Review: Star Wars Crimson Reign #5

There are a lot of positives to Crimson Reign. We get to see Crimson Dawn’s manipulations of the Empire and the clans of power. We get to see the rise of the Knights of Ren. We get a true foil for the Empire during a time when the Rebellion is rebuilding. What is missing here are the core motivations of the star of the story, Qi’ra herself. We get her words but don’t truly see her heart. We can guess that she is out for revenge for Han or Darth Maul or just for power, but we don’t truly get to tap into her innermost feelings and motivations as everything she says out loud is manipulation and duplicity. We never truly got to know her in the Solo film and even after a year of story-telling we still don’t truly know her in Charles Soule’s books. Crimson Reign is a game of chess, but the pieces don’t seem to have independent motivations.

This issue does advance the story in many ways. Vader and the Emperor talk through syndicate war with a figure hiding in the shadows. A figure who looks like Thrawn although is not revealed here. That agent lays out the threads being pulled and posits that Crimson Dawn is behind it all. This brings the Empire to bear on the agents of the Dawn. Qi’ra sends the Archivist and Knights of Ren on a mission.

We start to gain some insight into Qi’ra from Vader who tells the Emperor of her fighting forms and posits her teacher could have been Darth Maul. Qi’ra herself talks to Cadeliah about her upbringing under Lady Proxima and the steady hardening of her heart over the years climbing up the underworld ladder. This much needed dive into her motivations is unfortunately interrupted by an alert that the Empire is circling the Dawn. As the Knights suffer a loss but help the Archivist reach the Center, Qi’ra declares that her agents across the galaxy should create chaos to choke the Emperor with her own Hidden Empire.

This is an interesting setup to the final series of Qi’ra’s story. Hopefully we get a bit more time to truly understand her motivations even as we see her serving as a great adversary for Vader and Palpatine. The art and colors here are consistent and clear although they don’t add any unexpected excitement to the proceedings and come off as a bit flat. This book feels like filler content rather than a necessary piece of the puzzle. Hopefully the final arc brings us much more action and depth with core characters that we care about.

Writing: 2.5 of 5 stars
Art: 3.2 of 5 stars
Colors: 3.4 of 5 stars

Overall: 2.9 of 5 stars

Writer: Charles Soule
Art: Steven Cummings
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Author Profile

M.R. Jafri

M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.