Another Adventurous, Disaster Filled Mission

Prior to the events of The Fallen Star by Claudia Gray, Mission to Disaster by Justina Ireland begins with the Nihil attacking Port Haileap where they kidnap Avon Starros. Soon after, Vernestra and Imri learn of this attack and they immediately rush off to help their friend. Meanwhile, Avon is being held on an unknown planet where she realizes that she isn’t the only child the Nihil is holding, and apparently kidnapping children is the Nihil’s latest ploy to gather new recruits for their cause. As we know from Out of the Shadows, Vernestra was left with a few things to ponder about herself - specifically her special Force ability as well as cementing her role as a Knight and mentor to Imri - so I was looking forward to unraveling more of her character development through wrestling with these internal conflicts. However, to my surprise, none of these key points are prominent in Mission to Disaster and everything appears to be great with our characters. Yes, it is wonderful to see Vernestra thriving and having the writer assume the audience can fill in the gaps, but it feels like too quick of a resolution for my liking with internal conflicts this pertinent to the character as a whole even when considering the target audience (8 - 12 year olds).

To my surprise we are greeted with a familiar face amongst the Nihil but it’s not who you might think. The kidnapped children are placed with handlers to ensure they stay in line, and Avon’s handler is none other than Deva Lompop: a character who recently first appeared in Marvel’s Jabba the Hutt one-shot written by Justina Ireland, then again in the War of the Bounty Hunters crossover event. While Deva’s role in Mission to Disaster is minuscule I still appreciate references to the comics, especially those outside of the High Republic initiative.

While on the topic of unexpected inclusions, the Halcyon makes its first appearance in the books. The reason for including the ship is blatant at this point, and that’s all I’m going to say about that. There are also some characters that are obvious inserts of people, and while this has been a reoccurring thing, it’s exhausted at this point.

However, I will say that Ireland’s meritorious contributions to the Nihil are long overdue. The Nihil haven’t seen nearly as much development as they should have being this late in the era, but I’m thankful for the attention Ireland shows this group in Mission to Disaster. Furthermore, unlike the other installments, background knowledge of the other material in this era is not required in order to follow the story which is a refreshing change of pace and good news for casual readers of the High Republic.

Final Thoughts: Mission to Disaster is a great conclusion to Phase 1 for young readers. Out of the Shadows introduced interesting avenues to continue Vernestra and Imri’s character development in a prominent way; and while these aspects are not explored as much as I was hoping for, it is still a delight to follow these two along on another adventure.

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