– Spoiler Review –
It’s all led to this, The High Republic #15, the grand finale to the series and its part of Phase I, where fates are written, left hanging, and an emotional core by writer Cavan Scott and stunning art by Ario Anindito and team deliver on the fast paced, yet memorable ending. Make sure to read this before checking out Eye of the Storm #2!
As far as finales goes, especially for the pace and scope and character focus of The High Republic, issue #15 is par for the course, building on everything that came before to deliver an emotional closing, even if it feels like it goes by too fast. The events we’ve been curious about since The Fallen Star left them open ended finally play out in the pages of issue #15, confirming some theories, revealing more fates or keeping them unknown, and genuinely making it feel like an impactful part of the larger, but also managing to keep the focus on Keeve like it has been from the start. This is honestly the best part of the issue to me, and one of its most nimble feats, as Keeve Trennis has been this series’ core from the opening pages and allowing her to stay that way, instead of completely losing track of her to cover everything we’ve been curious about, keeps its through line intact and shows how the characters are more important than the what and how of things anyways. It also helps a lot with the pace of the series, adhering to the overall Phase schedule that has resulted in the overall story feeling crammed at times in the comic, but characters like Keeve and Sskeer and their fight to support one another through it all makes even the shortest or quickest of arcs or story moments worth it. The character focus is also what helps even Maru’s big moment here, as his funny, yet helpful and protective nature of Starlight was conveyed enough through Scott’s writing and all the art teams’ work that despite his small panel time, his sacrifice and actions leave a mark. And even though we’ve lacked any substantial internal time with Avar Kriss, how Keeve has helped her deal with the hero complex makes her big moment, mirroring one from the opening in Light of the Jedi, fitting and worthy of the character. It’s still clear by the end of the issue a few more issues with these characters and the story would’ve helped, as 15 both reads short but also condenses these moments and end up feeling finished before it really started. There are plenty of unknowns left after this issue ends which adds to that feeling, unknowns other parts of the finale to Phase 1 don’t answer either, not even Eye of the Storm #2, and it’s a little daunting how many fates are left hanging, from Sskeer, Lourna Dee, to even Vernestra Rwoh or Lula Talisola, but it’s not on this issue to answer those, and none of Phase I has to, so I’ll take what I can get here with confirmations on Keeve, Terec, and Ceret and others surviving.
Since the first issue, Keeve’s been in doubt mode to some extent, concerned if she’d be worthy of stepping in the footsteps of the Jedi around her, be it Sskeer, her master she adores and looks up to, or someone like Avar Kriss, the recent Hero of Hetzal who threw down the gauntlet and said the Jedi would protect light and life from Starlight. As she’s come into her own over the course of the series, figuring out a different way to stop the Drengir, using her attachment to Sskeer both to help that process and help him choose not to give (much like he taught her), and just an issue ago she walked Avar back from the brink the Nihil and her own emotions push her towards. Conflicts can often forge a person and Keeve, unlike the Jedi before her, was immediately and at a much younger age/part of her Jedi training when the Nihil and the Drengir attacks forced her to step up just as she was figuring herself out, so she’s had to compress what Jedi before her did into a far shorter time (sort of fits how this series has been, doesn’t it?!), so what type of Jedi does she become in the process? Last issue, when they believe the worst is over, Sskeer and Keeve have a wonderful, heartfelt conversation regarding what type of Jedi Keeve wants to be, with her telling Sskeer she wants to be his legacy and him telling her to be anything but, to grow beyond as it were. By the end of issue #15, Keeve understands what that means, what being her own Jedi could look like, as she sees the Jedi she wanted to follow haven’t quite dealt with the situation as well as her, and as she cradles a sad Avar Kriss, she decides she’ll step up in their place because the Jedi owe to everyone Avar promised they’d protect, light and life, to find out how this could’ve happened. I love how the final image sort of bookends the series, as Keeve looked up to Avar as she Knighted her and how she looks up to no one but herself, holding up Avar physically instead of as an example of what she should be, and now holding herself up to a higher standard to answer what could’ve brought the Jedi to this place. Keeve’s been my top Jedi of The High Republic era so far, but this rocketed her up to potentially my favorite Jedi of all time, maybe even Qui-Gon Jinn, so as you can imagine I’m desperately eager to see where her story goes after this, the constant specter of her potential Lost Twenty status looming over, in a good way, everything yet to come.
As suspected, Sskeer’s unique affliction makes him unsuspectable to the Nameless, the deadly creatures like the Great Leveler that Marchion Ro has unleashed against the Jedi. He’s able to chase away the ones bothering Avar and Keeve, though not before Nooranbakarakana falls, and he accepts this as his fate, as what the Force wants for him, reinforcing Keeve’s words to him two issues ago about how he’s still a Jedi and the Force still has use for him. He stays behind then, to hold off the other Nameless on the station, basically the Jedi’s greatest current weapon and defense against the creatures, though it’s unsure if he makes it off Starlight alive, while one has to wonder, much like Keeve did with the Drengir, is fighting and killing the Nameless the actual, best way to deal with them? There’s a hint in the prophecy of the chosen one, as seen in Master & Apprentice, that Jedi sacrifice might be needed to stop whatever and however the Nameless came to be: “Only through sacrifice of many Jedi will the Order cleanse the sin done to the nameless. The danger of the past is not past, but sleeps in an egg. When the egg cracks, it will threaten the galaxy entire. When the Force itself sickens, past and future must split and combine.” Sskeer was where he needed to be to get the others to safety, to protect them, but is he still the answer or is there something more beyond him? I seriously hope to see Sskeer again, which he’s sure he’ll see Keeve again, so I’m going to take that as the subtlest way of Cavan Scott telling us we’ll get to see Sskeer again. While Sskeer is sure of his purpose, Avar comes back into hers here, using her ability to connect Jedi together to not only help give those on Starlight extra strength, a moment we saw vaguely in TFS since Stellan nor Elzar could feel her completely due to the Nameless on their levels, giving Estala Maru more power to keep Starlight together as long as possible and even manages to reawake Terec and Ceret, who are able to save Keeve just as she was coming save them. Whereas Sskeer is the answer for this moment, maybe Avar is the bigger answer in the long run to the Nameless? If there needs to be a sacrifice of many Jedi, maybe if they let the Nameless attack them up until the level Terec and Ceret were, it’ll be enough to cleanse the sin and Avar and bring them back? Either way, Avar is down, but not out and I really hope Phase III finally puts her in the forefront, POV and otherwise, so we can dig into her more and her reactions to everything that’s transpired.
Thankfully Ario Anindito will be the artist for the upcoming Obi-Wan comic miniseries, because if there’s one artist I’ll always want on some project, it’s definitely him and this issue proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt…since he proved it many issues ago already! Just a glance at his penciled version of one of the opening pages, where the Nameless is feasting on Keeve, shows his almost obsessive attention to detail and why pages and panels like the opening one are so frightening, scary to read, as he pours a lot of emotion and care into making sure every single inch of a panel conveys what the story intends. We were lucky enough to interview him and in his responses, he talks about how he captures so much heartbreak in characters’ faces, thinking of losing the teachers in his life, and I can only imagine all the teachers he thought about here in some of the issues big moments between Maru and Avar, from him screaming in pain as holds it together for a few extra moments, Avar shouting as she’s launched out in the escape pod, to the look on her face when she tells him she can help as he goes into the escape pod and they leave together, as it’s already clear she knows his answer and just doesn’t want to accept it, and likewise his knowing smile, happy and at peace in his final moments, an amazing amount of refinement and emotion for both of them from Ario that adds so much nuance to the dialogue as one reads it in their head. Speaking of Maru, the first time Avar and Keeve run into his room is my favorite page of the issue, as it’s a big, two paged splash, with the haunting visage of Maru floating in the air, the crumbling ceiling both conveying the turmoil the station is in and how he’s just barely keeping it together, the strain on his face in the close-up making it clear the herculean effort he’s using. I also really love the page of Avar floating, her song strengthening many of the Jedi on the station, teasing us with faces we know and don’t know of their fates, from Burryaga, Bell Zettifar, Buckets of Blood, to Vernestra Rwoh, the blue ribbons pulsing from her looking both like asteroid rings around a planet and also the grooves of a vinyl, as this is her song after all. Mark Morales and Victor Olazaba’s inks don’t differentiate much, ensuring a cohesive continuation of Ario’s pencils, be it all the scars on Lourna’s face to the littlest of cracks in the crumbling Starlight as Maru holds it together. Carlos Lopez’s colors make for sickening, dark work for the Nameless portions, keeping the moment claustrophobic and dire that way, while the hopeful lighting towards the end or the shiny, heroic blue of Avar’s song outlining the almost angelic nature of her ability. And Ariana Maher’s lettering (who we also interviewed!), the heavy usage of Keeve’s green internal dialogue boxes, always giving the art room to shine, aides the mission of keeping Keeve the main focus of the issue, showing the full-circle nature as there was a lot of Keeve’s inner thoughts at the beginning too. The “chikka” SFX she uses for Nameless, adding to the snaking tendrils reaching out to Sskeer, gave me goosebumps, as if they are more terrifying to hear than see. As much as the final page shows how far Keeve has come, of her composure and resolve, it’s also a very hopeful one, as even though both Avar and her robes’ are in tatters, Avar’s head hung, Keeve looking up, to the future, the light of Eiram bright behind her, promises hope still shines and it’s a beautiful final page to bring home the feeling of Phase I’s ending: dark, downtrodden, but not yet out, with the bright hope never too far away.
Here are a few other things:
- Lourna Dee escaping was not on my bingo card, but it feels par for the course she’d do it while killing a Jedi and stealing their flagship, Ataraxia! I can’t recall if this detail was teased in The Fallen Star and a cursory glance through my copy doesn’t seem to suggest this moment, and I’ll be curious to see what chaos she’ll bring to both the Jedi and Nihil’s lives whenever we get to see her next. On the other hand, as mentioned before, Maru’s sacrifice felt right for the character, often in the background, but also important to the station and, as I imagined since TFS, the captain did go down with the ship but also made sure Avar didn’t go down with him.
- Phase II kicks off in October, though I’m sure we’ll have plenty of news over the next few months as more details arise about its story and the entries within. Chris and I will have a big Phase I overview/retrospective before the next Phase starts, but we’re still figuring out what that will all look like, and hopefully some more interviews for you readers as well! It might not be until 2024 at the earliest we pick back up the threads from Phase I, but I imagine this look to the past in Phase II will only make the long wait worth it.
The High Republic #15 is a fitting, full-circle feeling finale for the series that keeps its core in focus, even if it also highlights the compact nature of the era, and cements Keeve Trennis as one of the era’s most memorable and exciting Jedi to watch.
+ KEEVE STEPPING UP, believing in herself
+ Focusing on the characters
+ PRAISE TO ARIO AND TEAM FOR AN EXCELLENT, SPELLBINDING DISPLAY OF ART
– Highlights compactness
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.
THE HIGH REPUBLIC COMIC REVIEWS:
There Is No Fear: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 — Heart of the Drengir: #6 | #7 | #8 — The Shadow of the Nihil: #9 | #10 — Jedi’s End: #11 | #12 | #13 | #14