– Spoiler Review –
The young Sav Malagán is on her first job with the infamous Maz Kanata and her pirate crew, where they find themselves dealing with the Dank Graks and each other’s drama in another entertaining, layered The High Republic Adventures #2 – Phase II!
Issue #1 introduced us to Maz’s unique collection of pirate misfits, and while a few were familiar characters like Dexter Jettster or Therm Scissorpunch (less known than Dex, but still), we didn’t get to know them yet besides some little narration background. Issue #2 allows us the chance to learn a bit more about some of the new characters, giving me confidence each one will get a chance to shine alongside our main characters and other better-known ones. In particular, we got a chance to hear more about Coromont and Alak, both providing humor this issue while revealing key and intriguing backstory. Coromont is more of the humorous side, as it turns out not only did he mainly write all the songs about himself, references to the law always being on his back are actually literal, as he has a court-appointed officer with him at all times and it’s a little, little species (smaller than Meebur Gascon, it seems) that artist Toni Bruno seems to have fun with. The officer is basically implicated in whatever shenanigans Coromont gets up to, no matter how verbatim he can recite laws, and Coromont basically just ignores it; I look forward to seeing more of these two and their unique relationship, as I imagine the little officer could come in handy in the future! Speaking of relationships, it’s revealed the spider legged Alak, who got in the tussle with pirate hunting Inspector Raf last issue thanks to Sav’s meddling, mutually fell in love with Raf, but as you can imagine with them being on different sides of the law, it’s not quite working out. Alak’s battle with an overly expressive droid provides the laughs, but the casual drop of his queer relationship was a wonderful little moment in the issue, especially with this being an all-ages series, as it helps normalize it for more audiences and introduces a rare queer rep in Star Wars (which is still lacking overall on queer rep but The High Republic has been trailblazing for the franchise), which is a gay MLM relationship, though both the one here and in Doctor Aphra aren’t actually together at the moment, which adds another reason to root for these two job-crossed lovers! I look forward to Quiet Shan getting some spotlight soon, but like I said earlier, I trust Daniel José Older not only from how he’s introducing and revealing these new characters already, but also from his stellar work in the prior THRA run and other works. This could be a fine series again due to the strength of Sav’s story alone, but these flavorful extras maximize the enjoyment already.
We learn more about these two as Maz, Sav, and team track down the Dank Graks, a group of criminals rejected by dark side Force cults, after Sav, Dex, and Raf found them conspiring to destroy Maz. Finding the Graks’ ship seemingly empty, Maz and crew board it, leaving only the pilot Abadoo behind, though it seems the Graks were anticipating this and were chilling in starship nearby, stowing away onto Maz’s ship after they leave. With the two switching sides, the Graks open an assault on their own ship, while Maz and crew find themselves unable to use their stolen one due to its ancient technology. As things are looking dire, the Graks willing to blow up their own ship if it means the end of Maz Kanata, Alak’s earlier battle with the talkative guard droid pays off for more than a trophy around his neck: it tells them the secret to operating the ship, revealing it’s powered by ancient Tund technology. The Sorcerers of Tund were a Legends pull now being featured in The High Republic comic from Marvel, a group aligned with the dark side, and their members either seem to be good people despite their choice in sides or can go mad and evil, so I’ll be curious if this was just a little reference to the group or the hint of something more in this series’ short future. Regardless, this means the ship can only be used by those with the Force, so Maz steps up to pilot but to maintain her secret, Sav doesn’t. This doesn’t stop Maz from telling Sav and Coromont to head to the guns to see if they can do anything anyways, so as the situation gets worse for their crew, it forces Sav to step up and control the guns! Before the two sides can escalate the battle, Raf appears to break things up and they both jump away.
Did Maz ask Sav to go along with Coromont to the guns because she knows Sav is Force-sensitive? The way Maz has acted towards her so far, it wouldn’t seem like it, as well as how Sav’s narration convinces us to feel the same as the young Padawan, that her secret is safe with Dex, there’s no way she knows…right? Sav starts off this issue so excited to be part of the mission, her scream of excitement infectious thanks to Bruno’s art and letterers Tyler Smith and Jimmy Betancourt, enjoying getting to explore a pirate ship and learning the reality behind these mythical figures she’s been looking up to when she sneaks away to Maz’s Castle. In fact, she even goes so far as to admit being a pirate feels like the real her instead of when she’s at the Temple among the Jedi, another step deeper into the queer coding of the story, as this is the first time Sav really feels like herself. She’s discovering herself amongst these other outcasts and misfits just trying to find their place in the galaxy too, which reads a lot like the queer experience of coming out, of admitting who you are to the world, to friends. It’s a lovely bit of deeper context that might fly by readers, especially younger ones, but it’ll remain between the lines, it’ll be there for them to engage with later or look back at and point towards when they understand it beyond subconsciously. There’s an absolutely brilliant article over at Eleven Thirty-Eight by Abigail James that dives much more meaningfully into the parallels, just from issue #1, than I ever could, and I hope to read more from him on the subject matter after this issue (especially before ETE closes its doors later this year).
Despite this comfort, this happiness of being herself, of no longer being undercover like she feels at the Temple, she’s still hiding herself, even amongst people where she’s gained this comfort as she’s concerned how they’ll feel about her with the full truth out there, unfortunately still thinking she needs to hide Force-abilities to keep this feeling going. Hopefully she can take comfort in accepting all parts of herself to show the others, and the first big step to that actuality happens when Maz pulls Sav to the side after the short battle. Maz reveals, contrary to what Sav’s assumed, Maz knows exactly who she is (even knows her Master), content to help the young woman find herself by her visits to the bar, thinking this mission wouldn’t be too dangerous and Sav could be amongst the people she feels most comfortable with (maybe something Sav’s Master even asked Maz to do, we’ll see) and try out being her real self more. The mission has taken a more dangerous turn, but with Maz’s first mate Abadoo still stuck on her ship and their current ship controlled only by the Force, she asks the young Sav to help, though she doesn’t get to finish the sentence before Sav says yes. Knowing that Maz knows her name, knows who she is, but hasn’t batted an eye at her being around, has accepted her within her community, only builds on Sav’s happiness here, so she obviously jumps at the chance to carry on, to continue being herself. As I was wondering earlier, I’ll be curious if Sav’s Master has some roll in this too, like Maz brought up Sav coming over or they knew Sav was sneaking out and talked to Maz, as it would fit with the more accepting Jedi Order of this era, content to let their Padawans explore themselves and the Force more than what we’ve seen before on screen. Regardless, Sav’s journey, whether you focus on the potential deeper meaning or not, is an absolute delight and really elevates this series.
Once again, what also elevates the series is the wonderful work by Toni Bruno, Michael Atiyeh’s coloring, and letters by Tyler Smith and Jimmy Betancourt. In particular, Atiyeh’s colors really stood out this issue, as I liked the potential connotations in their usage: while aboard Maz’s ship, Sav is still nervous and jittery, and the hallways there are cold, grey, and lacking color, as if this space is still a hinderance to her full self, while the Dank Graks’ ship is exploding at the seams with color, various shades of purple framing every scene, and it’s here where Sav first expresses her feelings about being herself and later allows all aspects of herself to appear plus finds acceptance by Maz, who despite knowing everything, asks for her help in the mission ahead. It’s really cool to see the full Dank Graks now after Older’s initial hand-drawn sketch, as it’s pretty amazing how Toni brought them to full ife, as they have such a unique design, each one of them. We met Arkik last issue, their leader, a Force-sensitive Geonosian, and I love how Bruno matches his suspicious, calculating personality via his eyes, which go wide as they think the day is won against Maz; Orrn, who looks like a Muun, dressed in all black, almost always has his arms crossed, watching the others do the work, confident, until Sav returns fire and rocks the ship; Sava Keem, a Zabrak, with hair hung over on one side, looks determined and savvy, though isn’t above sentimentality, covering her face at one point as they pummel their own ship, sad about the potential loss of cool stuff she had there; and Lavalox Verzen, a kaleidoscope of delightfully weird colors by Atiyeh adorning his Cosian face, another of Older’s characters with a wild, fun syntax that other characters can understand, sometimes, and we can’t, mostly. Overall, they seem like a fun variety of antagonists, as while they haven’t had the same time in the panels as Maz and crew, Bruno and team’s work here helps them immediately standout and seem as colorful. For Smith and Betancourt’s letters, I liked the visual call-back of Coromont’s “–ACK” in his songs when Sav is figuring out the truth of the law being on his back, only for the ship to rattle with a funky SFX, causing her to yell the “ack,” and while it’s a small thing, it helps land the joke Older was aiming for. The sequence as Arkik excitedly screams about lighting up their old ship to finally take out Maz, followed by Keem’s scream as it’s clear the other ship is finally returning fire, and then the earth-quaking shaking looking SFX for Sav’s return fire, Atiyeh’s colors throwing the greys of the ship into disarming yellows, really highlighted the role reversal of the conflict.
Here are a few other things:
- It’ll be interesting to see if THRA – Phase II will link up at all to the era’s larger story or not, as while delays mean it probably won’t align perfectly with the events unfolding elsewhere (like The Battle of Jedha just released and everything but The Blade miniseries looks to tie-in or pick up afterwards), it could be fun to see her and the pirates helping with the aftermath or something. At the same time, I’d not mind it a bit if it didn’t interact with other events at all, or very minimally, as it’s only 8 issues long and I’d like to stay focused on its characters and its place in the era.
- As long as release dates hold, February could be full of Sav and Maz goodness, as the third issue is scheduled to hit February 15 and issue 4 the following week; this typically doesn’t happen but I’d love it if it did!
The High Republic Adventures #2 – Phase II is a blast on the surface, while it invites further exploration if you look hard enough, confirming what we already knew about issue 1 not being a fluke.
+ Sav finding herself…
+ …and the deeper subtext
+ Art sells us on the villains right away; aids in the coded story
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.
DISCLOSURE: I received a copy of this comic from the publisher at no charge in order to provide an early review. However, this did not affect the overall review content. All opinions are my own.
THE HIGH REPUBLIC ADVENTURES REVIEW
#1