Today saw the release of the 11th issue in Phase III of Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures from Dark Horse Comics, and below are my brief recap and thoughts on this installment.
Writer Daniel José Older gets to follow up on his middle-grade novel Star Wars: The High Republic – Escape from Valo in comic form via The High Republic Adventures #11, which begins with the young Padawan Gavi sending out a transmission as the Scarlet Skull (a pseudonym he adopted from his friend and fellow Jedi Ram Jamaram) on the planet Valo. It seems that in the wake of the events of Escape from Valo, Gavi and his compatriots have had to keep up the illusion that the Nihil are still in oppressive control of the planet, but that becomes a problem when he receives a holo-transmission from a Nihil operative informing him that the Warden will be arriving soon for an inspection and to accrue more troops for the upcoming battle against the Jedi on Eriadu. Here’s where Gavi sends out another of his own transmissions, this time heavily suggesting in semi-coded language that he needs Ram’s help once again.
So Jomaram and his pirate friends (including Therm Scissorpunch, Orrn, and Zyle Keem), who has been running shipments around the occlusion zone to help those impacted by the Nihil occupation, decide to return to Valo and assist Gavi, but not before they stop by Eriadu to pick up more potential allies. On Valo, we meet the new members of the Scarlet Skulls (Moppog, Tebs, Forb, Prap, and the explosives-obsessed Breebik, all of whom are newly introduced here) and reunite with Master Kunpar Vasivola as our heroes formulate a plan just before the arrival of the Warden. And back on Eriadu, Ram learns that his friends Lula Talisola and Zeen Mrala are getting married and that he’s invited to the wedding, but the bad news is that they can’t spare many fighters because of the stalemate between combatants on that planet. But Jedi Knight Farzala Tarabal does join them as they head out for Valo, where we see Gavi’s interaction with the Warden begin to play out. The Padawan enacts a somewhat ingenious scheme in which he convinces the villain that he and the Scarlet Skulls are actually Nihil pretending to be freedom fighters, a double-double-cross which is so absurd that it actually works on the Warden, who proceeds to take Gavi under his wing.
But when Jomaram and friends arrive over Valo in the Grim Devourer II, they find the former Jedi ship the Star Hopper (now having been commandeered by the Nihil) also in orbit over the planet. One holo-call later and Zyle proceeds to lose their cool, prompting the Nihil to threaten to board our protagonists’ vessel. Down on the surface, Gavi manages to further ingratiate himself to the Warden, until chaos breaks loose pretty much everywhere else on and around the planet. This issue ends with a cliffhanger splash page of the Warden getting a call for orders, while Gavi stands next to him sweating, and hoping that his subterfuge isn’t soon discovered. I found this to be a fairly exciting kick-off to the next arc for The High Republic Adventures, and new artist Caio Filipe (Lotus Land) brings with him an attractive, not-overly-cartoonish style that matches the tone of Older’s writing quite well. I recently learned that this title will be going all the way up to issue #17 at the very least, which I believe is higher than either of the previous two phases. That means we’re in for some exciting stuff over the next six months or so, and I’m reasonably psyched for it.
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #11 is available now wherever comic books are sold.