– Spoiler Review –
In The High Republic Adventures – Saber for Hire #2, Ty Yorrick does her best to track down the Nihil and the children they stole, while her apprentice Drewen, bristling at her treatment, looks to do something drastic.
Try as hard as she might, Ty Yorrick can’t totally escape her Jedi past, or the Jedi for that matter, as she can’t in good conscious leave the people of Temerancé and ignore the problem of their missing, Force-sensitive children. But she can ignore her monster hunting apprentice Drewen, whom she continues to hold at arm’s length despite his no-nonsense proposals for how to help locate the Nihil and save the kids. What happened between her and her friend Kilas Teradine is partly to blame for her attitude towards Drewen, as she doesn’t want to feel the pain of losing someone again or letting them down, and if she grows close to anything, that could happen again. Another reason might come from her Master, as the issue opens with a flashback of her training with Cibaba, who teaches her and connects with her via a Force mind meld, something which we saw her and Elzar Mann do back in The Rising Storm. Could such a deep connection, and Cibaba’s ultimate fate, also be a contributing factor? Could something have happened to him (we get a hint later in the issue, I’ll touch on in a moment) and due to their connection, she felt it? Or did leaving the Order, and therefore him, hit harder because they had the connection? Either way, while I feel like there is some merit to Ty’s training, as patience is a key skill many overlook, she’s trying too hard to keep him away and it’s only feeding into his problems with her, whether she’s actually testing him or not. He wheels on Klo, one of Ty’s droids, as she was the one who reached out and brought him back to Ty but finds a better way to focus that anger: looking for a mission of his own. The one he finds ties us back to issue #1’s lingering thread about Kip Soh, the Chancellor’s son, and his boyfriend Jom Larin being identified by an opportunist: Drewen intercepts the Nihil broadcast about Kip and Jom, deciding he’ll go rescue them, both to prove himself to Ty and give the Rancor Rider, his nickname for her ship, a reputation boost. Nothing bad ever comes out of striking out on your own, right? We’ll see soon enough in issue #3!
After Ty storms off from her ship, out to look for the Nihil and save the kids and be far away from Drewen, she receives a general distress call about a Nihil attack on a local village. As Ty checks in on the village, she finds the Nihil charging in, riding the storm by causing chaos as they grab the children, with one in particular, an Azumel like her Master, catching her eye, causing her to throw planning to the wind and jump into the fray…but when has Ty really planned before anyways? It was a blast to see Ty back in action again, especially under Rachael Stott and team’s artwork, as there are quips abound, her ferocity and skill make the Nihil look like chumps, and yet underneath it all the Jedi in her still shows itself, not killing unless she really, really has to. The fact she’s cutting her way through, catching up to and finding the hidden Nihil ship with all the kids, while she’s arguing with Drewen about his idea to rescue Kip and Jom, is another notch in her kick-ass belt. As she cuts her way onto the Nihil ship, the kids still need rescuing but she finds one in particular attempting to use the Force to hold the Nihil at bay: Lene Kostana! Last issue I freaked out over the likelihood the Lene mentioned was the very same who would come to mentor Count Dooku and train Sifo-Dyas and issue #2 confirms it, as the little Force-sensitive girl starts showing off her skills. Despite being tired and almost unconscious after the effort to use the Force to hold back the Nihil, while Ty carries Lene, the youngling finds her way into the ex-Jedi’s mind, revealing to us an interesting fact about Cibaba while also digging into Ty’s very being. With Cibaba, we learn he became a Seeker, the ones who search the galaxy for Force-sensitive children, after Ty left, seeming to hint he didn’t want to train again after losing her, which would only add to her lingering issues with making connections since she might’ve also felt his disappointment (if such feelings pushed him). As for Ty, she initially shakes off Lene’s questions on why Ty left, not before remembering stabbing a lightsaber through her friend Kilas Teradine, but it’s the second comment that lingers. Lene says Ty is always running from herself, more than anything else, and it’s not clear if Ty doesn’t hear it or if she’s ignoring it, but it cuts right to the core of the main problem: Ty herself, one she’s trying to avoid thinking on or dwelling on, and this recent influx of distress calls to hop between the Stormwall is the easiest way for her to ignore herself on focus on others. But if you can’t help yourself, can you help others? Both Drewen and Ty need someone else to help them through what’s about to come next.
The same art team is sticking around, so once again we have the incomparable Rachael Stott, colorist Nicola Right, and letterers Tyler Smith & Jimmy Betancourt bringing to life Ty’s precise skills and Drewen’s restlessness. In the second page of Ty taking on the kidnapping Nihil, Ty’s battling what seems to be a Wookiee, and we get this great close up where one would think she’s supposed to be breaking a sweat or struggling in her fight, but the way Smith & Betancourt bring us into the panel first, she’s clearly more mad at Drewen’s suggestion about the mission over the fight she’s in. I also enjoyed the lettering team’s “Bak” when Ty bonks the Nihil on the head with her saber, followed the next panel by a “vzzakk” when she slices off one of its paws while saying they aren’t Jedi, and the last one shows her running past two and taking them out without barely looking, still talking to Drewen. All this prowess builds up for a great moment on the following page, where Ty’s words appear larger than her almost, off in the distance and entering the hanger where the Nihil are hiding, and despite their advantage the marauders are booking it to flee her wrath; her obvious disadvantage is showcased in how large the Nihil ship is and the number of people they have, as well as how small she’s drawn, but in a way it really highlights how terrifyingly good she is too. Having just seen it in theaters again, though I’ve definitely watched it at home recently too, I always really liked the effect in The Phantom Menace when Qui-Gon Jinn plunges his blade into a blast door, it melting away like lava against the heat, and we get a similar moment here thanks to Righi’s choice of magma-esque colors and Stott’s vicious drawing of the ship’s hull blistering against Ty’s blade, her urgency on getting inside made manifest in the searing heat of the panel. This is a great team and I can only imagine what they have in store for us thanks to Cavan Scott’s script.
Here are a few other things:
- Ty’s Master Cibaba was trained by Coron Solstus, who was one of the main characters of Phase II’s The High Republic Adventures – The Nameless Terror, and during the flashback to Ty and Cibaba’s Force mind meld, we get to see an older version of him with a young Cibaba!
- Also learning Cibaba was a Seeker….could he have been the one who brought in the young Dooku?
- Outside of this miniseries, The High Republic Adventures – Phase III is home to a lot of stories, either out or coming soon! For starters, the main on-going delves into the era’s larger events through the eyes of Lula Talisola and Zeen Mrala on the edge of the Stormwall; The High Republic Adventures – Crash and Burn #1, the sequel to Crash Landing #1, is out in August; The High Republic Adventures – Echoes of Fear miniseries, starting in August as well, which was revealed thanks to solicitations but got a more official announcement recently, will see the series exploring the strange Echo Stones; and lastly The High Republic Adventures – Dispatches from the Occlusion Zone, another miniseries kicking off in October, this one from different writers, each issue focusing on something different. LOTS of Adventures to enjoy!
- Almost all the Luminous authors behind The High Republic initiative were at the May 23 premiere of The Acolyte, while one fan artist helped make them all appear via hologram and The High Republic Show host Krystina Arielle joined them as well!
The High Republic Adventures – Saber for Hire #2 promises deeper dives into its central characters and delivers some great Ty action already.
+ Digging more into Ty’s psyche
+ Seeing Ty in action again
+ Ty’s fierce attack felt in the art
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.
DISCLOSURE: I received a copy of this book 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 – SABER FOR HIRE REVIEWS
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