BOOK I, EPILOGUE
THE LAST PADAWAN
It is a period of unrest. It’s been years since the fall of the Republic, when Chancellor Palpatine gave ORDER 66, wiping out the peacekeeping JEDI ORDER, and rose to the position of Emperor.
Since then, the Emperor has ruled the an iron fist and small clusters of rebels have begun fighting for freedom. One such rebel group is home to KANAN JARRUS, the mysterious former Jedi named Caleb Dume who lost his Master on the planet KALLER.
Now back on Kaller with his rebel companions, the ghosts from Kanan’s past are beginning to catch up with his present….
Welcome to the epilogue as we move past the first five flashback issues of Kanan and rejoin the current timeline as Kanan returns to Kaller with the rest of our Rebels crew. And it’s a trip he makes with great reluctance as old memories continue to haunt him.
The Review
Returning to familiar locations but years later the crew of the Ghost (travelling in the Phantom) make their return to Kaller on a simple mission, and all the while Kanan is having vivid and guilty memories of his time on Kaller during the latter days of the Clone Wars. And while their mission to bring resupplies to Tarkintown refugees (setting the episode during the events of the first season) is important, Kanan wants to get out of there as fast as he can. His edgeiness alters Hera, who can easily sense his discomfort but before they can make the drop they are surrounded by the local authorities. Cleverly they manage to talk their way out of it, vowing to track down the shipment they are there to collect and heading into Plateau City for information.
Hera calls Kanan on his jumpiness but he manages to dodge further questions by splitting the crew into pairs and heading into town with Chopper. His unfortunate final meeting with Janus Kasmir sits heavily on his mind, especially as he learns Kasmir is still the best smuggler in the region. But expecting to meet Kasmir, he instead meets one of Kasmir’s adversaries Tapusk who doesn’t recognise Kanan as Caleb. However, Tapusk and his goons pull their weapons on Kanan and Chopper and they have to work hard to make their escape. That is until Kanan is knifed in the shoulder, slowing him down. Gamut Key returns to talk to Kanan, explaining that he could be an ally – he’s a politician and willing to talk to anyone. As Gamut leaves and Kanan calls back to Hera his injuries get the better of him and he passes out as the ghosts of his past on Kaller surround him.
Another solid entry into the series as Kanan returns to Kaller and attempts to dodge the shadows of his past. The script and story by Greg Weissman are on point as they have been all the way through – clearly he knew these characters very well indeed – and the art by Jacopo Camagni and David Curiel is top notch. It’s interesting to read a comic that gets down into the underworld trenches like Kanan does and it helps us view him in a different light when we return to the animated adventures on Disney XD. He has a past, and an interesting one at that. Compared to the superheroics of some of the other titles this is gritty and occupies an area of the Star Wars galaxy I have a long-standing interest in.
Kanan’s continual thoughts of the past are well played when they could have easily been a distraction and there are some neat bits of humour in there, specifically the scene where they are captured and Kanan raises his hands only for Chopper to do the same. As sight gags go, it’s a winner. The fight scenes hit hards where they have to, there’s plot and exposition aplenty and the title actually feels as if it’s going somewhere. And the ending – classic old school Marvel. The final page gives us a glimpse of what’s to come in issue 7 on 28th October and I for one am laying out my credits and buying a copy as this title has me hooked.
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