Star Wars - The High Republic
Writer: Cavan Scott
Artist: Ario Anindito
Publisher: Marvel Comics
In a way, becoming a Star Wars fan is like receiving a curse. You’re doomed at a formative age to a life of trying to chase the high you felt the first time you saw a lightsaber unleashed.
As a Star Wars fan, you’ve been subjected to some of the worst, most vitriolic opinions the internet has ever unleashed upon humanity. New material is inevitably raked over the coals, with every single detail obsessed over and analysed to death. Old material seems cheesy, or clunky, or dumb, failing to deliver joy, instead only accentuating a hollow and disturbing malaise. Your brain has replaced warm childhood memories with inane trivia about Ralph McQuarrie. You find yourself sticking up for the franchise as one of cinema’s greatest masterpieces, while simultaneously fighting off an overwhelming paranoia that you actually ever enjoyed Star Wars at any point.
Conceptually, leaning into ‘The High Republic’ era is a smart move for Marvel, Disney, and Lucasfilm. There’s still a lingering resentment from some long-term fans aggrieved by the choice to make decades of beloved material non-canonical. The decision was made to discard the ‘Star Wars Legends’ books, games, and various other media to prevent the planned sequel trilogy from being beholden to and restrained by the plotlines of the Expanded Universe works and continuity.
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And on paper, the strategy made a fair amount of sense. It’s understandable to not want to have to kill Chewbacca by dropping a moon on him. But given the mixed response and criticisms the three sequel movies received from critics, die-hards, and fair-weather fans, it’s not unreasonable to make an argument that it was the wrong course of action, as the replacement material failed to deliver the expected value for some fans. Now, that’s not to say that dropping a moon on Chewbacca’s head would have improved the sequel trilogy (probably). And all the legacy material now marked ‘Star Wars Legends’ still exists for fans to enjoy, at least in isolation of the wider Star Wars universe.
Interestingly, what this situation did was put the spotlight back on just how passionately fans still feel towards Star Wars, especially its most dedicated, long-time supporters. It stressed just how vital it is for those responsible for the franchise to take great care with the stories they tell, and how they fit into the long-term plans of the wider universe they oversee. Even now, with an established story group put in place to oversee the Star Wars canon, there have been contradictions within recently released canonical material, further underlining the great care required and the difficulty of managing this whole situation.
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Occurring hundreds of years before the Star Wars films, the minds behind ‘The High Republic’ had basically a clean slate to begin work with. It was an incredibly valuable opportunity, so rarely afforded to Star Wars creators. The team of authors tasked to work on ‘The High Republic’ included Claudia Gray, Justina Ireland, Daniel José Older, Cavan Scott, and Charles Soule, a group experienced with writing novels, comic books, and, most vitally, Star Wars. After significant creative efforts and a lot of anticipation, January 2021 saw the simultaneous release of three ‘High Republic’ novels aimed towards both young and adult readers, and the ‘Star Wars: The High Republic’ comic book title.
Space. Jedi. The Force. Lightsabers. From its opening pages, the comic immediately delivers. It’s undeniably Star Wars, familiar yet fresh. Padawan Keeve Trennis moves cautiously through an alien forest, before being ambushed by a one-armed Trandoshan with a lightsaber, who turns out to be her Jedi Master, Sskeer. Keeve sees off Sskeer’s attack, before facing even greater challenges that require her to push herself to her physical and mental limits. Of Keeve, author Cavan Scott said:
"We've had stories of Jedi who were confident. We've had stories of Jedi who search, who want to know more, who want to be better. I want to tell the story of a Jedi who is good, but doesn't know how good she is—and doesn't know why she's been chosen for this, and struggles with that question and what that would mean to her character."
It’s a compelling journey that succinctly establishes a new status quo full of challenges that will feel both original and recognisable to long-term Star Wars fans. It’s a captivating story in-and-of-itself, supported by the welcome introduction of additional characters and supporting plots. It’s a visual delight, Annalisa Leoni’s exceptional colour work bringing to life Ario Anindito’s art and Mark Morales’ inks to create a spectacle of beauty, the immense quality of which is rarely seen in the Star Wars universe.
Most importantly, it’s a book that has the capability to reinvigorate the love of any lapsed fan, no matter how bitter they feel towards past business decisions or lacklustre material. ‘Star Wars: The High Republic’ evokes the awe and wonder of Star Wars very best moments. And as you finish the first story arc, don’t be surprised to find yourself already pining for it to be translated onto the big screen.
Want more of 2021’s greatest comics? Visit Amazon to purchase the full length ‘Best Comic Books of 2021’ book or eBook. It contains 45 detailed essays reviewing the year's best comic book titles.
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