“Fear of the Jedi” was the Marvel comic running alongside the final few bits of Phase 3, but sadly due to this it didn’t really get to do… anything. The main action on Eriadu was seen in the Adventures comics and the Trials of the Jedi book finale, leaving this to be some space dogfighting and, um, that’s about it. Still, always nice to see Keeve and Sskeer I guess?!
The story actually starts on Naboo, continuing that plot thread from earlier in the Phase, and features Child of the Storm H’tar being able to create fear illusions in non-Force Sensitive people and the now anti-hero Lourna Dee and her allies dealing with it, but honestly that was just a tease in Issue 1 as the next four issues quickly switch to the battle of Eriadu from the POV of Keeve Trennis, who is leading a large group of Jedi and Republic forces against the Nihil in the space above the planet (as mentioned the key things on the planet’s surface are dealt with elsewhere…) Keeve is struggling to come to terms with being a commander rather than out in the action, especially when she’s given ex-Child of the Storm Cibaba to work with, who hasn’t exactly proven to be mentally stable.
Keeve understandably concerned over the mentally corrupted child kidnapper being given to her as part of her crew.
As the battle heats up and Lourna Dee, Quin and Tey arrive from Naboo so too does H’tar, only now she’s hooked up to a “Fear Engine” that spreads fear-induced hallucinations to everyone, including making Tey see his former lover Eldar Mac as an angry ghost and the whole Republic fleet to see a large scav droid as a large flying Nameless instead. I’ll also mention that jelly-like Jedi OrbaLin splits himself in two to fly two ships in the battle, only for one to be shot down which has a dramatically negative effect on him, which … makes sense, I guess..? (not 100% sure how his anatomy works…) There really isn’t much more to say before we get to the spoilers, it really was that much of a wheel-spinner.
Actually, I will say the artwork was great, as it tends to be with a lot of these High Republic comics. Hoping that the final comic and overall epilogue is a bit more of a satisfying way to end High Republic coverage on this site! (well, barring any returns to the era in the future…)
Overall Thoughts:
It may have been just an illusion, but this was a great cliffhanger!
“Fear of the Jedi” was in the unenviable position of having to show a battle where the main beats of it are being covered elsewhere, leaving Keeve, Lourna, Sskeer and other classic High Republic characters with nothing really to do in the big final battle against the Nihil. Oh well, just one more issue left, and the original High Republic run will be finished…
Things are looking grim for everyone but then at the last second the storm wall falls and a large amount of Republic back up arrives. Everyone is still struggling with the hallucinations as Keeve and co. board the large scav droid to destroy it, which they do. Cibaba tries to communicate with H’tar and convince her to stop but she’s in so much pain that she can’t stop herself, so getting fed up with Keeve’s indecision about killing her Lourna Dee flies her ship out and destroys H’tar and her Fear Engine, freeing everyone from the deadly visions and further helping the cause.
Why not throw in a shot of the actual thing, rather than the illusion?
Keeve doesn’t feel right about any of this as the action draws to a close and the Nihil surrender, ending the battle against them for good. I don’t know for sure yet but Keeve leaving the Jedi Order is something we’ve known about since before the High Republic, so I’m assuming that’ll happen in the Epilogue issue, otherwise that would be a bit… crap, so I was surprised more wasn’t shown here to influence that decision. I guess I’ll find out soon!
Hogan Reviews 