FORMAT: SINGLE ISSUE | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
The new era of the Star Wars saga has launched with aplomb as novels Light of the Jedi and A Test of Courage land, along with Marvel Comic’s first issue of The High Republic from prolific author Cavan Scott and artist Ario Anindito. Set 200 years before the events of The Phantom Menace we waste no time in swinging into the galaxy of the time, to Shuraden on the edge of the Republic frontier where we find Trandoshan Jedi Master Sskeer and his Padawan Keeve Trennis sparring, as she learns she’s working through her Jedi trials.
Tasked with retrieving a pendant from the top of some ancient peaks, Keeve struggles, as a hoard of alien creatures swing in, as we head to the fabled Starlight Beacon where we meet Avar Kriss, one of the most venerated Jedi Knights of her age as she is given the rank of marshall (an increasingly common occurrence in Star Wars the past few months) of the Starlight Beacon station. We meet the familiar – Yoda, walking a different path away from the council on his own starship, the Star Hopper – and the new in Master Maru, organising the dedication ceremony of the station.
There’s a snappy humour that is very welcome if used judiciously, a promise of a new era set against the backdrop of familiar worlds and characters we’re sure to learn plenty about through books and comics over the years. Issue 2 can’t come quick enough.
