Kristin Baver has complied the most comprehensive look at the process of designing and building up The High Republic initiative with Abrams Books’ The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic (Phase I), a book brimming at the seams with never-before-seen artwork depicting the era’s conceptualization, with intriguing insights from all levels of those involved with the work. The High Republic fans won’t be disappointed in the slightest!
While its story plays out in visual mediums like comics, magna, and storybooks, a large portion of The High Republic’s publishing initiative doesn’t, detailing the exploits of the Jedi and the Nihil 200 years before The Phantom Menace in various novels. Building out such an initiative fans would enjoy via reading, not on screen or video games yet, and to help solidify the luminous authors’ visions for the era, tons of concept art was made to breathe life into story, characters, and the world of a Republic largely at peace, the Jedi at the height of their power, and those who would threaten said peace. In various news releases leading up to The High Republic’s launch in 2021, and later across many delightful The High Republic Show episodes, Lucasfilm unveiled many of the finished pieces to build up hype for and broaden fans’ connection to the era.
The High Republic initiative is something I’ve been over the Death Star about since before it launched, and while it was mostly due to the excitement of a fresh story where publishing could run wild, not beholden to fill in blanks for a film or show, the glimpses at the artwork in news releases and the THRS show helped build my connection to the era while also revealing Lucasfilm’s commitment to this initiative. Typically, the most art we get for a new book is simply the cover, maybe a variant/retail exclusive cover, and or potentially a poster, but characters are left for our imagination to fill in. The amount of art they’ve already released for THR is exceptional, but we’ve known for some time now there is so much more, as the teams iterated and built out the look and feel of everything in the era, so the hope for an artbook, unheard of for publishing, has been enormous. When it was finally announced, it was both a surprise and vindication, and now that it’s finally here, I’m glad to tell you it’s not only worth the wait, but it’s so much more than that.
Kristin Baver, the always welcoming and excited personality behind This Week! In Star Wars, wrangled together interviews with people across the planning stages of the era, as well as tons of never-before-seen art, to make The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic (Phase I) such a rewarding read. The art alone would make the book worthy of purchase, but it’s the insight from creatives, and the narrative Kristin weaves around it across the various sections of the book, which turn this into something truly special. While many of the early news drops and High Republic Shows contain some of the information or similar thoughts from creatives you’ll find in the book, it’s not only nice to have it all complied together like this, the amount of new reveals and details far outweighs something you’ve heard before. A lot of this comes from Iain McCaig, the renowned concept artist responsible for Padmé and Darth Maul’s looks in the prequels, who we’ve known was part of the earliest sketches and conceptualization of the era but we’ve never really heard from. His process and ideas behind his sketches, based off of the 5 different pitches each author made that was eventually kitbashed together into what we are reading today, show his pure instinctual connection to making something fit in the greater Saga, while shows how the groundwork he, and Phil Noto as well, laid for the later artists like Grant Griffin (who made the beautiful cover for this book!), Petur Antonsson, Jeffrey Thomas, Ario Anindito, and Harvey Tolibao, to name a few, was such a strong foundation it also helped inspire the authors in unique ways too. Getting to learn how those sketches and those from the many other artists inspired characters like Lina Soh, the eventual look of the Drengir, many of the Jedi in the era and their stories, and all the iterations of Marchion Ro before his final look, was such a fun process because it’s so clear how everyone involved loves Star Wars, wanted this to feel unique, and hoped it would be embraced by fans is something Baver conveys through her narrative of the creative processes.
As I mentioned earlier, the art alone is enough of a reason to purchase this book for High Republic fans, as while it contains pieces we’ve already seen online or from comics (including covers), even those we’ve already seen contain new insight into their creation or earlier versions before the final take. For everything we’ve already seen, there’s 10 we haven’t, and the collection does more than give us great art to look at, but it helps explore the creative process for making memorable characters like Marchion Ro (I did not know they went through so many different ideas!), Bell Zettifar, Ty Yorrick, Lula Talisola, and all your other favorites (whether the luminous authors killed them off or not). I also loved learning how much unused concept art for films from all the way back to Ralph McQuarrie, to the Sequel Trilogy or even Rogue One brought inspiration or found new life in the High Republic, showcasing the staggering amount of concept art Lucasfilm has for the franchise and how it truly is never really gone if it isn’t used. Pages are stacked with interesting and unique views on the creative process the artists and writers went through together, how even the littlest thing like a droid or a lightsaber handle/holster were drilled down to get just perfect, to feel just like this era, it makes me appreciate all the concept art we’ve gotten before this book and that for Phase II, as I’m noticed more details than ever before. And of course, I can’t not mention the reveal of a Jawa Jedi and the fun idea Cavan Scott and team had for it, which I now hope somehow in the future of the era the team gets to sneak a little reference to the joke!
If you’re new to The High Republic, the “Art of” might not be the best place to start, as it not only has spoilers, but its context works best if you’ve read the content already, though if those things don’t bother you, even new fans could find a lot to enjoy in the book. In fact, it could help new potential readers decide to take the plunge, as it’s packed with visuals for all the reading material ahead, thus assisting with visualization, and all the interviews offer deeper understanding of choices made when designing and writing the era, even how they took into account all the real-world strife unfolding like COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter protests. Plus for the fans who’ve read it all, if they don’t have the time to revisit all of Phase I before Phase III is out late 2023 (most likely), there’s enough here to act as a refresher for certain characters or parts of the era, while a handy character relationship chart can offer a quick guide to returning faces for Phase III.
Here are a few other things:
- Baver was interviewed by the official site, exploring her process for the book and her love of the era!
- I appreciated that the book ends with a little teaser for Phase II, which we are currently just at the start of, which is unraveling fast with some intriguing details giving greater context to the first phase and the final one!
The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic (Phase I) is everything fans of the era hoped for, full of new and unseen artwork with advanced explorations into the process of creating the stories we’ve come to love with a passion the teams behind it clearly have.
+ Kristin Baver weaves an insightful story into the beloved era’s creation
+ Loads and loads of fantastic art
+ Love seeing even discarded ideas or concepts
+ Feels like a great refresher for Phase I
– That the Phase II art book isn’t here already!!!!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.