– Spoiler Review –
The frights and delights of The High Republic Adventures – The Nameless Terror come to a riveting end, living up to everything that came before, in issue #4.
Before we dive into the memorable events in the past, I want to cover the framing story with saber-for-hire and ex-Jedi Ty Yorrick, whose droid Klo has been acting somewhat suspiciously over the course of the series as Ty recounts the tale of the past. They finally arrive at Klo’s suggested location and Ty finishes the story, heading out to see about this supposed acklay. To prepare Ty for whatever she has cooked up, Klo looks at a lesson from the story, of how the Jedi are better together, so shouldn’t Ty have someone with her as well? Someone knocks at their ship and when the ramp goes down…it’s Drewen!! If you haven’t read The High Republic Adventures – The Monster of Temple Peak, this reveal might not have as much weight, but the point still comes across, as Ty reluctantly, finally, takes the young Segredo on as an “apprentice” monster hunter, deciding to become a team! It’s a big step for Ty and certainly opens some avenues for when she returns, with Drewen alongside her, for Phase III: Trials of the Jedi, out in October!
Teamwork is important, going it alone can be dangerous, but sometimes even having others with you isn’t enough…at least not for some of the characters in the past. That’s right, the Nameless-infested tale of the past ends with quite a few casualties, but it’s through some sacrifices enough manage to get away to fight another day for light and life. With the Nameless creature on the loose inside the ship, the clock is ticking on if any and all of the characters trapped inside with it will make it out before it finds them or before Pako’s plan to use the engines as a bomb goes off. With the creature screeching through the halls, Path of the Open Hand/Closed Fist* Wole and Shalish abandon Pako, though Wole certainly seems uncertain about the choice but goes along anyways with her. Their flight leads to their deaths by the monster, showing how striking out on their own, being selfish, and not working together has deadly consequences. Before Wole passes from his injuries, Rok finds him and consoles the Rodian, who is surprised a Jedi would still be compassionate despite Wole’s beliefs, while the only remaining Path member Geth, who makes it out alive in the end, iterates the same surprise over the Jedi helping them or sacrificing themselves for others. One Path member won’t change the entire group’s mindset, but I’m not surprised them directly interacting with a Jedi results in them finding cracks and flaws in their cult’s beliefs.
Thanks to the ticking clock aspect of the Nameless creature closing in and the engines about to go off, the issue has an intense pace, and like issues before it, George Mann still manages to squeeze in character moments and give everyone a moment. It’s a pretty harrowing ending and I was surprised at some of what was shown, in a good way, and how many characters don’t make it out, which only served to payoff the building tension through the miniseries and reiterated the dangers of the monster. The scene where Sula finds herself confronting the Nameless monster, pushing out with the Force to keep it at bay as her arm disintegrates into dust, was one of the big standouts. She only survives thanks to Pako’s sacrifice, as he hears her shouts and comes running, attacking the big creature with his blaster before it takes him out with a swing of its paws. This scene both highlights how little chance the Jedi or anyone in the ship has of making it out and also what happens when people work together and don’t act selfishly, as maybe someone can survive. Pako’s sacrifice isn’t in vain, as Sula makes the most of her survival and does what Jedi do best, making the ultimate sacrifice at the end to help the others get out of the ship, standing against the Nameless (including all the new ones who hatched from their eggs) and holding them back until the engines explode and destroy them all.
Closing out the series on art is the same team of Eduardo Mello, Ornella Savarese on inks, Vita Efremova & Nicola Righi as the coloring duo, and lettering by Studio Ram. As mentioned earlier, the scene of Sula first confronting the Nameless is a big standout, especially for the art team, as it initially starts with the kaleidoscope of colors she sees the creature in, its terrifying visage distorted and twisted to the point not giving into fear is an impressive move by Sula, but I loved the visual of her arm slowly turning to dust and disappearing across several panels the next page the most, as her reaction to watching it turn is the same I felt I had while reading it. Once Sula regroups with the others, she tells them about Pako’s passing only for the engine warning to start blaring, sending a fresh jolt of fear, anger, and sadness across our character’s faces, from Coron, Xinith, and Ambar, yet it’s Sula, who lost her arm, who has the look of resolve everyone else can latch onto and be brave again. The look of fear everyone has, even the Jedi, as the alarms wail and the situation seems dire, has added weight by the coloring team’s big splashes of red across many of the panels, while the SFX for the alarm weaves its way through panels and across pages, making it feel all encompassing and oppressively loud. Also with Sula, the final panel where she holds back the Nameless as the others escape hits emotionally, as we see her saber, fallen on the ground, two Nameless in the distance, and the remnants of her dusted body floating around it, followed by a full page of the ship exploding, taking out the Nameless that took her and so many others. The big focus on the explosion buffets the loss, as it means the horrors are finally over, as we see Coron crying in Rok’s arms over the loss of his Master.
Here are a few other things:
- *That the Path members in this miniseries call themselves Path of the Closed Fist is surprising after reading Path of Vengeance (should have a review soon), as the new name for the group happens after the last time these particular Path members are last with the cult. Without going into spoilers, the Path members in this comic appear in Vengeance, but due to some very intriguing circumstances, end up separated and never make it back to the main group on Dalna. The other group arrives on Dalna and then the new name is given to the Path, so how did this group, without communications after their ship went down, learn about the change? We see one Path member messing with the communications in issue #1, so maybe he got a transmission before he shut it down? Is there a time delay on when they appeared in the opening issue and when we last see them in the novel, so they were maybe able to get a transmission from the main Path to learn about the new name? Or did this group just happen to arrive at a similar idea? Or is it just a little error? Or did I miss the context that makes this all work?
- Regardless of that little question mark, one other little connection between Vengeance and this miniseries has some fun Phase I set up…aka don’t miss out on the book!
- It’s a little unclear how the survivors make it off the planet alive, with both ships destroyed and no communication abilities, but we’re glad they did to end up leading to Ty’s training many years later.
The High Republic Adventures – The Nameless Terror #4 is a harrowing cap to what’s been an exceptional miniseries overall, resulting in a miniseries fans shouldn’t miss if they want some good old fashioned horror mixed in with the bright messages of the Saga.
+ Delivering on the stakes and tension
+ Message of teamwork over selfishness
+ Nameless terrors indeed thanks to the art!
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
#1 | #2 | #3