Yesterday saw the release of issue #4 in Phase III of Dark Horse Comics’ Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures title, and below are my brief recap and thoughts on this installment.
The High Republic Adventures (2023) #4 begins with the Force-sensitive non-Jedi Zeen Mrala checkin in on her beloved Jedi Padawan Lula Talisola as the latter burns the armor she wore while she posed as Nihil warlord Tartak Vil. We get some introspective inner monologue from Zeen pondering the future of their relationship as they report to a strike team meeting comprised of a number of Jedi Masters, Knights, and Padawans, plus a Commander of the Republic Defense Coalition and a smuggler named Argomon who provided them with information about the Nihil prison ship the Korvix Vorn that they are planning to attack. In captivity aboard that ship are the Jedi Farzala Tarabal, Torban “Buckets of Blood” Buck, and a couple of other Padawans– all of whom were previously missing in action since the destruction of the Republic’s Starlight Beacon space station.
On the Korvix Vorn, a large group of prisoners are dragged out into an open courtyard underneath a protective deflector shield, where the Warden (a really scary, neat-looking alien character who I believe is newly introduced here) reveals that he has finally found a way to determine who among his captives are Jedi. Enter the Umbaran scientist Niv Drendow Apruk (who we first met in writer Daniel José Older’s recent co-written novel Star Wars: The High Republic – Escape from Valo) and his box containing two infant Nameless– the rare species of “Force-eater” capable of turning Jedi and other Force users into ashen husks. Enacting a plan, Farzala causes a ruckus in the crowd, resulting in him being dragged on stage in front of the Nameless. But before he is completely debilitated by the creature’s power, his allies among the other prisoners pull a Spartacus and declare themselves to be Jedi.
All manner of chaos breaks out on the prison ship, and naturally that’s just the moment when the Jedi and Republic forces launch their attack from space. Afraid to harm any innocents among the Nihil’s prisoners, they hold off on their assault, but Zeen, Lula, Argomon, and some other Jedi manage to board the ship. This inspired the Warden to play his trump card by opening the deflector shield from a safe room and exposing the courtyard to the vacuum of space. It’s a ( quite literally) gasp-inducing cliffhanger ending to a very well-crafted chapter of The High Republic Adventures, with Older’s crisp and energetic writing accentuated by some really attractive art by extremely talented newcomer Elisa Romboli (with colors by Michael Atiyeh). Older’s usual quirks don’t bother me nearly as much when the rest of his writing is as strong as it is here, though in the interest of “show, don’t tell,” I do wish he would stop hand-holding us through character descriptions like repeatedly labeling one particular droid “chaotic” when its actions and dialogue should (and probably would) be enough to get that across. Otherwise this is great stuff that genuinely has me counting down the days until the next issue.
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #4 is available now wherever comic books are sold.