Star Wars: The High Republic (2021)

Star Wars: The High Republic (2021) is a 15-issue series that kicks off the comic focused prong of the larger Project Luminous that would establish the galaxy during the High Republic Era. This era is hundreds of years before The Phantom Menace takes place (long enough that its hundreds, plural, but short enough were Yoda is already a Jedi Master at this point). This series introduces many new characters and events that cross over with the novels also included in Project Luminous. When the project was announced I was very excited to see an era where Jedi where allegedly at their peak in canon. Also, in an era where the sith are believed to be all eradicated I was interested to see who they would introduce as the big bad of this new era. Herein lies the main problem I have with the High Republic novels and comics, the lack of delivery. So far they have given us several Jedi and Nihil, the big bad of the era that is equivalent to a large cult of ruffians, characters but has failed to given me a reason to care about any of them. No explanation as to who they are or what mysterious past they might have just very copy and paste stereotypical good guy and bad guy. The two most interesting characters in the entire series are maybe on a combined 22 pages of a 15-issue main comic story, 12-issue spin-offs, and 2 novels (that I managed to get through). This leads to a boring story with a boring protagonist and mostly boring antagonists. I will try to stick with it, for part 2 starting in the Fall of 2022 because they promise to show Marchion Ro, the leader of the Nihil, more, but I am near my breaking point with this series. This series has a problem that many prequel stories have (not just stories but prequels in general) and that is the stakes. You cannot have a galaxy shaking event in a prequel series that is followed by a galaxy that has not been shaken. The stakes need to be more interpersonal.If you would like a good example of interpersonal stakes in a prequel story, even set in Star Wars, check out Rogue One: A Star Wars Story here we have the writers telling a compelling story about a grand event but the only stakes that the audience wants to see is what happens to the characters, because we already know what happens after and what the galaxy is like years after these event. Once again, this is where the High Republic has greatly failed in my opinion. I know the Jedi are still strong hundreds of years later and I know the aftermath of the events in the High Republic, so make me care about your characters. It is hard to read a series that I find so mediocre when there are 4-5 other series surrounded around the same property happening at the same company that are absolutely killing it at the moment. My recommendation is read the other Star Wars stories instead, you'll thank me later.

Overall Rating: 5/10