The High Republic: Shadows of Starlight 2: A Resonance of Hope
What is it ? : We reset back to the Fall of the Starlight Beacon, Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann embrace, glad to see one another have survived. Later in a shelter they discuss the loss of Stellan Gios, Mann regrets that he misses Stellan more than all the others that have also been lost, but Kriss comments that Stellan's loss is just the melody to the song of their grief. That Bell Zettifar will be missing his master Burryaga, especially after he lost his previous master Loden Greatstorm.
Mann comments that the Jedi Council will probably offer Kriss the seat on the council that Gios's passing has vacated, and she tells him that is ridiculous as she was in charge of Starlight Beacon and lost that, that she failed.
They discuss the recall, and Kriss tells Mann that she refuses to return to Coruscant, to which he berates her for acting in loss, and she responds that she is a Jedi Master and doesn't get upset before leaving.
A week after the fall: Mann is telling the Jedi Council of Kriss's actions, and Kriss herself is deep in Nihil space, when they both hear that the Nihil have erected the Stormwall, that no one and no communication can pass through, and that an entire Republic Fleet was destroyed by the creation of the wall. Seeing Marchion Ro announce this, Kriss comments that now she has a target.
10 days after the fall: Kriss lands on the world of Allard and witnesses the Nihil telling the inhabitants that the Jedi are their enemy, and protecting them will be punished.
Four Months after the fall: Mann has been working with a droid on building a Tythonic Resonator, which will aid his abilities to communicate through the Stormwall, which explodes when used, and the droid tells Mann that Gios would try again. But Mann rages that he is not Gios. Meanwhile Kriss has built a network of informants, but everything changes when a Nihil fleet arrives to punish the settlement by bombarding it for hiding a Jedi.
Seven Months after the fall: Mann has flown a ship to the Stormwall, he knows that flying through it destroys the vessel, but he intends to fly into the Stormwall at sublight speeds, and then go to hyperspace to see if he survives. But as he tries to activate the hyperdrive the droid he has been working with sabotages it, and reveals it has built another Tythonic Resonator, so he attempts to contact Avar Kriss using it. Kriss is stealthily observing the continuing occupation and punishment of the colonists by the Nihil when she feels Mann's attempt, and she ignites her lightsaber, which draws the attention of the Nihil, which she fights off telling the colonists that the Jedi will never abandon them.
Meanwhile Mann feels his success even though it destroyed the Resonator, and he tells the droid that he will try again, because that is what Gios would do . . .
High Points : I continue to like the storytelling technique of skipping over the year, and like the way this is setting up so many stories, we had Yoda last issue, and this time we've got Avar Kriss's campaign behind the Stormwall and Elzar Mann's campaign to rescue her. But I'm starting to be concerned that this is just setting up other comic series which will complete these, leaving this entire series as issue 0's to other comics.
Low Points : Both Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann are particularly stupid in this story, not only does Kriss decide to go rogue and disobey the Jedi Council, but also to ignite her lightsaber to celebrate the contact from Mann, which draws the attention of the Nihil for no particular reason. Mann also spends a lot of time building communicators for reaching out to Kriss, but at least he just seems like he's in love, and trying not to lose her like he's lost his best friend Gios.
I was also annoyed by the droid just magicking up another Resonator, which it's made without him, and made better. Far to deus ex machina for me.
So what do you really think ? : While this issue isn't anywhere near as good as the last one, it does continue the theme of filling in the missing year, and does at least deal with a character I'm more familiar with. But the tighter more focused storytelling, which is dealing with a far more character and emotion based tale doesn't deliver the same impact as last issue. We don't find out anything really new about the situation, so the comic fails on it's central premise of filling us in on the missing year.
I suppose if I'm generous, we do find out some details on the operation of the Stormwall, and the way the Nihil are taking control of the territory they just seized, but these are interesting but fairly irrelevant details compared to the very broad strokes of storytelling we had in the first issue.
Final Words : I'm really concerned that this series isn't going to be a coherent whole, and while the individual stories are pretty interesting, I will be annoyed if this is just a 4 part series to get us to buy 4 more series, with these issues just forming the issue 0 set up to those.
That said, I do appreciate the chance to spend some time with Avar Kriss getting to know her, as while she was a major part of the High Republic Phase 1 series, she was always a remote figure who stood more as a set of ideals than as a real person.
Score : 8.5/10
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