– Spoiler Review –
February’s Age of Republic begins with Anakin Skywalker #1, an early Clone Wars-era tale that dives into what makes Anakin such a great Jedi and how the Order should’ve embraced his uniqueness rather than hidden from it.
What has always set Anakin Skywalker apart as a Jedi is his reliance on emotions, and while the films seemed to paint it in a darker, less favorable light, The Clone Wars balanced the pros and cons of such a Jedi and helped show him in a much more nuanced, complex light. The same can be said for Age of Republic – Anakin Skywalker #1, as the issue spins a tale that shows only Anakin’s unique mindset among the Jedi could’ve prevented a dastardly Separatist plan. Uncovering a droid foundry, with time running out to destroy it before reinforcements arrive, Admiral Yularen calls for a strike against the facility post haste, even though intelligence says there’ll be casualties, as the local population is working the foundry. This doesn’t sit well with Anakin, who agrees the target needs to be hit, but he wants to find a way to save the lives of the innocents, though Yularen tries to tell Anakin that war can be messy and there’s no other option worth following, as striking them quick means less loss of life for their own men, the clones. What’s interesting is that even Obi-Wan, the ideal Jedi, doesn’t fight against the decision by Yularen, showing how even the best of them could’ve benefited from Anakin’s unique mindset, though there are many examples of Obi-Wan’s adherence to the Order’s rules resulting in some good as well.
Anakin decides to follow his emotional tactic and goes to the foundry alone, Artoo in tow, to see if there’s a way to solve this without loss of life on either side. As he approaches the foundry, something smells fishy, as there are no real signs of life around and it’s suspiciously quiet for an “active” foundry. Once inside, he uncovers that the locals were enslaved, and in a moment of rage over his past as a slave, he jumps into action and frees them, fulfilling his dream from a young age. When he returns to the fleet, it turns out it was all a Separatist trap to make the Republic kill innocents so they could use the event as propaganda to draw systems to their side. Emotions certainly were used against Anakin in his fall as a Sith, but as we saw in the end, it was the emotion of love that saved him as Vader, and tapping into emotions helped him here save lives like the Jedi should be focused on doing. It’s a delicate balance, but had there been systems in place with the Jedi Order to address his unique situation, one can only imagine how different things could’ve been.
While Jody Houser’s look at Anakin’s unique Jedi ways isn’t anything startling or new, it reveals the better aspects of his nature in a succinct, well-prepared package which makes it an entertaining joy to read. As this is a hero issue, we have Cory Smith, joined by Wilton Santos, on art, Walden Wong on inks, and Java Tartaglia for colors. and once again this team is excellent at putting the hero in heroic, with big, bombastic panels, and sharp, bright colors that make the issue feel more like it’s stills from another episode of The Clone Wars instead of brand new art. I’m really enjoying the two artist teams and how they represent the good and evil of the era, and the hero art team has its own tricks that match the level of the villain team, spearheaded by Luke Ross.
Here are a few other things:
- While I’ve enjoyed most of articles at the end of each issue, the one included with Anakin’s is just the writer’s opinions and therefore should not be taken as canon or a complete story of who and what Anakin is. It implies Anakin had Dissociate Identity Disorder (which was commonly referred to as Multiple Personality Disorder), but as the two recent Darth Vader comic series have shown, as well as the movies themselves, it’s pretty clearly still Anakin in there, somewhere, and Bryan Young, the writer, is not a psychiatrist and can’t accurately diagnose Anakin Skywalker with something like DID. I would never presume to make such a call and I find it troubling Marvel went ahead and published such content…but then again, we’ve had problems with the current editor before.
- I’m really curious to see how this rhymes with the Count Dooku issue later this month, because if this is about the burden of leadership and how adhering to a strict moral code has its problems, will Dooku’s be about what it is like once those shackles are let loose?
- This story is set between Attack of the Clones and “Cat and Mouse,” aka the first chronological episode of The Clone Wars, per the Story Group’s Matt Martin.
- We recently got a sneak peek at the upcoming Age of Rebellion miniseries following Republic in April!
- While all the lettering on the covers for the character’s name has been solid so far, the bright blue and layout of the “Anakin Skywalker” name was absolutely striking for some reason to me. I’ve not looked at that part of the cover that closely until now, but I’ll be watching how they stylize names from here on out!
Age of Republic – Anakin Skywalker #1 doesn’t hit the heights of some previous issues, but it’s still a great little tale about Anakin regardless.
+ Anakin’s emotions and instincts are a powerful ally
+ Truly heroic art!
– Not wholly original
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
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