Today saw the release of the Star Wars: The Acolyte – Kelnacca one-shot from Marvel Comics, and below are my brief recap and thoughts on this stand-alone installment.
With the recent news that Lucasfilm’s live-action series Star Wars: The Acolyte has not been picked up for a second season, it seems likely that the venue through which this story will continue is the publishing arm of the George Lucas-created company. And indeed, though this comic was already announced before the aforementioned cancellation took place, we are already getting one of The Acolyte’s characters’ backstory fleshed out– namely Kelnacca, the Wookie Jedi Master. Back when the series was just being teased, I thought for sure that Kelnacca would turn out to be an assumed name for Burryaga, who is another Wookiee Jedi character in the period of the High Republic, but both the show and this comic have confirmed that not to be the case. The opening scene here depicts another elderly Jedi Master named Yarzion Vell on his deathbed, with his young Padawan wondering who is going to pick up her training after he’s gone. This triggers a flashback to a similar situation in which Yarzion lost his master to the Starlight Beacon disaster, as depicted at the end of Star Wars: The High Republic Phase I.
So Master Elzar Mann, who we also know from the other High Republic books and comics, assigns Yarzion to continue his apprenticeship under Kelnacca, who we see is a stoic, self-serious, and usually silent member of the Jedi Order. After a period of time together combatting the Nihil, Kelnacca learns about Yarzion’s head tattoos, and that they represent a tradition from his home planet of honoring his greatest teacher– who at that point had been Master Lulad. And in their final year of training together, Yarzion demonstrates a selflessness in rescuing a family from a fire that causes Kelnacca to knight him on the spot, not to mention getting Yarzion’s name tattooed on his own shaved Wookiee scalp, as we see in The Acolyte. Then the comic cuts back to the present, where we see that Kelnacca has shown up to be by Yarzion’s side as he becomes one with the Force– as Wookiees have been established as particularly long-lived beings. There’s a funeral pyre for the Jedi, and then Kelnacca takes young Ordea– Yarzion’s Padawan before he died– as his own student, challenging her to a lightsaber sparring match.
So writer Cavan Scott (from Marvel’s flagship Star Wars: The High Republic comic book) becomes the first scribe to write an official The Acolyte tie-in story outside of live-action, but he won’t be the last– we already know of a couple announced projects coming soon from Lucasfilm Publishing, and I still suspect there will be more later on. And of course he does a great job as always, delivering a simple but nuanced story of grief and finding meaning within the structure of the Jedi Order. I found myself surprisingly moved by the master-apprentice relationships between Kelnacca, Yarzion, and Ordea, to the point where I suspect this new context will give me a different outlook on Kelnacca’s character the next time I rewatch The Acolyte. Artist Marika Cresta (Star Wars: Doctor Aphra), working alongside colorist Jim Campbell (Star Wars Tales), also succeeds in transporting the reader back to A Galaxy Far, Far Away through skillfully rendered landscapes and well-choreographed action sequences. Even if we never get to see the continuing story of Osha, Mae, The Stranger, and Vernestra Rwoh in live-action, it’s at least somewhat reassuring to know that Lucasfilm (under its current parent company Disney) could continue the legacy of The Acolyte via books and comics like these, crafted by passionate and talented Star Wars creators.
Star Wars: The Acolyte – Kelnacca is available now wherever comic books are sold.