– Spoiler Review –
There’s still a whole First Order to run despite Kylo Ren’s personal journey and before he heads off for another test from Vaneé, Legacy of Vader #6 shows the growing fracture between General Hux’s belief in what they built and how little Kylo cares about it.
Ever since the first issue, we’ve only been treated to short check-ins with the feud between General Hux and Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, though last issue took it to a comical and interesting new direction as Kylo played both sides on Naboo for his own purposes. Issue #6 reignites the strong characterizations of the two young men’s feud as the First Order works to conquer Corellia to gain back their shipbuilding capabilities. As Hux’s plans bring the planet to its knees, he waxes poetic about the First Order as he envisions it, as a place that isn’t full of heroes like the New Republic or Rebellion was and instead how every role and every person is important. It’s not a bad speech, but it’s immediately undercut by Kylo’s appearance in his ship as he goes rogue from Hux’s plans and delivers a swifter victory for the First Order. Despite their animosity, Hux has completed Kylo’s throne (as requested in issue #1), which reminded me of Vader’s Mustafar castle to some degree, but he’s growing a little more defiant and isn’t afraid to bring up his concerns to Kylo about the Supreme Leader’s actions on Corellia. Kylo dismisses the discussion, offering threats over any type of actual response, further pushing away his highest subordinate. These moments are a great taste of their deepening fracture, leading to Hux’s betrayal spurred by the express purpose of seeing Kylo lose by the time of The Rise of Skywalker, and it makes me wonder if we’ll get to see the formation of the First Order’s Supreme Council (also in TRoS) in this series to further drive the blade between Hux and Kylo. As much as I enjoyed the subterfuge by Kylo last issue, the outright animosity and pettiness between these two are things I hope we’ll return to even more as the series goes on. I also hope the series will get to hint at or show small snippets of the First Order’s expansion after the Resistance/New Republic’s destruction, much like it did with Corellia’s fall here.
With Corellia out of the way, Vaneé’s on the horn to Kylo, revealing he found a target worthy of Kylo’s might: a Jedi who survived Order 66. There’s plenty of mystery around this new Jedi, Grandea, who only appears in the issue’s final page, but it’s all adding up to what could be quite the unique story. While Vaneé and his spies don’t know the Jedi’s name, we know it from the solicitations (shown at the end of the issue too), but Vader’s files teased an unusual case, which the solicitation expand on and tease Grandea used the Force in a strange or unique way to survive Order 66. She seems to be a new species, while her hiding out on the snowy planet of Lahtee, not getting involved with the bigger fight or bothering to search out Luke’s Order, as far as we’re aware, leaves some big questions I look forward to Soule and team answering next issue. There’s some good humor in this issue, from Kylo’s comment to Vaneé about bringing back Grandea’s head for him to have as a friend to his impatience with being coy at the bar when looking for the Jedi, and I feel like Grandea might add even more levity as she deals with Kylo; she’s giving me Porter Engle-vibes from the little we’ve seen of her, someone readers could tell Soule had a blast writing throughout The High Republic, especially its novel finale, Trials of the Jedi.
Welcome back, Luke Ross! Legacy of Vader looks like it’ll be bouncing between Stefano Raffaele and Ross throughout its run, so we have Ross for this and the following issue before the switch happens again, though colorist Nolan Woodard and letterer Joe Caramagna remain constant. And speaking of those constants, Woodard’s colors do some intriguing things in issue #6, as the hazy grey/white sky for Corellia as the First Order invades gives a sense there’s nothing else out there, nothing coming, just the oppressiveness of the FO, while the rich indigos and darkness at the edges of the snowy planet of Lahtee are comforting and sleepy, invoking a sense of introspection, of which Kylo sort of does as he walks alone in the woods, reaching out his hand to catch a falling snowflake; is he remembering a better time, his battle with Rey on Starkiller Base, or just letting the Ben Solo inside through? I like the little ways the team indicates Hux’s anger, the shaking fists as he’s demeaned while Kylo sits on the throne Hux made for him, or also the reddening of his face and change of expression as he decides to broach the subject of Kylo’s maneuvers undermining his carefully laid plans. In response to this, the utter lack of emotion on Kylo’s face speaks so much to how little he cares about what Hux wants or how his actions affected the plans, as after all, a victory is a victory, is it not? The smirk on Grandea’s face in the final panel, a close-up, with Kylo’s saber a twinkle in her eye as she holds it, is what gives me the feeling she’s going to be quite the Jedi for Kylo to deal with and might provide some humor along the way.
Here are a few other things:
- By the time this series returns in August for the confrontation with Grandea, SDCC will have already happened and we’ll have had solicitations for October, both likely giving us further glimpses into what Soule and team have in store for this series. Check back to the Manor for any news from SDCC and I’ll make sure to link to whatever coverage I have in my review of the next Legacy of Vader issue.
- Corellia’s occupation was first revealed by Resistance Reborn, written by Rebecca Roanhorse, so it’s neat to see the events during the year between the final two sequel films fleshed out more. Roanhorse will be back in early 2026 with the second entry in the Reign of the Empire trilogy!
Legacy of Vader #6 returns to the Kylo/Hux dynamic and pushes ahead to what should be an interesting encounter with a Jedi.
+ The Kylo and Hux dynamic is a delight
+ Colors setting the mood in memorable ways
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him and the website on Bluesky.
LEGACY OF VADER REVIEWS:
Reign of Kylo Ren: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5