Review: Star Wars The High Republic #2

Star Wars The High Republic comic has thus far shined as an example of how to build a new era and new characters. This book isn’t just creating new stories, by focusing in on characters it’s crafting a new Star Wars mythology done right. With their second installment of Star Wars The High Republic, Cavan Scott creates the perfect balance between introducing us to incredible new characters and adding to the larger tapestry of The High Republic.

Cavan Scott and artist Ario Anindito do astounding work adding great character studies showing the potential of the High Republic era and creating a fascinating story of a Jedi Knight Keeve Trennis dealing with a Master Sskeer with unexplained outbursts of rage and violence. Add to that the amazing twin bonded pair of Ceret and Terec and you have some characters worthy of remembering and becoming part of the larger Star Wars tapestry.

The High Republic works like Deep Space Nine in the Star Wars past. The Jedi work out of the Starlight Beacon station at the edge of the Outer Rim and plow new ground on missions to untapped worlds and regions. Here our heroes travel to the Kazlin System answering a distress call only to find a slaughtered Hutt and his crew.

The Jedi are attacked by Nihil invaders but the greatest shock is the violence and anger from the reptilian one armed Sskeer as he makes quick work of the enemy. The issue ends with the Jedi landing on Sedri Minor before one of the twins is snatched away by a mysterious enemy.

This issue is amazing not only because of the wonderful art and the great writing, but also because it takes the time to focus on some very specific characters as part of the high Republic. One of the problems with high republic has been that there are many characters being introduced all at once. Issues like this allow us not only to explore a few of the characters in a much deeper way, but they also allow us to visualize the characters in a way that the novels can’t allow.

Reading the more focused comics makes one want to go back and reread the novels as a deeper understanding of each of the characters builds. Here we can really explore characters in depth like the wonderfully cynical Keeve and the mysteriously savage Sskeer. Similarly the art is so well done and so visually rich that it reminds us that Star Wars is rooted in a visual medium and having comics as part of The High Republic gives us the visual language of these characters. Reading the novel makes one love the story but reading comics as rich and interesting as this makes one invested, and also makes one want to buy every action figure that will inevitably follow.

Writing: 4.8 of 5 stars
Art: 4.6 of 5 stars
Colors: 4.4 of 5 stars

Overall: 4.6 of 5 stars

Writer: Cavan Scott
Artist: Ario Anindito
Inks: Mark Morales

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.