the crew’s cover at a high-stakes auction, and they barely make it out with the relic they’d been paid to acquire. Hunter insists they finish their first mission and deliver the relic before taking on more work, but Phee and the others push forward with a second job: ferrying a couple on the run, one of whom is due to give birth at any moment. Hunter worries what they’re risking, especially when their mysterious new passengers cling to lies and secrets that trace back to an Imperial Security Bureau officer hot on their trail.
As Hunter tries to get the crew back on a stable, safe path far, far away from anything to do with the Empire’s watchdogs, their overlapping missions only invite more danger and chaos. On the verge of failing both their desperate passengers and their community on Pabu, the Batch must remember that the only way they succeed, the only way they survive to fight another day, is by trusting each other.
Swing on back to the Manor with more news as we get it, and later reviews, for both Path of the Lightsaber and Sanctuary – A Bad Batch Novel!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him and the website on Bluesky.