Dark Horse Adventures into The High Republic

Starting November 30, Star Wars The High Republic Adventures from Dark Horse begins its eight-issue miniseries from Daniel José Older and Toni Brunom focusing on the Sav Malagán's origin story. For those who read the 2021 run of The High Republic Adventures from IDW, also by Daniel José Older, you may recognize Sav as she first made an appearance in issue 8 of that run in addition to The Edge of Balance Volume 2 from Viz Media. In this first issue of Phase II's The High Republic Adventures, Sav is a young Padawan stationed at a Jedi Temple on Takodana, and she has always wanted to live the life of a Jedi, that is until she encounters Maz Kanata and her band of outlaws that leave her yearning for adventures to be had outside of the strict studies of the Jedi.

Before diving into the story, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the wonderful art by Toni Brunom throughout the issue. The art style compliments the story and characters, and is now one of my favorites seen in comics. As for the story itself, Sav is an interesting protagonist who appears to be caught up in seeking thrill and excitement due to the mundane, tedious nature of Jedi training. Exploring the rebellious nature of younger Jedi seems to be a theme Disney enjoys touching on in their recent publishing efforts, and this is Sav's rebellious tendency: sneaking out in the middle of the night to head to a place where she feels she can truly be herself and have the freedom she seeks. There is a lot of promise for this miniseries, and I enjoyed this first issue a lot. The pacing throughout is near perfect, the characters are compelling, and I am interested to watch everything unfold as this issue lays the foundation for the second issue that is expected to release on December 28.

Final Thoughts: The High Republic Adventures Issue 1 is a great starting point to The High Republic comics, or Star Wars comics in general. Older shines in this medium of Star Wars storytelling, and Brunom's artwork is full of character and complements the tone of the series. If you're debating on whether to try the High Republic content, I would start with The High Republic Adventures from Dark Horse, because if this will be anything like in Phase I, the Adventures run will be some of the best content The High Republic has to offer.

Click the image to see my visual review on Instagram