Writer – Cavan Scott
Artist – Ario Anindito
Inker – Mark Morales
Colorist – Annalisa Leoni
Letterer – VC’s Ariana Maher
Cover Art – Phil Noto
Star Wars: The High Republic Issue #1 has just come out and it is part of a series of books and comic books that will explore this era set in the distant past of the Star Wars Universe. In fact, the first page of the comic shows a timeline where the era of the High Republic is set hundreds of years before any part of the Star Wars Universe that we have seen before, a time when the Jedi and the Republic are at the height of their power.
The book opens on the Planet of Shuraden on the Republic frontier with Padawan Keeve Trennis training with her Master, Jedi Sskeer. What starts as a simple training exercise quickly escalates into a crisis that Padawan Keeve must quickly work to understand and resolve to save a city on the planet.
At the same time, the Jedi Council is about to dedicate and put into operation a new space station, Starlight Beacon. The purpose of the beacon is to connect and communicate with the entire Galaxy. This will help the Jedi Knights to reach every being in the Galaxy, and hopefully help encourage more planets to join the Republic. Even though the dedication ceremony is just hours away, Starlight Beacon does not yet have a director, and Jedi Avar Kriss is set to do her best to find the best Jedi for that roll.
Because of the time that this story is set in, nearly every character that we meet is new, save one. Slight spoilers here, but since he is on a couple of the variant covers, I don’t think that it is revealing too much to tell you that Yoda does appear in this book. What is most exciting to me about Star Wars High Republic is that it is basically a clean slate set to explore a new aspect of the Star Wars universe. I am looking forward to seeing how the Jedi help to establish the Republic, and to get a much broader picture of what the purpose and roll of a Jedi Knight was originally set out to be.
Verdict: This was a fun read with a mountain of potential. Cavan Scott’s writing pulls you right into the story with sharp dialogue that really defines the characters that you meet in this issue. Ario Anindito’s art has a clean and distinct style with lots of detail that is a perfect match for this era of the Star Wars Universe. In short, I am definitely looking forward to the next issue to see where the story will go next.
If you would like to hear this book discussed on the Talking Comics Podcast, make sure that you check out episode #478! Click Here to listen
