– Spoiler Review –
With The Battle of Jakku: Insurgency Rising #4, the first of the three arcs of the big maxiseries draws to a close with a big action set piece, but the cracks I saw last issue only get wider.
Last issue I was pretty optimistic the problems with the pacing, which is fast and entertaining but seems to be leaving important information behind, like a flashy action-movie script, wouldn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the Battle of Jakku maxiseries. Insurgency Rising #4 unfortunately widens the problems and does snag an otherwise entertaining story, as it’s getting easier to notice what we aren’t being shown since we’re only being told most things. For starters, last issue is the first time we see Grand Moff Adelhard and Reyna Oskure in a scene together, and while he shuns her advice, when Luke meets her once she’s revealed to be the ‘Inquisitor,’ he calls her, “Adelhard’s Counselor and Blade,” saying he’s heard of her, but this doesn’t match at all with how we’ve seen Reyna and Adelhard interact…so how and why does Luke think she is those things if we’ve never seen her like that with the Moff? Do they have a bigger history, and if so, why weren’t we made aware of it? Once Luke and the still alive Preeti (more on that in a moment) save Yeager, Thersia, Rynn, and Kes, he tells them to carry the subdued and captured Commander Bragh and Reyna to a ship and escape, but the next time we see them, they don’t have either, with the dialogue just telling readers essentially, hey, we thought they were too heavy to lug around and still escape alive so we left them, but it doesn’t seem to make much sense given, at the very least, Reyna was all tied up (I can get Bragh being heavy, but still). And lastly, when Leia and Agent Behrens contact Lando Calrissian for help after Luke’s gone silent during his rescue efforts, he not only knows everything we need him to about the situation, everyone in the conversation is talking up the threat Adelhard poses, but we’ve only seen his one Star Destroyer and how everyone from Lando, Luke, to the initial Rebel crew is slipping through his Iron Blockade, so really we’re only being told, not shown how much of a threat he could be. I get for all the above inconsistencies that we simply won’t be able to see everything, there is only so much space despite 12 issues to tell this story, and time is passing but we don’t quite know how much, but much of what’s being told to us needs more than “it’s time skips” to handwave away the sudden drop of information or info which doesn’t line up with what we’re seeing. The pace is fun and no doubt it’ll feel like a whirlwind by the time this all wraps up in January 2025, but I’m definitely going to have wished this was at least 8-10 more issues to help this all feel more coherent not only with itself, but with other stories in the era too.
As I mentioned earlier, Rynn’s partner Preeti, much like Rynn herself, managed to somehow survive the opening events of Insurgency Rising #1 and has been a prisoner aboard Adelhard’s Destroyer ever since. This was a nice surprise and it’s of course Lt. Alaytia who frees her, telling her to go and save her friends, and now I really need to understand who Alaytia is to the New Republic/Empire and if anyone has any inkling she’s the one who is freeing all these members of the New Republic on the Destroyer, as this seems far too easy for her to be playing double agent. Regardless, it was a joy to see Rynn and Preeti reunited, kissing even amongst the chaos, before kicking stromtrooper butt together to get everyone out alive. Preeti even helps Luke at one point, saving him from Bragh, so hopefully she can stick around longer and continue to help in the good fight, especially if she has more great lines about being a Republic. I had my concerns Rynn was some sort of plant, given how she seemingly died as well in the opening issue, and while her actions so far have squashed those theories, the way Preeti and Rynn kept bringing up how surprised each was alive…part of me had to wonder again, but everyone else seemed to recognize Preeti so I’m just coming up with bad theories again.
Also in my review of last issue, I was a little surprised to see Luke Skywalker so heavily involved in the larger story events, and while tying his actions to Jedi of old help alleviate some of that, it still seemed so separate to all his aloofness in previous media in this era to have him go directly after Adelhard. It was neat as hell to see Luke like the Jedi of old though, sneaking onto ships and trying to bring to justice the bad guy on the bridge (just like his father and mentor did in Revenge of the Sith), handedly dealing with Reyna and her borrowed Inquisitor saber, and taking on swarms of troopers. You’d think he’d be able to get Adelhard himself, but between all the stormtroopers and Lando and his impromptu squad taking on the Destroyer and causing it major damage, Luke is unable to capture him, but he does alter the Grand Moffs point-of-view due to his actions. Adelhard is rather defiant in the face of Luke’s incursion, though Luke points out he could care less about what he wants or what he is, he just knows he’s the bad guy here trying to bring back oppression and he’s here to stop him. Luke’s assessment of Adelhard, of a man willing to do anything to seize what he believes is promised to him since he felt it was yanked away, certainly felt prescient given the looming election in the USA, but whereas the real life story has a terrible, unfortunate ending that made it hard to even care to review this issue, at least we know this fictional story should end with Adelhard’s defeat. Hopefully, one day soon, the real world will have learned to follow suit. Regardless, the issue and therefore this first section of the maxiseries’ story comes to an end with Adelhard not cowed by Luke’s powers, but emboldened by them, deciding to no longer be so dismissive of the Acolytes and Reyna’s offer of tapping into dark powers to get what he wants. Insurgency Rising ends with a good escalation, I just wish it had been supported more by showing us more of what this could all mean instead of just telling, so it’ll be interesting how the next 8 issues handle where this story still has left to go…
On art for Insurgency Rising #4 was Luke Ross and Jethro Morales, with the usual Rachelle Rosenberg and Joe Caramagna on coloring and lettering, respectively. Ross has a very distinct style, and while Morales does too, as I was saying in last issue’s review, he seems great at adjusting his style to better match whomever is on an issue with him and for Insurgency Rising #4, however I felt like it was Ross who adjusted his work to look more like Morales’ style. But in the end it doesn’t matter, as it’s a good effort all around! There are plenty of things to cover, but I must start somewhere unexpected: Lando’s Lady Luck! It’s been mentioned in canon before, though very little, and this is it’s first time pictured in canon and it looks gorgeous, like it always did! Rosenberg really glams it up with shiny silver and the swoop of gold on the nose and just under the cockpit area, while whomever is behind the drawing really plays up its yacht-like appearance, chunky yet sleek, while the briefest look inside displays a clean ship much like the Falcon looked like in Solo. The page after Luke approaches Adelhard, his stormtroopers swarming to protect him, was a standout for me, as it’s top image shows Luke against what seems like impossible odds, blaster bolts flying everywhere, while Adelhard’s speech pulls us along to the next parts of the page, his head placed in a little circle, bathed in a menacing red to match his anger, which only gets more black then red as Luke works his way through the stormies. While they aren’t seen in the same panel together, I like how Caramagna helps the artist’s work to create the illusion they are, as Luke standing defiantly without any troopers left standing, only a few smoking on the floor nearby, and the final panel of Adelhard’s angry face next to Luke’s staunch stance is linked by Luke’s dismissive words about Adelhard. Two pages later, the team pulls off another great job of leading readers eyes across the page to help with a reveal, as there’s a panel of Luke’s lightsaber popping back into his outstretched hand, Luke saying, “I said–” and then the ignited lightsaber pulls us down next, Caramagna’s sound FX leading us along the swing at Adelhard, or what it seems to be at him, but as you watch its arc, Luke’s remaining dialogue just off the swinging path, it takes you down, down until you see the cuts to the ground around Adelhard which Luke actually made with the saber, which fits with his final line about Adelhard needing to look at what’s happening around him.
Here are a few other things:
- There was a lovely in memoriam about John Cassaday, a comic artist who worked for Marvel for years, including helping to launch their return to Star Wars comics in 2015, who unfortunately passed away earlier this year.
- Here’s the current release schedule for the remaining Battle of Jakku story: 11/20 Republic Under Siege #1; 11/27 Republic Under Siege #2; 12/4 Republic Under Siege #3; 12/11 Republic Under Siege #4; 12/25 Last Stand #1; 1/8/2025 Last Stand #2; 1/15/2025 Last Stand #3; 1/22/2025 Last Stand #4.
The Battle of Jakku: Insurgency Rising #4 escalates the story in a way which should bring more big, fast-paced fun, but the pacing comes with a price.
+ Luke channeling the Jedi of old/his father
+ Escalation seems to at least hold promise for where this will still go
– Fast pace means we’re getting conflicting info on what we see and what we’re told
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Bluesky, Twitter @MynockManor, and Instagram @mynockmanor.
THE BATTLE OF JAKKU MAXISERIES REVIEWS
Insurgency Rising: #1 | #2 | #3