– Spoiler Review –
Keeve Trennis captured by Lourna Dee?! The more things change, the more they stay the same…or is this time different? The High Republic #2 – Phase III sees Keeve carving a new path, though a surprising return in the cliffhanger ending looks to upend everything.
Between Lycos, a Force-using individual twisted into a Child of the Storm, his own personal Nameless creature, and Lourna Dee’s big return, Keeve Trennis and her team had a lot more than they bargained for when coming to Skarabda’s home to stop the Hutt’s expansion into Republic space. Captured, Keeve’s mind is being plumbed by Skarabda’s mind-slicer, torturing her as it buys the Hutt some time to suss out what she’s really curious about: who killed her sister, Myarga! Myarga helped the Jedi against the Drengir in Phase I’s The High Republic series, but she found herself a Nihil captive shortly after, Keeve locating her as she went undercover to get to Lourna Dee, the suspected Eye of the Nihil at the time. Lourna knows Keeve could reveal the truth of what happened and enjoys employing the shock collar to keep her quiet, using this advantage and Skarabda’s trust she’s built as her enforcer to push the idea of killing the Jedi (even if she was the one who saved her from Avar Kriss’ misguided sense of justice), but Skarabda has worked with Jedi before to secure an initial treaty, so she’s not against hearing Keeve out when she promises to reveal the truth. When you take into account “Light in the Darkness” in Tales of Light and Life, “All the Republic” in Revelations (2023) #1, and both the opening issue of this series and the opening moments of this one, Keeve Trennis has spent her time as a Jedi Master out fighting the Nihil, an invaluable service as the Order remains mostly on Coruscant and unable to breach the Nihil’s Stormwall. But fighting won’t solve everything, nor is it always the best course of action, and thanks to the mind-slicer dredging up memories of Keeve’s Padawan Trials, she realizes this is the only way forward, much like she did when she helped bring the conflict with Drengir to an end. It’s exactly why Sskeer picked her as his apprentice, as the Trandoshan fought against his instincts and learned not to fight, not to be aggressive, so seeing the same quality in Keeve endured her quickly to him. We saw in the opening issue of Phase I’s series she employs this ideal, finding a way to redirect a swarm of giant insects instead of fighting them, and as she’s faced with Lourna’s blade, she decides to offer up her mind to show the truth of what happened, rather than fight against Lourna or the Nihil surrounding her.
The gambit pays off, as the truth is Lourna is the one who killed Myarga, so the former Tempest Runner shows her real fangs and takes out the mind-slicer when this is revealed! Skarabda shoots Lourna yet Keeve saves her once again, asking the Hutt to spare her so they can get information in the fight against the Nihil, to help both their sides, so this is when Affanar, the Nihil “delegate” steps in, threatening the Hutt against betraying the Nihil and trying to kill Keeve, but Skarabda does something amazingly unprecedented: she squashes Affanar, one of those awesome, always curious if a Hutt had done that before, type of moment! She tries to kill Lourna, but it’s all distraction enough for Dee to activate a hidden bomb, making her escape as Keeve stays behind to save Skarabda, bringing their current conflict to a halt as they team up to take out the real threat, Lourna. There it is again, while Keeve’s insistence of sparing Lourna leads to the wily woman’s escape, not fighting has brought her a new ally for the time being, and one can only be sure Sskeer, regardless if he lived or not, would be proud of what his apprentice has become. Or maybe he wouldn’t, depending on how the disease consuming his mind would’ve affected him. If only we’d get to learn what happened to him…
Outside of Skarabda’s throne room, we find out Terec, brought down by Lycos in his Vector thankfully did not perish and even managed to kill the Nameless pestering Keeve. I’m very curious if this corpse will be brought back to the Order to be studied, because as far as I’m aware, this is the first time the Order has killed a Nameless and have access to the body. Regardless, the Jedi in the sky seem to be holding their own and Terec bands together with the ground forces, only to find themself facing off against Lycos again! I should’ve put this together in my initial review, but Lycos’ vine abilities come from him being a Lonto, a species we met in Phase II’s The High Republic comic as one of members of the Convocation of the Force on Jedha, but still, I’m sure Baron Boolan’s experiments supercharged many of his natural abilities. He begins to wreak havoc, hurting Terec, but as Keeve gains the Hutts as an ally, it gives them enough of an opening to subdue Lycos. Shot and injured, he initially mutters a positive sentiment about the Jedi Order, but his vitriol returns and he reveals a shocking and exciting prospect: a Jedi, who took Lycos’ eye, hunting down the innocent and guilty behind the Stormwall. But it’s not any type of Jedi…it’s a Trandoshan, revealed what the solicitations have been teasing: SSKEER’S ALIVE! It’s heartening to hear he didn’t die (suspicions grew with the solicits for issue #4), and exciting we’ll get to see him again beyond these flashbacks, but given Lycos’ reports of his actions, maybe through a combination of the Nameless’ effects on him as the Magrak Syndrome takes over, it sounds like the Sskeer we and Keeve came to adore might not currently home. I have a good feeling her remembering why he chose her, on knowing when fighting isn’t the answer, could be the key to bringing him back to the Jedi Master everyone knew. But if he’s not destined to return to the Order, will he still be a vital part of their efforts in the struggle with the Nameless, which I’m sure will also be resolved once the Jedi stop fighting them? And as she doubts herself now, will his fall and her likely initial failed attempts to bring him back push her doubts even further? Will this tie into what she says to Yoda in the vision he has Dagobah’s dark side cave? I can’t wait to find out!
Jim Towe takes over fully on art this issue, alongside Jim Campbell on colors and letterer Ariana Maher, and he really steps up to the plate. In the opening flashback, the page where Sskeer announces he’ll take her on as his apprentice, the way Towe brings a smile to the scaly Trandoshan’s face, simply by adjusting his mouth and his eyes a little, it feels like such a huge gesture compared to the other two panels with his stern look, while Keeve’s apprehension when he announces it, replaced later with a smile of her own after his, has a sense of understanding to it, like she already knows this is what the Force wills. To follow these smiles with Keeve on the floor, screeching in pain, eyes all whites, Maskene the mind-slicer holding her down, is a harsh reminder of the reality of her situation, of how much has changed for the both of them. Campbell’s purple for the ring around Keeve, and Towe’s sharp edges to it, add to Keeve’s pained expression, while Maher’s bubble-letter word bubble around her shout could leave ringing in one’s ears. Only a few times this issue does the team employ panel-breaking moments, the first being when Lycos reenters the fray, his vine arm sweeping up, ready to attack Terec, moments after he just used it to put a hole in the Sergeant, and this really underscores the unnatural, deadly abilities he has. Later on, after Lourna activates her bomb, Maher’s SFX almost lost in Towe’s voluminous explosions and Campbell’s fiery colors, Keeve reaches up with the Force to hold back the ceiling to save them both, her hands reaching up and through the last panel into the one above, as if she’s almost physically reaching up to stop it, but that’s sort of how the Force works, from a certain point of view. In the final page, we return to the opening juxtaposition, as we first see Lycos in a flashback, face slashed and hiding, followed by a shadowy Sskeer, lightsaber lit, standing foreboding in the rain, and then we get a panel of pure disbelief on Keeve’s face, her words behind her like she almost can’t imagine saying them, only for the final panel to be another one of her smiling, Sskeer looking on approvingly as she trains under him. It makes it feel like Keeve’s life is full of ups and downs and we’re only just getting started now.
Here are a few other things:
- Terec and Ceret’s lives have hung in the balance a few times now, and while it’s always a delight they survive, even if they aren’t as connected as they used to be, I hope we don’t keep going down that well during Phase III. On one hand, it’s losing its shock value if they continue to survive, while it’s unfortunate it keeps happening to the two gender non-conforming characters.
- Speaking of Terec, what were they beginning to say about Lycos before saying Nihil instead? After a Republic Sergeant mentions Lycos used the Force, Terec said “We noticed. Which is unusual for a Ga–for a member of the Nihil.” Who or what were they about to say that starts with “Ga”? I’m curious if we’ll get some answers on that in future issues…
- 2024 starts off strong for High Republic content: January 3 sees the release of Shadows of Starlight #4, focusing on Marchion Ro; January 17 brings us the third issue of this series and the second of The High Republic Adventures – Phase III; and January 30 has Daniel José Older and Alyssa Wong’s Escape from Valo!
- And hopefully….a The High Republic Show! Especially after host Krystina Arielle showed off her being the inspiration for Keeve’s hairstyle!!
- Also speaking of 2024, you can see what’s on its way in both March AND April of The High Republic – Phase III, where it seems Sskeer isn’t the only familiar face returning and somehow this one is even more surprising!
The High Republic #2 – Phase III shows how much Keeve Trennis has grown as a Jedi Master, yet it brings with it the return of her old Master, which might pull her biggest worries to the forefront all over again.
+ Keeve choosing not to fight
+ Sskeer is ALIVE!!!! But things don’t sound like they are going well for him…
+ Towe takes the mantle and delivers
– Hopefully we don’t keep playing will they/won’t they die with Terec/Ceret a bunch again
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 HIGH REPUBLIC – PHASE III REVIEWS
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