Today saw the release of issue #7 in Phase III of Marvel Comics’ ongoing Star Wars: The High Republic title, and below are my brief recap and thoughts on this installment.
The High Republic (2023) #7 begins where the previous issue left off, with a number of Jedi Knights stranded in the woods on a planet behind the Nihil Stormwall. Jedi Master Sskeer has been recovered from his disease-induced rampage and subsequent disappearance, but he is still suffering from some of the effects of Trandoshan Magrak Syndrome. And he’s brought along with him a mysterious young girl of the Yacombe people, who are notoriously strong in the dark side of the Force. After the girl lashes out at Terec, the Jedi react aggressively, but Sskeer jumps to her defense. Then Keeve Trennis manages to talk everyone down, pointing out that their supposed enemy Lourna Dee, a former Nihil Tempest Runner, is the only one comforting the child.
Meanwhile, during the conflagration Goonral Monshi passes away from a heart attack and nobody really notices until the dust settles. They all feel guilty about this and give the Jedi a proper funeral pyre (this is in the days before their bodies disappeared, of course), while former Guardian of the Whills Tey Sirrek has a heart-to-heart with Sskeer. Then Terec and Keeve do the same, with the discussion turning to just how they are going to get out of their current predicament. They decide to head through the woods toward Tey’s ship, but not before they get some rest by spending the night in the abandoned temple where Sskeer was holed up during his fugue state. There, Trennis has a vision of her own as she sees a Nameless creature clawing its way through the floor and turning her friends and allies into ashen husks. She quickly realizes that it’s a dream, but once she wakes up from it, the group notices that the young girl has gone missing.
Here’s where the team spots the wily “Child of the Storm” H’Tar crawling away along the temple’s ceiling with the girl, and Tey tries to put a stop to her egress by using the dangerous Sith artifact called the Hand of Siberius, which carried over from Phase II. But Lourna intervenes, allowing H’Tar to escape, which irks pretty much everyone until Dee reveals that she planted a tracking device on the child. This leads us to the final scene of the issue and the pretty sweet reveal of Baron Bolan, the Ithorian mad scientist, and his diminutive assistant Reek who speaks with something very close to Yoda’s particular brand of backwards syntax. I absolutely love how weird things are getting in this comic, and I definitely trust writer Cavan Scott and his stable of (seemingly alternating) artists– this month it’s the talented Marika Cresta– to follow through on that promise. There’s so much potential for Boolan as a character, and we’ve only gotten glimpses of him before in other High Republic media, so I’m glad our heroes are on a collision course with this bizarre alien Dr. Frankenstein.
Star Wars: The High Republic #7 is available now wherever comic books are sold.