– Spoiler Review –
The High Republic Adventures – Quest of the Jedi #1, written by Claudia Gray with art by Fico Ossio, takes us further back in the overall era than ever before, but what’s hidden in the past might hold big answers for the future. A riveting one-shot, I left this issue wishing for 12 more immediately, as I didn’t want it to end, so fascinating where the characters, world, story, and implications for the initiative’s story thanks to Gray’s writing and Ossio’s brilliant artwork.
Originally announced for release in October 2022, The High Republic Adventures – Quest of the Jedi #1 had become sort of a ghost, whispered about in between news drops and releases for Phase II, fans hoping it would find a time to come alive. After a nearly 6 month wait, it’s finally, truly, really here and I went in skeptical and left a true believer, utterly delighted and wishing, like I said earlier, for many more issues immediately afterwards. It’s almost hard to describe my initial reaction, so elated I was the issue was finally here AND this good, I didn’t quite believe it. I slept on it, like Jedi Master Barnabas Vim does at one point in the issue, and I found my appreciation only growing, as while it offered some intriguing new wrinkles in the era’s larger story, it left me hoping and scrapping for more. It feels painful this issue could be this good after all this time and end so swiftly, but the hottest stars shine brightly and wink out quickly, but what it leaves us with is a lasting impression.
Initially QotJ starts in Phase II, picking up some unknown time after the events of Path of Deceit, where we see Jedi Knight Azlin Rell and his Master Vin honoring the two Jedi who went mysteriously missing during PoD’s events with a place in the Kyber Arch (a monument to all the fallen or lost Jedi within the Jedi Temple). Azlin knows the Council has been sending Jedi out for answers across the frontier on what happened to Jedi Master Zallah and Jedi Padawan Kevmo, but they’ve found nothing, so he wonders if the answers aren’t out in the galaxy now, but rather in the past. He starts his search of the past by exploring Jedi Master Barnabas Vim’s many exploits, only for the Force to call him to a specific hunt of the storied Master’s quest for Force artifacts. Vim’s tale is set an unknown time before even the start of Phase II (though there are hints it could be almost 100 years prior) and in studying it, Azlin ends up connecting important dots which have big connections to the initiative’s overall plot. And that’s not hyperbole, this is vital stuff!
Our glimpse into the past sees human Jedi Master Vim and his Twi’lek Padawan, Vix Fonnick, arriving on Angcord, a planet which has recently gone quiet but was known to be a prosperous place. Vim is a procurer of ancient Force artifacts and he knows one was placed on Angcord to hide it from an ancient Sith, Darth Ravi, so he both wants to study the artifact and find out what’s going on with the planet. When they arrive, the Lady of Angcord meets with them and informs them they’ve gone quiet since they started trying to solve the conundrum of why their planet is dying, where all their efforts have yielded no results, leaving them to fear the Force has left them. Vim knows the Force is wherever life is and it’s clear the planet is still strong with it because their warriors are able to pull off feats in the Force not even the Order’s grandest Masters could hope to achieve, so what’s the source of all this power? Turns out it’s the Echo Stone, the artifact brought to Angcord from the days of legends to hide it from the Sith, and for as long as their ancestors can remember, they’ve protected it and it’s both given them a bountiful life on the planet and amazing abilities. Vim is immediately suspicious of the artifact, and after a tense standoff because young Vix gives away they were mainly coming to Angcord to investigate the artifact, he gets Lady Angcord to allow him to meditate on what’s happening. Through his dreams he understands the situation of Angcord: where there’s powerful light…there’s power dark, as Jedi Master Luke Skywalker would tell Rey centuries later. While the artifact channels the Force, we all know it has its dark side, which is what’s poisoning the planet while the light sides allows them their abilities. The artifact’s hold on Lady Angcord doesn’t go quietly into the night, but it dissipates once Vix destroys it, where it shatters into three parts. And these three parts are some of the most important aspects of The High Republic initiative!
These three pieces become the Rod of Seasons (which was stolen in PoD by Yana Ro and the Path of the Open Hand), the Rod of Daybreak (which is being taken by the Herald and Yana Ro on Jedha in The High Republic – Phase II), and the Rod of Ages, all of which allow the wielder to control the Nameless monsters the Path of the Open Hand and later Marchion Ro and the Nihil use against the Jedi! At the end of Quest of the Jedi, Barnabas understands the terrible potential in the artifact, even in pieces, and sends Padawan Vix out into the galaxy to hide two of them as far away from each other as possible, while he takes one to figure out its origins. That the issue ends here is almost excruciating and why I was so eager for 12 more issues, as I’d love to see Vix’s exploits to hide the stones and what Barnabas all uncovered on his own adventures! And it’s not just their story which is left open, it’s all the questions which come with it: how were these three parts found again and made into the three separate control rods? Who found them and why did they name them the way they did? How is the Echo Stone tied to the Nameless planet? Did Barnabas make it to the Nameless planet and what did he find out? Why was it taken from said planet and out into the galaxy in the age of the Sith? The answers to these questions and all the ones I didn’t write out here have fascinating potential and it makes me curious if/how the remainder of Phase II or parts of Phase III will pick up the pieces of this story and fill in some of the blanks.
While we only get one issue with him and his apprentice, Barnabas is a fascinating Jedi I hope we’ll get more stories about in the future, someway somehow (beyond maybe characters filling us in on what he discovered). He’s very open to the Force and understanding of its many facets, not obsessed with being a shining beacon of light but rather a conduit for the Force and whatever may come from it. His willingness to sink into dreams to allow the Force to reach out to him, to show him how to understand, is a fascinating aspect because it’s less about dealing with a Force vision but rather a direct message. He’s putting himself out there in hopes the Force will respond, not searching for anything specifically besides what it tells him, and it’s a mindset more Jedi could do to adopt. I’d love to spend more time with him because his life sounds absolutely intriguing, exploring the galaxy and understanding Force artifacts, and in a timeframe even further back than Phase II sits, he’s even more on his own than most Jedi, hence his need to so truly trust the Force. Padawan Vix was a fun character, so excited at moments she’s spilling the beans a little too early, and their rapport was enjoyable, I wish she could’ve had more time to be explored as well. Especially since Barnabas finds her worthy to take the next part of this mission on her own, far away from him, which is a big and interesting step for her to take so early. Either way, Gray’s writing of these two, and even Lady Angcord and her First Warrior, left me wanting more, while the pace captured my attention for how swiftly these events unfolded but it never felt like we were rushing to the final page.
A lot of other stuff I enjoyed from THRA – Quest of the Jedi stems from Fico Ossio’s stellar art, who is joined by Sebastian Cheng & Candice Han on colors, and letterers Tyler Smith & Jimmy Betancourt. For starters, Ossio’s style aided in giving QotJ a really ancient vibe, and considering it could be set up to 450 years before The Phantom Menace, it should have the air of something different than even Phase II. In fact, it sort of felt like what I thought Phase II might look more like, with the more humble attire, big clunky ship Barnabas is flying, and the futuristically medieval look of Angcord, right down to the way they sit arrayed around Lady Angcord to watch her warriors’ demonstration like some medieval festival. Lady Angcord’s outfit was arresting to start, as I could not shake the feeling she looked like a cross of Sylvie aka Lady Loki from the Loki show and with Loki’s more familiar big horned look in early Marvel Cinematic Universe films, and in a way it might be a very intentional design because she, via the Echo Stone’s control, is sort of a trickster anyways. And all the warriors’ abilities are mostly fancy tricks, the beautiful “mind-painting” they conjure up together that looks like a hologram representation of her or them lifting her up to “feel” the Force is still with them and her, so their acts end up feeling like ‘magic’ to impress the locals and underlings of Lady Angcord’s rule, or better yet, distract them from the planet’s predicament. The action scenes towards the end are frantic and chaotic, really making Barnabas and Vix’s predicament of fighting these Echo Stone enhanced warriors come across as difficult, even if it’s only for a few panels. With Cheng and Han’s colors, most of the planet seems drab and colorless when Barnabas and Vix first land, the land where they are met is brown and lifeless, and so even is our look inside the city, but the only time the color pops in those opening moments is when the Warriors use the Force, the swirl around Lady Angcord when they lift her up or the blast of colors on the mind-painting, showing us what Barnabas figures out later: the Echo Stone provides them these great abilities but at the cost of the planet. We get to see how much more vibrant the planet look in flashbacks as Lady Angcord recounts the past and it’s easy to compare how the team colored those panels compared to the ones in the present. And Smith and Betancourt’s lettering, who’ve been on other Dark Horse releases recently, goes big on the SFX as needed towards the end, with all the blaster fire or when the Jedi ignite their sabers, but the crack noise for when Vix’s saber splits the Echo Stone helps mark how momentous a moment it is. This being a self-contained one-shot, there’s a lot of dialogue for the duo to handle and they do a great job of keeping the flow going and drawing us across Ossio’s very brilliant panels, allowing the art to do much of the work, especially in the dream sequence towards the end.
Here are a few other things:
- The fact we had a Jedi Master Vin, a Jedi Master Vim, and Padawan Vix almost got a little confusing to read…and later write in this review, hence why I used Vim’s first name almost exclusively throughout it.
- At Celebration Europe 2023’s High Republic panel, there was a curious moment towards the end where writer Cavan Scott teased many things in Phase III might be setting up for…something more. Is the mention of Darth Ravi just the tip of the iceberg and the next big initiative will take us further back to the like the Prime of the Sith, like this initiative is the prime of the Jedi? I’d like the reversal and it would be fun for the villains to star instead for once!
- I’m curious if the planet name for Angcord was derived or inspired by the ancient Cambodian city and UNESCO World Heritage Site Angkor.
The High Republic Adventures – Quest of the Jedi #1 might be late to the party, but it’s the bright star in the moment it arrives, leaving quite the impression with its story, characters, connection to the larger initiative, and fascinating art.
+ Intriguing connection to the initiative’s story
+ Fascinating setting and characters
+ Art takes us back even further
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.