The High Republic Adventures Annual 2021 is a collection of short tales from each of the five writers from the “High Republic” multimedia Star Wars project. Though I have been following casually for the last couple of years, I haven’t read every title. Yet, I have enjoyed the some of titles that I have been able to make time for.
Bell Zettifar, Loden Greatstorm, Indeera Stokes, and Porter Engle are probably my favorite characters in the High Republic series, so it was nice to spend a little time with them in comic format. This tale is a Master / Apprentice tale and like many Master / Apprentice tales before it, the master (Loden) teaches the apprentice (Bell) an important lesson. The lesson is actually a pretty noble one about selfishness vs. selflessness. It’s probably something that readers should internalize, especially during the holiday season.
A solid 8-page story. Good stuff.
“Into the Dark” was not my favorite Star Wars book. I found my mind wandering most of the time I was reading it, and I can only recall vague details. I couldn’t tell you much about Leox Gyasi or Affie Hollow. As for their navigator Geode, the slab of rock that’s basically just a rock, I like Geode. He is controversial among the toxic fanboys who have never read “Into the Dark” and that makes me like Geode even more.
I’m still struggling to understand the conclusion of this story. I know it has something to do with the angle of the sun hitting a jewel, but the writer/artist may have made some errors with the science.
“First Mission” by Justina Ireland
Vernestra Rhow is the Ahoska Tano of the High Republic. She is a padawan with the potential to be a real fan favorite. The plot of this tale is pretty shallow, but it does give us some beautiful renderings of Stellen Gios’ lightsaber.
Alys Ongwa aka “Crash” makes her debut in this comic. Crash is a Corillean bodyguard to be featured in the upcoming novel “Midnight Horizon” by Daniel Jose Older. What makes this tale amazing, however, is the art by Jesse Lonergan. He’s got a sort of sixties underground independent comics style that I’ve always loved. The style meshes well with Science Fiction in general and it kind of harkens back to the original 70s Marvel comic line.
I think Cavan Scott is probably the most talented of the five writers to pen the High Republic series, although Claudia Gray could also be a contender for that title. The character of Lourna Dee feels very at-home in the Star Wars universe. She’s an instant classic, probably more so than any other character of the High Republic (expect maybe Marchion Ro). This comic also includes Porter Engle, The Blade of Bardotta and he’s cool too.
However, even with all these combined elements, “The Haul” is not a story. It has characters who do things, but it doesn’t really have a beginning, middle, and end. It’s basically all middle. And I get it, each of these writers had 8-pages (maybe a total of 30 panels) to tell a story. It’s not easy to make a really good story out of 30 panels. But as the final tale of this comic it just leaves me dissatisfied.
Back next week to review “Life Day #1” by Cavan Scott!
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