Comic Review: The High Republic (Phase III) #4

Sporting a bright yellow spacesuit and cutting through droids with her lightsaber, Keeve Trennis is adrift and alone in Noto’s direct cover. It’s a real highlight of the series so far and very different from previous covers. Meanwhile her former master, Sskeer, is the focus of Suayan’s connecting variant and the Trandoshan is looking a little worse for wear to say the least. Reis’ variant also features Keeve, this time talking down Ceret and capturing her leadership ability so well in this composition. Then there’s Ember leaping into action alongside Bell Zettifar in Lashley’s fantastic Black History Month variant.

With Keeve Trennis reluctantly allying alongside Nihil marauder turned Hutt mercenary, Lourna Dee, in the hopes of breaching the Stormwall, the young Jedi Knight is going rogue on the chance that her former Master Sskeer survived the fall of Starlight Beacon. Yet the rumours surrounding the Trandoshan suggest he is not the same. He’s changed into a monster. Can Keeve find him before it’s too late?

Lourna Dee is like a bug that just won’t be crushed. This isn’t the first time Keeve Trennis has helped the Twi’lek escape the Republic, with the young Jedi intervening before Keeve Trennis could deliver a fatal blow during their clash in Phase I. It’s really interesting to have all this history between the characters as they have to work together to cross the Occlusion Zone. Scott knows Lourna’s character the best and it shows in some of the ways she tries to stand up for the rights of her droids.

After entering the Occlusion Zone aboard what was formally the Ataraxia, the Jedi have to fend off the Nihil’s scavenger droids that are lying in wait. But the only way to do so is through disarming them via an access code. Which is in Lourna’s droid. Rather than reprogramming its violent tendencies, Ceret overrides the droid’s autonomy circuits, stripping the droid of its free will – something that makes Lourna Dee very unhappy. It might seem strange that the former Nihil marauder would even care – she’s done plenty to suggest she wouldn’t – but Lourna knows what it’s like to be enslaved. To have her freedom vanish. It certainly adds to the tension between her and the Jedi.

Terec and Ceret aren’t helping in their tenacity to help Keeve either. Usually the twins work well together, but something is causing their relationship to falter. Ceret almost seems to be pulled towards the darker side of the Force, and his actions towards Lourna, including trying to mind trick her, hint at a possibly troubling future for the Kotabi twins. They have been through so much during the war against the Nihil and the Drengir, it could be that battle fatigue is finally starting to cause cracks in their belief of the Force.

And then we reach the planet Kindosorn and a bunch of surprises! Scott delivers the biggest twist of The High Republic (Phase III) series so far by revealing that Archivist Orbalin and Jedi Knight Goonral are still alive. Orbalin supposedly met his fate at the end of Lourna Dee’s blaster, but you can’t kill a blob of ectoplasm that easily! He helped Goonral to survive and the two have been stuck behind the Occlusion Zone without any way of contacting the Republic. Considering this huge twist, there’s a possibility more Jedi survived the Great Disaster, and it could be exciting to see Scott bring more characters back from Phase I.

It’s through these Jedi that Keeve learns Sskeer does truly live. Her loyalty towards her former master is so beautifully written, with Scott portraying so much emotion in the bond that these two still share. Keeve owes so much of her character to Sskeer’s amazing teachings and if she ever took on a Padawan of her own, she would be such an excellent teacher. While a lot of the Jedi in Phase III are struggling with their emotions and grief, Keeve remains steadfast.

It’s a testament to Sskeer as well. He wasn’t a typical Jedi Master and gave Keeve a lot of freedom to explore her connection to the Force and find her place within the Jedi Order. Keeve curses, she doesn’t ask the Council for permission, and she’s not afraid to tell the adults when they’re wrong. Now that the galaxy has changed so much, Keeve has the flexibility to change with it, and the maturity to handle these very turbulent situations.

Towe and Cresta continue to illustrate these characters superbly. There is a lot going on in this comic, jumping from space to new locations, and the level of detail is astronomical. It flows in a way that makes The High Republic (Phase III) #4 feel like a movie. Keeve’s action scenes in space are probably the highlight of this issue, reminiscent of Ahsoka’s battle against Morgan Elsbeth’s fighters in the Disney+ show. There’s so much energy to this fight against the droids, yet weightlessness too as Keeve uses the lack of gravity to her advantage.

Scott continues to put Keeve through her emotional paces in The High Republic (Phase III) #4, as she desperately tries to hunt down Sskeer. What has happened to the Trandoshan? Is it the effect of the Nameless or a lingering part of the Drengir? And will Keeve be able to bring Sskeer back to the Light? Next issue will see former master and apprentice reunite!