As Phase II of Lucasfilm Publishing ambitious multi-platform initiative Star Wars: The High Republic gradually draws to a close, Dark Horse Comics has released the final issue of its horror-inspired miniseries Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – The Nameless Terror.
In this climactic installment of The Nameless Terror (issue #4 for those keeping track) writer George Mann starts things off once again with monster hunter Ty Yorrick, in a wraparound story that takes place much later on in the timeline (after Phase I, if that makes sense).
Throughout this miniseries, Yorrick has been telling her droid KL-03 the story of a group of Jedi and Republic Pathfinders who crash-landed on a planet along with another ship occupied by the Force cult called the Path of the Open Hand. While stranded there, the survivors have been alternately dealing with, desperately trying to avoid, and combating the creature that the Path calls the Nameless. As the flashback in issue #4 begins, two Path members are helping the Pathfinders debilitate their own ship so that it can be rigged to explode, hopefully taking the Nameless with it, if the plan ultimately works. Meanwhile, Jedi Master Xinith Tarl has sensed that the gems contained within the Path ship’s cargo hold may contain more than the Jedi were informed about– indeed they are Nameless eggs about to hatch more of the fearsome Force-eating creatures. We also check in on Padawan Coron Solstus, Master Rok Buran, and Jedi Knight Sula Badani as they go about the ship performing their individual tasks in the plan’s setup. After more deaths, Sula faces off against the Nameless– both adult and recently hatched varieties of the monster– in a hallway, hoping that her selfless sacrifice will allow the others time to escape.
I’ve enjoyed this miniseries quite a bit on the whole, but also have to admit that I’m confused about a few things when it comes to its implications for The High Republic as a bigger picture. For one thing, there seem to be way more Jedi that have survived encounters with the Nameless (also called the Leveler in specific instances) than I had originally expected based on what we know from the events of Phase I. It actually comes across as pretty irresponsible of the Jedi Council– and perhaps Master Yoda in particular– that word of this terrifying creature, one of the only real threats to a Jedi, did not pass down to the next generation. The other question I have is about the Nameless eggs– author Cavan Scott makes such a big deal about how difficult it is to get to Planet X to retrieve these eggs in his young-adult novel Star Wars: The High Republic – Path of Vengeance, that it’s not quite clear to me how this particular team of Path members was able to procure them. Those nitpicks and lingering questions aside, I do think The Nameless Terror absolutely works on its own as a self-contained story, with Mann’s writing delivering a tense, riveting atmosphere and Eduardo Mello’s art building upon that foundation to create an eye-catching, thoroughly entertaining run of comics. I also like how Mann has set up further adventures for Ty Yorrick and her own “Padawan” of sorts– the Segredo named Drewen from The Monster of Temple Peak, which I’m sure we’ll get to see in some form via The High Republic Phase III after it begins this fall.
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – The Nameless Terror #4 is available now wherever comic books are sold.