In last month’s debut issue of Marvel Comics’ Star Wars: Yoda miniseries by Cavan Scott, the diminutive green Jedi Master decided to take up residence on the planet Turrak to help the native population there, known as the Scalvi, continue to fend off bloodthirsty raiders called the Crulkan.
And at the beginning of issue #2, out today, we discover that Yoda has been communicating with and traveling to meet other Jedi when needed, though he is still staying on Turrak in the long term.
In fact, over time the Scalvi have come to embrace Yoda as one of their own, most of them excited when he returns from off-world trips. But there are some among the villagers who are not so welcoming, even after Yoda pitches in with his Force powers by saving residents from catastrophe. Still, he helps them train to ward off against Crulkan attacks and reports back to the Jedi council that he still feels they have a lot to learn from him. But one day when the raiders do finally return to the village, one of the younger natives is able to fight them off using technology he scavenged from a junked starship. Unfortunately, after the battle is over, the villagers realize that Yoda is nowhere to be found. In turn, they infiltrate the Crulkan’s headquarters and retaliate against their enemy, only to finally track down Yoda imprisoned seemingly on his own volition. The wise Jedi Master breaks easily breaks free of his bindings and indicates that there is another reason he was willingly staying there. Sadly one of the Scalvi jumps to a conclusion about the way the Cruklan treat their children and murders one of them on the spot, against Yoda’s wishes.
It’s an intriguing narrative overall, and I’m definitely looking forward to finding out where Scott is ultimately going with this, and what lessons there are to be learned. It’s kind of neat that because of his extremely long lifespan, Yoda can choose to dwell with other civilizations for extended periods and not worry about the visit taking up too much of his time. The artwork by Nico Leon and Dono Sánchez-Almara is vibrant, clear, and colorful, though a little on the cartoonish side, though I think that works for this relatively low-stakes story and the characters contained within. I do wonder what secrets Yoda has uncovered about the Crulkan and how his presence on Turrak will continue to shape the destiny of the Scalvi, and I’m curious to see if there are connections to any other High Republic-era stories (there’s a cryptic tease here about something that occurred on the planet Dalna that I believe may refer to upcoming events in the novels). On the whole, Yoda is such an enigmatic character that I’d imagine it’d be tough to build a story around him, so I’d say I appreciate the effort thus far.
Star Wars: Yoda #2 is available now wherever comic books are sold.