"High Republic Adventures #5: Showdown on the Junk Moon" by Daniel Jose Older

"High Republic Adventures #5: Showdown on the Junk Moon" written by Daniel Jose Older, illustrated by Harvey Tolibao, Pow Rodrix, Manuel Bracchi, and Rebecca Nalty

I don't have very strong feelings about this issue either way. It was fine enough and set us up for what's to come in the "High Republic Adventures" series so it at least did it's job. We do get some character development from Zeen where she touches the Dark Side and comes back from it with the help of her friend Lula. And we get some development from Krix where he essentially becomes fully Nihil. Plus there's the questionable dogma of the Jedi Order in regards to training Zeen. So there was some interesting meat to the story besides just the set ups for future situations.

Most of the issue takes place on Quantxi, the Junk Moon of Ord Mantell, which is inhabited by bird-like Junk Mavens. Marchion Ro, The Eye himself, is commanding the group of Nihil that have landed there. Krix is of course part of the group and it doesn't take long for him to fully embrace being one of the bad guys, even ignoring Zeen in favor of Marchion in a moment of need after he shoots down her Vector. Krix goes off with The Eye and is given an old helmet of Marchion's, making Krix look like The Eye himself (see below). Poor confused boy *tear*.

Lula, Qort, and Farzala (the Padawans and Zeen's friends) arrive on Quantxi and see that the Junk Mavens are under attack by the Nihil, leading them to come to the Junk Mavens' aid. Noticing that smoke is billowing from where the tracker has located Zeen to be, Lula heads off to help her friend while Qort and Farzala stay behind to help the Junk Mavens. The bird-people start shaking rattles and chanting, summoning a GIANT Savrip (see below) to aid in the battle. Lula, having gone off to help Zeen, discovers her friend Force-choking Krix (see below)!! Just before Lula places a hand on Zeen's arm, stopping her from giving in to the Dark Side, Zeen says to Krix, "No more lies. No more promises. No apologies." Yikes!! Luckily, as we know from The Rising Storm (review coming soon), the Jedi of the High Republic are a very forgiving bunch!

We also get to see what Buckets of Blood, Yoda, and Sy (the Masters) are up to. Turns out they've landed on Quantxi as well and they run into an escaped Elder Tromak who seems to have switched sides (he was super against Jedi and had originally teamed up with Marchion). The Gran from Trymant IV offers Yoda, Buckets of Blood, and Sy his assistance in getting to the Nihil on Quantxi. He suggests they ride atop a Bogarnath he stole, a notoriously vicious animal. His introduction is quite funny, "I made a daring escape and offer to bring you to their encampment upon the back of this Bogarnath which I absconded with!" Lol, that word choice though!! As Buckets of Blood mounts the Bogarnath, Tromak talks Yoda into flying away with him (to the Stygmarn system--planet Vrant Tarnum--the Kharvashark Ruins) to obtain a hidden sacred object that Marchion Ro is after, leaving his comm link behind...dun dun dun!! Apparently he semi-trusts Yoda above the others because "our paths crossed once before. Many, many years ago...on Dalna." I wonder what went down on Dalna?!? Eventually, Sy and Buckets of Blood join the battle against the Nihil and the Junk Mavens/Savrip, while Yoda vanishes.

As for Zeen's future with the Jedi, Lula says, "No one expects you not to feel the things you feel, Zeen. Especially considering you haven't even gone through any training. It's what you DO that matters most." Then Master Sy adds, "And we can't train you to be a full Jedi, but we can help you focus your skills. To use the Force for GOOD." I just don't freaking get it. They can see Zeen is very powerful in the Force and that her heart is in the right place. It's not like she's that old. I just think that refusing to train someone strong in the Force simply because they are "too old" is utterly ridiculous--both Luke and Rey are eventual examples of that!! And we all know what happened when one boy in particular was originally refused formal training...I'm talking of course about Anakin. He was treated pretty badly by the Jedi around him when he first came to Coruscant and that ate away at him for his entire life. Poor Zeen, I really hope she gets at least a crumb off of the haughty Jedi table.

Okay, so maybe it was pretty interesting. My only real gripe is that the artwork is sometimes muddled with way too much going on in one panel. See an example in the Savrip panel above. But otherwise, I'm looking forward to seeing where things go from here. My fingers are certainly crossed for Zeen's future with the Jedi Order for one! And then there's Yoda going off on his mysterious trip with Tromak. And there's Krix getting the helmet from Marchion. So many different avenues of story to come...