In concept and in title, IDW’s one-shot comic book Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – Galactic Bake-Off Spectacular sounds like a very silly idea– something that irate fanboy Twitter trolls would mock (and have mocked) relentlessly without bothering to look into what it actually is first.
Fortunately for those who do care enough to investigate further, Galactic Bake-Off Spectacular is much more than its deliberately– I assume– absurd title implies. Yes, the Jedi characters living aboard the Starlight Beacon space station (this comic takes place before the events of Claudia Gray’s novel Star Wars: The High Republic – Fallen Star, and is in fact set prior to the almost-equally-silly-sounding “Great Jedi Rumble Race” as seen in The High Republic Adventures #11) do bake some pastry treats here, as the title implies, but this is really just an excuse for a rather compelling flashback story involving the Great Disaster.
Written by Daniel José Older (Star Wars: The High Republic – Midnight Horizon) and Vita Ayala (Marvel’s Acts of Evil), The High Republic Adventures – Galactic Bake-Off Spectacular begins with the Jedi preparing baked goods as prizes for the above-mentioned race, but the recipe in question calls for a story to be told during the process. So Master Torban “Buckets of Blood” Buck relates a tale from a not-too-long time ago, when a starcruiser called the Voyager Dawn– a meditation retreat for eldery Jedi– was damaged by the “Emergences” as first seen in author Charles Soule’s series-launching Star Wars: The High Republic – Light of the Jedi. Buck and his fellow Jedi Master / best friend Kantam Sy take a freighter in to evacuate the ship’s hundreds of residents, but encounter some obstacles along the way to achieving that goal. Upon rescuing what is believed to be the Voyager Dawn’s final inhabitant, Sy receives an urgent plea for help and must rush back into the vessel to assist another aging Jedi (named either Griswel or Griswal– it’s spelled both ways in the comic) who is overcome by the incalculable fear and anguish the Great Disaster has generated in the Force.
Kantam Sy and Buckets of Blood must work together– while remaining physically separated– to rescue this final elder Jedi and steer the freighter to safety, with the ultimate lesson of the story being one of cooperation and how long-cultivated connections via the Force can help the Jedi work in tandem to navigate through extreme circumstances. So in the end, the “bake-off” element of this comic is really just a throwaway bookend device to further drive home the point of what the Jedi are all about. I still think Older tends to write his Jedi characters as a little too fun-loving and emotional for my tastes, but the flashback content here is top-notch and genuinely exciting, to the point where it probably could have been released as its own issue (without the wraparound) during the first wave of The High Republic when the Great Disaster was unfolding. Like the two writers who partnered to script this one-shot, its artwork was created by dual illustrators: Jo Geyong (Beastlands) provides the Starlight Beacon-set scenes, while Toni Bruno (The High Republic Adventures #8-10) draws the flashbacks– providing a clear visual indication of what takes place when with attractively cartoonish flair. Overall I have to say I quite enjoyed Galactic Bake-Off Spectacular, and in doing so learned my own lesson about not judging a Star Wars comic book solely by its title.
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – Galactic Bake-Off Spectacular is available now wherever comic books are sold.