– Spoiler Review –
In the penultimate issue of Hidden Empire, all the pawns on the board move into position for the final confrontation, as Qi’ra’s plans reach their zenith and the Sith move in for the kill…or is it a trap they can’t avoid? Find out all about the grand moves in our review of Hidden Empire #4!
With the Fermata Cage secured, at the cost of the Orphans led by Chanath Cha, and the Archivist sure she can open the ancient, freaky device, Qi’ra prepares for the end of all her plans. As far as the Cage goes, she knows she won’t need to bring Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader to it, as it’ll call to them once the opening process begins again. She just needs to procure the Archivist protection, as the old Sava might be willing to die for the cause, she’s only ready to do so if she can ensure its success and having someone to protect her after the previous muscle died or left is all she asks. Qi’ra calls in her remaining favors, but already some are done with the cause and the fight, as Deathstick is unwilling to contribute anymore. Surprisingly enough, Qi’ra calls on the Knights of Ren to return, and while Ren and the others don’t agree to it at first, Qi’ra’s able to speak so plainly with them, admitting what she doesn’t tell all her troops before they prepare for the final battle to gain their cooperation again: knowing everyone’s name isn’t important but at least it makes her look like a good leader, like someone people would want to follow. And in the end, Qi’ra’s able to appeal to their base instincts, saying if they help her plan succeed, the target they’ve painted on their backs working for her (like sneaking into Vader’s castle on Mustafar to procure the key for access to the Fermata Cage) will be over rather than continuing to look over their shoulders. While it’s not discussed by both sides of the conversation, even if Qi’ra’s plans aren’t successful, which we know they aren’t, at least they tired before having to run and hide at the edges of the Empire’s reach to avoid being a target again.
With their support gained, she sends them off to the Archivist’s chosen Cage opening spot, the one we’ve been theorizing for a while now: the Amaxine Station! Once home to ancient warriors known as the Amaxine, we’ve seen it pop up in The High Republic as the Drengir’s cage and in the sequel trilogy as the place where Snoke and Ben Solo meet in the aftermath of Ben leaving Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Temple. While the Drengir, as far as we know, aren’t still on the Amaxine station after the events of Phase I of The High Republic, though some might’ve been trapped there once again after their Great Progenitor was put in stasis, their dark side energy infused the place for centuries, so it’s no surprise the life which grows there carries the same energy, which is why the Archivist brings the Fermata Cage there. To open, it needs to feed on the energy of the dark side, which permeates the place, and if it can’t get enough, it’ll begin to consume the life around it, so the Archivist taking to the Station ensures she isn’t its next target after it eats up what dark side energy it can while there.
With Cadeliah, the heir to the two warring Corellian crime syndicates whose fate still concerns the Bounty Hunters series, Qi’ra parts ways with the young girl, but not before leaving her with a message. Qi’ra’s prepared for this confrontation to be her final work, knowing she very well could fail, die, a combination of both, or somehow succeed, and the message to Cadeliah is one for her to open in case Qi’ra never returns. I like how the ‘framing story’ of two mysterious individuals listening to the Archivist’s story of Qi’ra (I’m betting on Luke and Lor San Tekka at this point) has painted this story as one with a tragic ending, but both Qi’ra’s parting words to Cadeliah and the framing stuff leaves open the option, even knowing she’ll fail, it doesn’t mean she’ll die. I’m looking forward to hearing what Qi’ra’s message to Cadeliah is about and how it’ll impact her story in the comics going forward as well.
Lastly, Qi’ra makes a passionate speech to the hidden army at her under the waterfall base, and while she doesn’t quite have as memorable line as her “Choke on it” one from Crimson Reign, she gets a chance for a similar enough zinger. In her speech to the army before her, she talks to them about harnessing the feeling of insignificance, fear, hate, and pain the Empire bestows upon them and not rebel with it, but rather forcefully, “…shove it down Palpatine’s throat!” So you know, similar vibe to her CR line, but this time to help inspire everyone to feel as empowered as she did saying her quote. I don’t imagine it’ll be the last speech from her before the series ends next issue, but it’s not a bad one to end on with her ability to inspire and motivate. When we see the full extent of her hidden Crimson Dawn empire, it speaks volumes to her ability to cultivate followers, to get to the heart of why they’d want to join her and her aspirations, because while the glimpse in issue #2 was impressive, the final show of force is almost staggering and makes her incoming defeat and failure hard to believe.
Throughout the issue, we get to spend some quality bonding time between the two Sith, as Palpatine takes Vader out on a field trip to hammer home how he expects things to play out. In his after-action report to Palpatine, Vader reveals he’s unsure if any Sith is actually in the Fermata Cage and doubts there will be one (and readers of the Doctor Aphra series* will know the truth from the most recent issue), causing Palpatine to still admire Qi’ra’s plans since either way it’s a trap they can’t avoid springing due to the unknown. To Vader he reiterates the Sith’s Rule of Two, reminding his apprentice he’ll enforce the rule if a Sith does spring forth from the Cage, a not so subtle message to Vader he better be on the right side of such enforcement. When the Archivist turns on the Cage, the two Sith come aboard the Executor to demolish the Amaxine Station…only for the impressively sized Crimson Dawn armada to force their ship to reroute power to shields rather than weapons, causing the two Sith do exactly what they didn’t want to: spring the trap on their own. It’s all setting up for what looks to be a giant finale, but it sort of feels like this issue ends too abruptly, like we should be seeing more of this final battle already, so maybe more time can be spent with Qi’ra in the finale then just on the plot. We’ll see how it all unfolds in a month when issue #5 wraps it all up April 5!
There’s a reason the art team of Steven Cummings, inks from Victor Olazaba, colors by Guru-eFX, and Travis Lanham lettering made my Top 3 list in my 2022 Star Wars Comics Year-in-Review and this issue only solidifies their spot. The full page of the Crimson Dawn fleet bearing down the Executor outside of the Amaxine Station is a staggering display of sense of scale: For starters, it puts the size of Amaxine Station in perspective, the little Executor a blimp before its grand design, while Qi’ra’s fleet is astonishingly stacked with dozens upon dozens of larger ships baring down on the what’s usually considered giant Super Star Destroyer, further hammering home how impressive her resources are and how surprising her defeat will be. The sheer amount of ships, laser blasts, and details on the ships and Station almost make it feel like a freeze-frame from a live-action or animated film, while Guru-eFX’s colors give a vibrant sense of life to the innards of the Amaxine Station’s overgrowth from a distance, plus Lanham’s lettering draws you across the giant display of power, allows its scale not to be interrupted, yet pushes us towards how quickly this will all unfold. Speaking of the Station’s innards, the amount of little plant details Cummings and Olazaba squeeze out of the few panels within really gives a sense of life to the place and how much it has to offer to the Fermata Cage, while the little clamps all over and set up the Archivist’s machine look so out of place and unnatural there, especially with how Guru-eFX colors the plant life versus machine life. Lanham’s SFX for the Cage are very distinct from his other ones, bubbled yet straight lines, looking abnormal as the pink color chosen to represent its power. And the full page of the Crimson Dawn fleet leaving their waterfall home, the sun setting in the distance, is a somber, beautifully colored moment, while the water takes on a misty like look in the light that makes it a beautiful and peaceful final moment for her plans.
Here are a few other things:
- *In the most recent issues of Doctor Aphra (Vol. 2), we’ve seen Qi’ra already on the Amaxine station, as well as Aphra, who is currently possessed by an ancient AI known as the Spark Eternal, while the series’ next issue, out in April, will see them attempt to use the Fermata Cage for its own purposes. I’m curious how this all will link up and it looks like we won’t know and see until issue #5, as there’s no clear way to connect the two series besides the location at this point.
- As one of the many issues out on March 1 for Marvel, it helps kick off the Women’s History Month variant covers by Peach Momoko. As seen above, Chanath Cha makes the cover, a bittersweet moment considering she died last issue.
- Regardless if you have crossover fatigue or not, Soule will be helming the next crossover event, which deals with a droid revolutionary, as seen in Revelations and Han Solo & Chewbacca #9 recently. More details will likely be revealed soon, especially with the June solicitations coming out this month. We shall see.
Hidden Empire #4 shuffles the board around enough the inevitable is coming in the grande finale.
+ Seeing Qi’ra’s inspiration in action even if she’s saying otherwise privately
+ What a dizzingly display of her power via the art
– Seems to set up less time with Qi’ra in the finale….hoping to be wrong!
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.