– Spoiler Review –
Clone Force 99, the Bad Batch themselves, take over Hyperspace Stories #10 in an appearance befitting their unique personalities and will leave fans wanting more comics with them.
Back in March of this year, The Bad Batch’s second season came to a sad, shocking, and big cliffhanger-filled close, and only a month later fans learned about its third and final season, including a con-exclusive trailer, at Celebration Europe 2023. Scheduled to premiere sometime in 2024, there’s been no update with an official release date yet for season three yet so fans who have been yearning for more will appreciate Hyperspace Stories #10, as it not only stars Clone Force 99, but it also takes us back to a simpler time in their lives during the Clone Wars. Better yet, writer Michael Moreci, who is no stranger to the Clone Wars after his 5-issue miniseries Battle Tales, imbues each member of the Bad Batch with the same energy one expects from their appearances in the show, and it’s easy to hear Dee Bradley Baker’s performances over their lines of dialogue. Crosshair is his usual grumpy, with bits of superiority complex melting in, Wrecker is his soulful, yet tough self, Tech remains as logistical about everything as usual, and Hunter is the somewhat cocky, yet resourceful leader. These big personalities need an appropriately sized threat, and I really enjoyed the idea of experimental battle droids to match the uniqueness of this group, as there’s no way the enemy didn’t know and hear about the Bad Batch and not think of different ways to match such a specific group. The issue ends like you’d expect from an episode of the show, where it seems inevitable they’d succeed but the threat against them was hard enough it felt convincing when they just barely make it through. It’s a great test case for these characters to have an expansion to their story in comic form, much like Star Wars Rebels and Resistance received.
As for how this issue ties into the maxiseries’ connected story about the mysterious Jedi artifact in the toy doll, the issue actually opens on Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi protecting Viivveen, the young Wookiee who originally is given the doll with the object by her father, as first seen in issue #1! In issue #9, Quinlan Vos saw the events of issue #10 to some degree, from Obi-Wan protecting the Wookiee to the Bad Batch finding the doll, though we still aren’t much closer to ascertaining what’s in the doll. As issue #10 closes, the doll, lost by Wrecker in a brawl with a big droid, is picked up by a passing being, claiming it’ll be good to sell. We could get the answer to what’s inside in next month’s issue #11, which has Mace Windu, Yoda, and Viivveen in it, or we might have to wait it out for issue #12 in December, which takes place during the Battle of Endor as the series’ grand finale. I’m hoping we get to learn next issue and see its potential importance on display in the finale, as while this has been fun, I’m curious how it’ll be paid off by the end.
On art sees the return of Riccardo Faccini, who previous provided some villainous good times for Asajj Ventress in issue #5, with colorist Nicola Righi on colors, and Tyler Smith & Jimmy Betancourt as the usual lettering suspects. Of all the things to consider when bringing these characters to life, the one thing I was most concerned about is their complexion, as their noticeably lighter skin compared to their clone brothers in animation so far has sparked an understandable backlash under the form of Unwhitewash The Bad Batch, but I felt like Righi made it clear they were darker skinned than say Anakin or Obi-Wan, to better match their real life inspiration, Māori actor Temuera Morrison. Could it maybe been more? Yes, but this was better than it feels in the show, so there’s that. Elsewhere, Faccini certainly gets their individual proportions correct, as while they aren’t helmetless for long and his take is a slightly different than the show but fitting none-the-less, they are in their armor for the majority and their size and features keeps it easy to follow who we have on a page at any time. And in comparison to them, the look of the experimental droids were a delight, as the mismatched Super Battle Droids with regular Battle Droid heads (or legs!) reminded me of the chaotic, yet funny bits in Attack of the Clones with C-3PO, especially with the spooky red eyes which are fitting for the holiday this was released near, Halloween! My favorite design was the new droid which battles Wrecker, as it’s clearly meant to imitate a gorilla, maybe even a razorback, as we first see it hunched over, front metallic hands on the ground in fists, with big broad shoulders, forearms, and chest/back plating, looking intimidating to anyone else but Wrecker. It has a primarily grey, with blue accented look, so while it’s meant to look like something natural in design, it looks unnatural to the planet’s grassy, forested appearance, which makes it seem like an ‘other’ the Bad Batch have to take out from the pleasant looking planet. Lettering highlights include Wrecker cracking his knuckles before fighting the big gorilla-like droid, Wrecker’s increasingly larger word bubbles as he takes out his anger over losing his newest stuffy, the sound FX in the opening pages feeling appropriately war-like, and lastly the swooshing sound as the fast and nimble experimental droid runs circles around Hunter and Tech.
Here is one other thing:
While Hyperspace Stories the maxiseries is coming to an end, more tales are on their way in the form of original graphic novels using the same titling. But these are 80 or so page stories, focusing on one character, brought to us by different writers and different artists. The first two announced were Qui-Gon (written by George Mann with art by Andrea Mutti & Gigi Baldassini) and Obi-Wan (written by Cecil Casteluentries, out April 24, 2024 and Summer ‘24 respectively, while remaining characters include: Kylo Ren, Rey, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Mace Windu, General Grievous, Darth Vader. In an interview on the Dark Horse website, Mann reveals additional details on his Qui-Gon Jinn tale:
“Expect everything from lightsaber battles to creepy investigations, from dark side sects to familiar faces, as we check in on Qui-Gon at three pivotal moments in his life, venturing to the streets of Jedha as a Padawan, to the distant world of Cerosha as a lonesome Jedi Knight, and deep into the wreck of an ancient spaceship as a Jedi Master. Count Dooku! Young Obi-Wan! It’s all here! Plus, of course, the most gorgeous art from Andrea and Gigi.”
This honestly sounds like such a fantastic idea for a Qui-Gon story and if all the entries in this series will be something similar, a bigger story about each character, I am so here for this next phase of Dark Horse’s contributions!
Hyperspace Stories #10 delivers TV level fun for comic readers as the Bad Batch’s unique personalities shine!
+ Bad Batch personalities feel authentic
+ Wrecker’s battle with the gorilla droid is a highlight for the art team
– Leaving me a little anxious on the connective story
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 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.
HYPERSPACE STORIES REVIEWS
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