Today saw the release of the Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – The Wedding Spectacular one-shot from Dark Horse Comics, and below are my brief recap and thoughts on this special issue.
We’ve entered an unfortunate period where The Walt Disney Company seems to be backpedaling on its commitment to diversity and representation in its entertainment (with the recent shelving of an episode of Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and the reveal that Pixar’s Win Or Lose is being re-edited to remove references to a character’s transgender status) it was kind of relief to pick up a Star Wars comic book with a lesbian couple getting married on its cover today. With that observation out of the way, let’s dive into what makes this Wedding Spectacular special outside of its inclusion. The entirety of the story takes place in Bri-Phrang City on the planet Eriadu, which currently lies in the Occlusion Zone behind the Nihil Stormwall. As former Jedi Lula Talisola and the Force-sensitive non-Jedi Zeen Mrala prepare for their big day, Padawan Gavi Takitaken (from author Daniel Jose Older’s middle-grade novel Star Wars: The High Republic – Escape from Valo) shows up with some quite unfortunate news: the Nihil are planning an imminent attack on the planet.
As if that weren’t bad enough, the Jedi and the Republic still don’t know where the aristocratic Tarkin family stand on matters of the Nihil, and that decision would likely affect the outcome of the looming battle rather dramatically. So it’s up to Zeen, Lula, and all the guests arriving on Eriadu for their wedding to elude the ruthless marauders while figuring out a way to get in contact with clan leader Sevran Tarkin. Here’s where things get interesting for this Wedding Spectacular as a single-issue comic book: every couple pages the art style changes to that of a new penciller, with eight total different artists having contributed to this individual release. Those shifts can sometimes be jarring, but mostly they come across as a celebration of the variety of talents that have contributed to The High Republic Adventures over the past four years.
We’re also treated to a joyful reunion of sorts between the numerous characters that have come and gone in these pages, as they gather for the wedding and then stick around for what comes after– SPOILER ALERT: it’s the Battle of Eriadu, which looks like it will make up the remainder of The High Republic Adventures’ Phase III content. Anyway, yes it’s interesting that Lula made the decision to leave the Jedi Order so that she could commit herself to Zeen (thereby forming an attachment not permitted within the religion), but what this issue is really about is commemorating the wide array of personalities that have kept this title interesting over all three phases, not just behind the scenes but also on the printed page. There are even a few double-splash-pages that get that idea across to great effect– big scenes full of characters where nobody quite looks like one another. That’s diversity in storytelling, and in an ideal world it would be welcomed instead of pushed aside. Older, as the writer, has gone to great lengths to sell his readers on that notion, and for what it’s worth, at the very least he can say he has succeeded with me.
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – The Wedding Spectacular is available now wherever comic books are sold.