Writer Charles Soule continues his story arc about the heroes of the Rebel Alliance getting trapped in the desolate, mysterious location known as No-Space in the latest issue of Marvel Comics’ flagship Star Wars title, which was released today.
Star Wars #31 begins with our protagonists meeting Captain Blythe of the Kezerat Colony, a group of descendants from the legendary, long-lost Kezerat Convoy that disappeared during the High Republic era.
Blythe explains the situation to the rebel crew, made up of Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, Amilyn Holdo, and Lobot: they’re stuck in No-Space with no way out except a fabled piece of Nihil tech. Why none of our heroes make the immediate connection to the Path engine back on Holdo’s ship is beyond me, but for now they make do by learning about the centuries-old history of No-Space, the Killdroids, and the Nihil’s “Great Hall” platform from Blythe. Then the young boy called Forvan reveals that there’s even more to this story– at some point relatively early in the colony’s existence, they were joined by a Jedi named Alareen Xie who helped them survive their ordeal. And since then the colonists have come to believe that another Jedi would arrive someday to help them escape their dire predicament. Naturally, at first Luke looks to be the answer to this prophecy, but Blythe makes Skywalker promise to let the kid down easy, as he doesn’t actually believe there’s any real way to get out of No-Space. So our crew is separated and confined to quarters until they can prove they’re not a threat to the Kezerat Colony, while back on the Great Hall platform the Killdroids begin to tear apart Holdo’s ship, the Skyfarer.
Blythe suggests it may take up to six months for the colonist to trust the rebels enough to even let Chewie look at the list of attempts they’ve made to leave, and the heroes start to go stir-crazy in their cells, with Luke worried about the ancient Jedi text he left on the Skyfarer. Meanwhile, Lando and Amilyn make the best of their situation– and the utter lack of playing cards– by redefining the phrase “Holdo Maneuver,” and Chewbacca has a final-page revelation (while sharing his room with Lobot) that might save them all. It’s a pretty fun, and slightly claustrophobic, continuation and intriguing arc that ties in Soule’s work on The High Republic initiative with these Star Wars comics sets between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Captain Blythe makes for an interesting character who’s not quite an antagonist or an ally, and I’m curious what his reaction will be when our heroes let him know they do actually have a way out of No-Space. I’m also really digging the fleshing-out of Holdo’s character that Soule has been given license to do here. We haven’t spent a whole lot of time with her outside of The Last Jedi and Claudia Gray’s Leia, Princess of Alderaan novel (and never before at this point in the timeline) so I definitely like that she’s become a featured player in these comics. Let’s see whether her newfound… entanglements complicate things even further.
Star Wars #31 is available now wherever comic books are sold.