Today saw the release of the seventh 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.
The High Republic Adventures (2023) #7 is the beginning of a new arc for the comic, and it begins on the planet Eriadu (famously the home of the aristocratic Tarkin family in the Star Wars galaxy) where a young Aloxian named Zint is helping Lady Krevlin with her gardening. Soon our old pal Qort– another member of the Aloxian species– shows up with Krevlin’s granddaughter Sevran Tarkin, and Qort is shocked to find Zint using her Vonduun helmet as a stepstool. Qort chastises the youngling, explains the reasoning behind the mask, and takes the young girl up to a Republic transport waiting in orbit around Eriadu. Meanwhile on Corellia, Crash Ongwa and her gang discuss possible ways to take out Nihil leader Marchion Ro, but escaped prisoner Krix Kamerat is impatient about the situation, and uses an opportunity to take matters into his own hands. He runs to a nearby shipyard and commandeers a discarded Nihil vessel, rocketing off into space and leaving Crash’s gang behind.
Next we find Qort and the Zygerrian Jedi Farzala Tarabal piloting the Republic ship, which they are using to help evacuate Eriadu before the Nihil Stormwall expands and envelops the planet into Marchion Ro’s Occlusion Zone. There’s a very sitcom-like sequence of events in the cockpit of this ship, where both Zeen Mrala and her girlfriend Lula Talisola (who has recently decided to abandon her Jedi training in favor of love) approach the pilots for advice on how to propose marriage to the other. Coincidentally they have both arranged for the same gift to be hand-made and they’re both nervous that their respective beloved is going to reject the proposal. They also both want to set the plan into motion when they return to Eriadu to pick up more refugees, but in the meantime they stop off on Malastare to deliver the younglings and for Lula to have a chat with Master Shko Emouk there. Using the Nihil ship’s Path engine to cross the Stormwall, Krix leaves a trail of breadcrumbs for Crash to follow him, and then finds his way to Ro’s flagship the Gaze Electric.
And just as the Republic transport returns to Eriadu space, the Jedi are attacked by Nihil starfighters, causing a massive explosion in the ship’s engines and sending it careening down to the planet’s surface. That’s the cliffhanger ending that writer Daniel José Older and artist Harvey Tolibao leave us on this month, and it’s an exciting one– though I could have done without the romantic-comedy cliches that Older peppered into the story building up to it. I’m actually very interested to witness the process by which a Jedi leaves the Order to enter into a relationship, but I can’t help but wish that aspect of the narrative was handled a little less like an episode of Three’s Company. At least there are other, more serious-minded plotlines at play here, such as Krix’s incursion back into Nihil territory and the growing bond between Qort and Zint, as the latter stows away on the transport, putting himself back in danger at the last minute. There’s some good stuff in here, and as always I will continue to keep an open mind as Phase III of this title moves along.
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #7 is available now wherever comic books are sold.