The High Republic: Shadows of Starlight 1
What is it ? : The story is told as a series of flashbacks to detail "the year that was lost".
1 year previous: The fall of The Starlight Beacon. Parts rain down onto the surface of Eiram as survivors are rescued by a fleet of starships, the Jedi Council orders all Jedi to return to the Temple on Coruscant where they are now reassigned.
Yoda himself however departs as the answer to the Nihil and their Nameless allies will not be found within the walls of the Jedi Temple.
One Week after the fall: The Jedi Council, Pra-Tre Veter, Grandmaster Lahru, Keaton Murag, Oppo Rancis, Ada-Li Carro, Teri Rosason, and Yarael Poof borrow the Senate to hold a meeting of all of the Assembled Jedi, they announce the implementation of the Guardian Protocols. These prepare the Jedi for war, although they are clear that neither the Jedi Order or the Republic currently are at war, yet they face an Determined Adversary using weapons which target Jedi.
As part of the Guardian Protocols, Younglings are to be Lightsaber trained, Padawans of any age will undergo the trials for advancement to Jedi Knights, and all outposts will become manned by droids who will relay requests to the Temple on Coruscant.
One Month After the Fall: Master Govena builds one last artisan Lightsaber, which is seen as her finest work, before ordering everyone to begin using templates designed by Professor Huyang for mass production of Lightsabers.
Three Months after the Fall: A pair of Jedi are looking at the memorial to all those lost at the fall of the Starlight Beacon, and they remark on Yoda's absence, but notice him walking towards the Jedi Council chamber with another figure who gives them a bad feeling.
In the Council Elzar Mann is calling for them to find a way through the Stormwall, a barrier the Nihil have created which blocks hyperspace transit and has trapped some Jedi inside, including Avar Kriss, they assure him that the Republic is looking for a solution. Yoda enters, and dismisses Mann, telling the Council that he has perhaps found a solution to the Nameless, but the council reacts badly to the person he has brought with him, as they sense the Dark Side from him.
He reveals himself to be Azlin Rell, he faced the Nameless and was scared, so embraced the Dark Side against them, to save the Jedi to save the Sith, to save all Force Users.
Four Months after the Fall: Yoda is councelling Azlin Rell in the detention centre of the Jedi Temple, attempting to help him get over the fear which led to his fall to the Dark Side, but the memories make Rell lash out, taking the Lightsaber from a Temple Guardian and he attacks Yoda with it. Yoda ignites his own lightsaber, but disarms Rell by smashing him against a wall using the Force. And they begin again.
Five Months after the Fall: The Jedi Council meets with Chancellor Lina Soh, she calls for them to help protect the Republic against Nihil raiders who are passing through the Stormwall and attacking the Republic. The Council agrees.
We see Yoda and Rell meditating, Younglings practicing with Lightsabers, Jedi fighting Nihil Raiders, Avar Kriss fleeing Nihil on a jungle planet, until eventually Rell tells Yoda that while he is not recovered, he is recovered enough to take Yoda to the Leffbruk who has a pathfinder to the homeworld of the Nameless, which Yoda tells him is enough.
In orbit around the planet where Leffbruk is known to be, the controls of a Cruiser are seized and it crashes into the building where Leffbruk is. Yoda quickly determines that it is Rell who has seized control. Rell tells him that only he can act to save all force users as he can do acts which the Jedi cannot, he can see what they cannot, and he removes his goggles revealing his eyes to be mere pits with the eyeballs gone. . . .
High Points : I had assumed that the year between Phase I and Phase III had been told in Phase II, but it appears not. This way of filling in a year of storyline is really interesting, with the storyline compacted and us getting to see events in a fast moving fashion on a larger scale than we would normally see it.
My one reservation is that this seems very similar to the beginning of the Clone Wars, with the Jedi suddenly becoming Generals instead of Guardians. Perhaps this time it actually works, which is why Yoda doesn't recognise it as a bad thing come the Clone Wars?
I really liked the back ground chat in parts of the story, where you see Jedi objecting or questioning what is going on. Younglings being afraid of having to learn to use lightsabers before they are ready, Padawan's questioning whether they are really ready to be Jedi Knights, scholars expressing their disagreement with being forced into the role of a warrior, and artisan lightsaber builders saddened by having to mass produce lightsabers to a pattern. It really brings the Jedi order to life, where they are people, that fighting in a war wasn't what they joined up for, and while they'll do it, they won't be happy.
Low Points : The compacted form of storytelling does mean that it seems slightly confused however, I had to reread certain sections as it wasn't clear what was happening. It's not made clear why Leffbruk is so important, or why destroying him and his Pathfinder will help Rell defeat the Nameless even if Rell's opinion that as a Dark Sider he can make decisions which the Jedi cannot does make some sense.
And while I know that many species in Star Wars are long lived, the amount of the Jedi Council which is the same in the High Republic Era as in The Phantom Menace really makes the Jedi look monolithic and unchanging. I always thought it was Yoda that was the main cause of the Jedi being blind to the changes in the galaxy, but now it looks as if he was just one of many.
So what do you really think ? : I really enjoyed this one. When I started reading the other Phase III comics, I really was left confused as to what had happened in the intervening year, and this is a great way of filling it in and fleshing out the events which are shaping the new stories, as well as just being an interesting tale which is reminiscent of the events at the beginning of the Clone Wars as the Jedi prepare for war.
Final Words : From what I see of this series, which is only 4 issues long, it tells different stories in parallel, so next issue we'll be starting again with the fall of the Starlight Beacon.
Score : 9/10
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