Published: December 8, 2021
Rated: Rated T
Writer: Charles Soule
Penciler: Steven Cummings
Colourist: Guru-eFX
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Logo and Book Design: Adam Del Re
Cover Artist: Leinil Francis Yu & Sunny Gho
The synopsis;
AFTER THE DAWN… COMES THE REIGN!
The story that began with WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS continues here, in the second installment of a trilogy that will reshape the history of the Star Wars Galaxy during the Age of Rebellion. Featuring the return of beloved characters, shocking twists, epic feats of the Force and a story that will reach from Star Wars’ darkest underworld all the way to the Imperial palace on Coruscant, Crimson Reign is a Star Wars saga like no other!
The review;
War of the Bounty Hunters may be over, but the story certainly isn’t! Here is the second part of a trilogy that surrounds Crimson Dawn and Qi’ra. I must admit, I am one of those fans that adored Solo and really wish they’d have made a trilogy of films with those characters. With that looking like it will never happen, this event is helping to bring closure to those characters. And who better to do it than Charles Soule. Soule has been the writer for numerous series, each showing a wealth and understanding of the Star Wars universe. This year one he has been working on The High Republic (a novel no less), the main Star Wars comic series and War of the Bounty Hunters! He certainly is a busy man! Yet he is also one I trust with Star Wars and am always amazed at the twists and turns that he is able to bring to a a galaxy far, far away. He is joined by Star Wars newcomer Steven Cummings, who one only has to look at his previous work to feel like this is going to be one incredible series.
And incredible it is. The story begins with a circular holocron, which is in itself interesting, with someone we come to know as the Archivist telling us about the events of the comic. The holocron is activated “after the fall”, presumably the fall of Crimson Dawn, but Soule is very quiet about that. We also don’t know who activated the holocron, only that there were at least two people. It’s an intriguing start to an issue and series, where there are a lot of questions with no answers given. The Archivist herself is a mystery, of someone that I believe we already know, but that Soule won’t reveal until the last possible moment.
After this brief introduction, the comic is split into two parts. The first is providing a catch up for those who haven’t read War of the Bounty Hunters and to explain the focus of the series, why are we here reading this comic. Qi’ra is using Crimson Dawn to try and destroy the Sith. It’s that simple. What I thoroughly enjoyed reading was how Soule presented the state of power in the galaxy, how it is unnatural under the rule of the Sith. Rather than waves of power across the galaxy, there is a single man who decides the fate of all and Qi’ra wants to stop him. It is this that provides a focus for all the varying groups who are working for Crimson Dawn but also for the series. We will ultimately be watching how Qi’ra tries, and fails, to defeat the Sith. There is this comparison within the series, starting with lots of questions, lots of unknowns, to then be told the plan for the series, where we ultimately know how it will end, for we know that Crimson Dawn can’t possibly stop the Sith, as Luke does. It seems obvious, although it is these sorts of assumptions that Soule plays on very well, twisting the tale so while true, you never see what has happened in-between.
We get to see the character of Qi’ra expanded a lot. This is a character who is fascinating and never had enough screen time with just one film. Throughout War of the Bounty Hunters and this issue, we see Soule repeatedly have characters remarking how powerful she is, even if she is not a force user. It’s so important to remember that Qi’ra is ‘normal’, she has no force sensitivity. She has risen from the scrapes of society to be in charge of one of the most powerful organisations in the galaxy. She’s done all this by herself, not through some mystical power. Yet you can’t help but compare her to Luke Skywalker, someone equally not high up in society, who has to work his way up to focus on his destiny, defeating the Sith. The only real difference between the two is the force and the fact we know that Luke will succeed where Qi’ra does not. It makes Qi’ra’s story both familiar and yet fresh at the same time, a story we know but from a different point of view.
Once Soule has set the groundwork, we quickly see how Crimson Dawn operates and are introduced to the main players. Qi’ra meets with Black Sun to try and show that Crimson Dawn are trying to stay neutral, that they want to unite not divide the different criminal organisations. Of course, Soule then shows us how this little speech is being repeated across the numerous groups and actually Qi’ra wants chaos. To see the machinations of Crimson Dawn at work is fascinating and Soule keeps it moving at a very brisk pace. There is neither the time to get bored or feel you are having to witness too many political moves, it’s engaging. But for me (and I know my editor Steve) there was a resounding ‘YES!’ when Soule finally brought Prince Xizor back into the new canon as head of Black Sun. As huge fans of Shadows of the Empire this was fantastic to read, and I really, really hope that Soule might treat us to the prince himself in one of his issues.
We are introduced to The Orphans, who are very much the spark to set the criminal underworld into civil war, The Knights of Ren and Ochi. All these groups have clearly got very important roles in this series (I mean who isn’t excited by the Knights destination?!) but we are merely teased with what that could be. All this chaos these groups are causing are doing it for Crimson Dawn, yet it’ll be interesting to see if Qi’ra is doing this to gain power, to put Crimson Dawn into a better position, or it is just to upset Palpatine with the amount of chaos and disorder in the galaxy. Which road will she take to try and defeat the Sith?
Finally, the artwork by Cummings is spectacular. All the panels look gorgeous. At times they are very stylised, what I would expect from any artist, but some of the panels just grab your attention immediately. The two that really struck me was when the Emperor and Vader are first mentioned, and Cummings gives us an action pose with Vader stop erect behind him. The other was when a body shield is employed and the panels to the side show the ricocheting of the blaster bolts firing back, incredible!
All in all, this is a very strong start for a series. Soule interjects a lot of mystery, a lot of questions alongside the ticking time bomb of us as readers knowing (sort of) how this is all going to end. The amount of ground he covers in this one issue is astounding, you feel like you’ve seen a whole movie in one comic. The pacing is done to perfection, you never feel like it is going too fast nor being dragged out. This is going to be one of the series to watch: the quality of the writing and art, the repercussion to the galaxy as we know it and the inevitable twists and turns that Soule will take us on. There is a reason that Soule is so well regarded as a story writer, why Light of the Jedi is one of the greatest Star Wars books to be released this year and he keeps doing more and more Star Wars, it’s because he is just so damn good! I can’t wait to see what the next issue has in store for us.
Availability;
Crimson Reign is a five-part mini-series available from Marvel Comics. This issue retails at $4.99 and is available via the Marvel App and all good comic book stores.
