– Spoiler Review –
With only four issues for its tale, George Mann’s The High Republic Adventures – The Nameless Terror #2 wastes no time in ratcheting up the tension and scares as the titular creature stalks its prey throughout the crashed ship everyone’s holed up in.
The framing story returns in The Nameless Terror #2, which sees former Jedi turned saber-for-hire Ty Yorrick spinning the yarn on this miniseries’ events, and it seems to reveal there might be more to her part of the story than previously imagined. Before I dive into that, the more I think about it, I imagine Ty’s part is probably set closer to Phase III than Phase I, which we now know takes place a year after Starlight Beacon’s fall. The way she talks about the galaxy in fear of the Nameless beasts helps with my guess on the placement, as a year’s worth of rumors certainly could make the monsters into a frightening myth if it helped take down Starlight, so I’ll be interested to see if we’ll find out a little more before the miniseries ends to better understand when Ty’s part takes place. As for how this issue looks to add some mystery to her sections, Ty is surprised at one point they are out of hyperspace so quickly, with her droid Klo acting slightly suspicious, as they drop out at different coordinates than Ty selected, but Klo dodges the question of why by saying they want to keep hearing the tale and learn what happens to the Pathfinder’s EX droid. Ty lets it go for now, but the suspicion is there due to the way Eduardo Mello draws the way she regards Klo before continuing the tale. They have a testy relationship at times, but I wouldn’t imagine Klo would betray Ty, so I’ll be curious if it’s just the droid’s interest or some other motivation. Either way, I like how, even with a few interruptions of the past’s story with Ty’s parts, both stories flow really well and Ty’s never feel intrusive.
Last issue had the tension building moment of the Nameless egg cracking open and The Nameless Terror #2 has its own frights, like the constant sound of the creature crawling over the ship’s hull and projecting its hunger onto the Jedi inside, causing more pain to the already harmed Jedi Master Xinith. The non-Jedi members of the Pathfinding team, while not affected in the same way, are just as terrified by the noises because the creature sliced up non-Jedi as well when it was attempting to get into the ship’s airlock. Mello and the rest of the art team are really good at conveying fear and the overwhelming effects of the Nameless, be it Pako’s look of shock when Studio Ram’s thick and heavy “THUD” SFX takes over a panel, alerting us to the Nameless’ movement, or the way Jedi like Coron or Sula rub their temples in pain when the creature seems to be closet. But it’s those “THUD” SFX which keep up the constant reminder they are always in danger as it’s always close, even if it’s on the outside of the ship for the moment and serves almost like sensory torture for characters and readers alike, as we don’t know when it’ll strike but the threat is real and near. In fact, they even use imagery from the Aliens franchise, the motion detector blipping as the creature gets closer or further away, to add to the level of frights we tense up and expect. As scary as the Nameless egg cracking was in the first issue, the fact part of the team holes up in a room where there are several more eggs, all waiting to open, is a chilling scene that leaves me on the edge of my seat for the third issue.
Coron and Rok encounter a member of the Path of the Open Hand in their section of the ship, messing with its communications abilities, though we learn he and his group at an even more extremist faction of the cult: Path of the Closed Fist. It’s a reactionary change to the events in The Battle of Jedha, where they claim the Jedi were thirsty for a fight so hence why the peace talks crumbled (even though it was their leader working with someone else to mess things up) and believe the abusers of the Force have to be stopped at all costs. Releasing earlier this month, we first heard about the Path of the Closed Fist branch of the cult in Cataclysm, though it didn’t receive much explanation for who and how it started, so while it was nice to learn a little more about the how it started here, we’re still left in the dark if the Mother authorized it or a certain part broke off to form it or what. It doesn’t matter terribly much, as they are even more extremist than the base cult and it shows here, but it would still be interesting to learn.
Between the iconic imagery from the Aliens franchise and the SFX for the monster’s movement on the ship’s hull, the Nameless continue to grow as a frightening, large threat. We actually see it a few times this issue, with one time being a close up when it pounces on a member of the Closed Fist, where Mello and team make it look like a large, feral cat with wiggly face tentacles (so in line with its typical appearance), and it’s intimidating in the swiftness of seeing it and then no longer seeing it again; we don’t need to see it long thanks to all the build up throughout the rest of the issue. It gets shocked off the hull of the ship in a plan hatched by Pako and Ambar, but the victory is short lived, as it awakes just as Coron and Rok are trying to cut a way back in. The sparing use of seeing the creature was very effective and knowing it might only show itself when it can affect maximum chaos and damage makes waiting for the next appearance a nail-biter. And at this point in a horror/thriller story like this, it’ll be making more appearances and be even more deadly before all is done, especially since we only can confirm Coron survives at this moment. I am growing very scared to read the next issue!
As mentioned earlier, Eduardo Mello remains on for illustrations, while Ornella Savarese returns as an inker (and not colors, like last issue), while Vita Efremova & Nicola Righi take over coloring duties, with Studio Ram on letters. Much like last issue, I really appreciate the color differences to the two eras of story, as Ty’s is bright blue, inviting and welcoming, while the past is drab and full, often browns and beige, nothing to look at and oppressive in their blandness, adding to the atmosphere of doom and gloom around the past’s events. Mello and Savarese’s work on the Nameless vision Jedi have when within its range, a wavy pattern distorting everything in view, almost made me queasy, while I like this is where Efremova & Righi can be more colorful in the past, with hot reds and magentas adding to the sense of queasiness. How the panel with the first good look at the Nameless monster switches from the green, yellows, and browns of the empty planet to shades of purple against the monster’s blue hue adds to the unnatural aspect to these monsters, making their appearance feel wrong, much like the queasy-inducing views it produces in its Force-sensitive victims.
Here are a few other things:
- Most of Phase II still looks to wrap up in May, meaning the final two issues of this miniseries should both be out next month! Right now, it’s just The High Republic Adventures proper that’s moving beyond May, even with three issues releasing then, if current release dates hold.
- Phase III will kick off in October, per the giant release of information at Celebration Europe 2023’s THR panel!
The High Republic Adventures – The Nameless Terror #2 finds a way to match the first issue in frights while upping the tension and growing concern for everyone’s fates, plus adding some mystery to the framing story.
+ Tension and frights escalate
+ Good limited usage of the Nameless
+ Art almost making me queasy
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 – THE NAMELESS TERROR REVIEWS
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