– Spoiler Review –
After nearly two months, Crimson Reign returns with its second issue about Qi’ra’s big, galaxy-brained plan to take down the Sith at the top of the Empire. While the first issue introduced us to her ideas and those she’s recruited to her cause, Crimson Reign #2 narrows in on the missions assassins Ochi of Bestoon and Deathstick are sent on.
Much like the first issue revealed a framing device of someone watching this story unfold via a holocron of the Archivist, the mysterious Force-sensitive woman aligned with Qi’ra currently, issue #2 features a glimpse of her meta-narration of the series, once again using a lot of negative past tense about Qi’ra’s machinations. By negative, I mean more like how this won’t work out the way Qi’ra thinks, as smart and as thorough as her plan is, as everything the Archivist says certainly paints the picture we all know is coming: Qi’ra won’t topple the Sith…that falls on Luke in Return of the Jedi. So if this is being told in the past tense, when will The Hidden Empire take place? Immediately after the events of this series or a little time jump? I’ll be curious to see how this pans out, negative or not for Qi’ra, because if she can turn being stuck with Crimson Dawn after letting Han Solo go into running the whole thing, who knows what her next move could be.
Issue #2 peels back some layers on Qi’ra’s mindset these days, as she talks to Margo and Trinia regarding her methods and how it nets her the loyalty and cooperation of two assassins like Ochi and Deathstick. It’s clear Qi’ra thinks she has it all figured out, as much of what she says has strokes of the truth or sounds reasonable, but it’s still her point-of-view through the lens of the life she’s lived since her days as a young member of the White Worms. She tells her confidants, who cringe in the presence of assassins, everyone kills in the end, be it faith, hope, or joy, images of a Jedi, Boba, and Vader respectively flashing by. The ends justice the means, no matter the mindset she thinks, which makes me wonder where she’d place herself on her list of reasons to kill, as while she might not directly be doing it right now, she’s still ordering others to do it. I’m guessing she’d say it’s out of faith, as while each option sounds disdainful to her standards, she has faith she’ll rid the galaxy of the Sith’s rule and bring it some sense of equality in the power structure. Also in the opening scene with the Archivist, she claims Qi’ra’s lonely, and while that doesn’t seem apparent yet from either this series or her actions in War of the Bounty Hunters, I’m curious if I’ve just missed it from her actions so far and how/when that’ll come in play during this series and the follow-up for her comics’ trilogy.
With Ochi of Bestoon, he’s ready to kill because he’s afraid and anything he takes out is one less thing that can take him out, which is what Qi’ra says about him. Considering he saw his death in Greg Pak’s Darth Vader comic series after running into a giant monster on Exegol alongside Vader, I thought maybe he wouldn’t be scared like that, knowing what’s coming, hence his more devil-may-care attitude, so maybe he didn’t see his death or maybe, despite it, he’s still afraid it could happen any other way, not trusting in the vision? Either I missed when he made a clear decision on his response to the vision or maybe there hasn’t been, but I’m still confused a little on this though at this point I’m going to let it slide and I imagine any POV with him in this year’s Shadow of the Sith novel could clear some of that up. Ochi’s target is an interesting choice by Qi’ra: Palpatine’s Royal Guards, the ones in the red suits. Killing a bunch of minions in red is certainly a choice for a group called Crimson Dawn, so is she trying to prove she can get to him or to lessen the protection around him ahead of some type of attack? While Soule’s writing of Ochi is at par with Pak’s, with some humor and relaxed attitude even in the face of such a big target, I’m more interested in what this move means for Qi’ra and the Grand Plan.
With Deathstick, the Dathomir Witch turned assassin, Qi’ra has her pegged too, supposedly, telling Margo and Trinia that the assassin is lonely after her legacy was wiped out by General Grievous in the Clone Wars, hoping spreading her sadness with lessen her own. Qi’ra gained her loyalty with the truth of Palpatine’s involvement, promising they’d take him down of course, but that’s not what Qi’ra sends her after. Instead, she gives Deathstick a target we knew was coming since War of the Bounty Hunters: Cadeliah, the young girl born of parents from two warring syndicates on Corellia. Qi’ra had her goons take out most of the Mourner’s Wail and supported Vukorah taking over the Unbroken Clan, the two syndicates in question, but instead of having the young girl killed to ensure the Unbroken Clan’s reign, she tells the young girl they’re going to be friends. It’s an interesting and somewhat unexpected development: what’s Qi’ra’s real goal with Cadeliah, Vukorah, and the Mourner’s Wail? Is it all part of some elaborate revenge scheme or plan to take out the syndicates which have ruled Corellia, her homeplanet? She did say she wanted to even the playing field though it’s interesting with her playing all the angles. I laughed how quickly and easily Deathstick got Cadeliah however, calling into an Imperial Watchline and reporting the Rebel Base the girl was hiding with, a stark contrast to the nearly 10 plus issues of the Bounty Hunters series not even getting that close. While I’m intrigued to know Qi’ra’s goals here, I do wish beyond a few lines from Qi’ra we got more time with Deathstick, but juggling such a large cast in a 5-issue miniseries means we can’t spend elongated time with everyone.
Steve Cummings continues on art, with Victor Olazaba as inker this time, while Guru-eFX remains for colors alongside Travis Lanham with lettering. Once again, Cummings’ Qi’ra is a highlight, as while there aren’t as many close-ups and it’s more her dialogue this time around, through most of the issue’s earlier appearances with her she’s focused yet determined, often placed in panels so she’s the one everyone’s looking up at and she looking down on them, so it makes it even more noticeable when she bends down to greet Cadeliah and smiles, a winning, delightful one that Han could resist many years ago. There’s only a single panel of it, but it’s effective, as Olazaba and Guru really bring Cummings’ Grievous and the destruction of the Nightsisters to vivid, memorable life, creepy vibes of Dathomir present in the background, the overwhelming forces showing how total the destruction is, while the way the coloring of the fire molded into the panel of Deathstick at the fire made for a nice transition. Cadeliah having a little Rambo look was pretty funny and fitting for the girl born into conflict and reared by a bounty hunter, though the image of her floating due to the device on her forehead was unsettling in an interesting way.
Here are a few other things:
- One of the Royal Guards was actually first introduced in the 2015 novel, Lords of the Sith; another surprising but good pull by Soule.
- As long as things hold, it shouldn’t be as long of a wait for the next issue, as Crimson Reign #3 is scheduled for March 9!
Crimson Reign #2 narrows the focus of characters and offers plenty of intriguing questions about what’s all in store of Qi’ra and her big plans.
+ Qi’ra’s plans only getting more intriguing
+ Humor from characters and situations
+ Great art for the series so far
– Scale in the way of characters overall
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.
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