Star Wars Vol. 7: The Ashes of Jedha collects issues 38-43 of Star Wars. It was written by Kieron “Gimme Shelter” Gillen with art by Salvador “Like a Rock” Larroca.
Synopsis
The Rebels meet Benthic Two-tubes
Han, Leia, Luke and the droids have come to Jedha to offer Saw Gerrara’s surviving partisans, led by Benthic Two-tubes, their support in sabotaging the Empire’s efforts to extract the remaining kyber crystals from the devastated moon. Leia also hopes to draw them into the Rebel Alliance. A meeting is facilitated by Ubin Des, a Jedha native who was a member of the Alliance but has now joined up with the partisans. Meanwhile Imperial forces, under the intimidating and more than a little murdery Commander Kanchar, have enlisted the aid of Queen Trios of Shu-Torun to extract the remaining assets from the planet’s bowels. When they deploy one of their orbital drills, the rebels and partisans successfully destroy it, although Luke is troubled by Benthic’s use of gratuitous violence (or maybe he’s just jealous because someone else is hogging the homicide spotlight). After the battle, Luke is persuaded by Chulco Gi, a partisan and member of the Brotherhood of the Beatific Countenance, to go on a pilgrimage with him to the Temple of the Central Isopter, a shrine built on the edge of the crater created by the Death Star’s laser. The members of the Central Isopter are like a death cult, they encourage Luke and Chulco to gaze into the abyss and heed what it tries to tell them. Luke senses a disturbance in the Force and is wary of the presence of the Dark Side. Chulco finds himself overcome by the darkness and attacks Luke with a blade, forcing Luke to kill him. The cultists tell Luke that he must find a teacher in order to become what he wishes to be. They also tell him that his friends need him now. Luke rushes off to help Chewbacca, who is under attack and trying to land on the planet.
Leia remembes one of her final moments with her father.
Chewie was sent by Leia to obtain the plans for the Leviathan, a city size drill that the Empire deployed after the attack on the orbital drill. One Rebel briefing room scene later, a plan is hatched to take out the behemoth. Luke, Leia and the Droids infiltrate the security core in order to allow another team, brought in on the Falcon to take the thing over and set it to drive right into the big ol’ hole that makes up half the planet (moon). Unfortunately, as the strike team is about to depart the partisan base, the Empire attacks and Benthic is badly wounded. Han is forced to take command when he sees that Ubin is likely to lead the mission in a reckless manner, with little regard to her or her people making it out alive. Leia and the droids get the drill’s defenses down while Luke heads to the bridge to confront Cmdr. Kanchar. All seems to be going well when Queen Trios appears, holding Leia at blaster-point. It looks as though the jig is up, but things are not what they seem. Trios reveals that it was she who leaked the plans for the Leviathan. Trios wants to defy the Empire; but her first priority, as always, must be to protect Shu-Torun. She offers to work for the Rebels from the inside and to provide resources for their fledgling fleet. Leia gladly accepts this offer, Luke defeats Kanchar, and the Empire is hoisted by its own petard when the Leviathan plunges into the lava (or is it magma?) filled abyss that was created by the Death Star’s attack. Oh, sweet, sweet irony. Han, having taught Ubin that there is more to being a hero than self sacrifice, rewards her with his Yavin Medal. We then learn that it wasn’t really his medal; he had a bunch of copies made to sell to the rubes. Classic Han. Don’t ever change, man; or, if you do change, eventually go back to the way you were before.
Review
Members of the Central Isopter.
Kieron Gillen takes over the reigns of the Star Wars series. He and Salvador Larroca are reunited, and it feels so good. Gillen wisely, and I think successfully, tries to strike a balance between forging his own path on this series and maintaining a thematic continuity with Aaron’s work. One of Aaron’s main themes was Luke’s quest to further his training and become a Jedi. Gillen continues this in The Ashes of Jedha, but also kind of puts the brakes on it by the end of the story. This was a good a choice. While Luke’s quest for knighthood is certainly a worthwhile and interesting element of his story, previous issues have seen him undertake it in a manner that was not only reckless but, at times, borderline stupid. To his credit, Gillen doesn’t just throw it away; he picks it up, does something with it, and brings it to a natural (and likely temporary) stopping point. Another theme previously explored in the series is the Rebel Alliance’s conduct of the war with the Empire. Remember in Rebel Jail when Sana argues that the Rebels may never beat the Empire if they insist on trying to wage an ethical war and taking prisoners (both literally and metaphorically)? Well, here our heroes see what it looks like when a group wages all out, no holds barred war with the Empire; and what it tends to look like is a bunch of people who are more concerned with dying for their cause than actually changing the galaxy. And then there’s Han Solo, it feels like Han goes from being a guy who works for the Rebellion to being, not just a part of the Rebellion, but a leader in the Rebellion. Gillen also ties this story in with his previous work; bringing back Queen Trios, giving her a chance to shine out from under the shadow of Darth Vader, and providing her with a genuinely surprising turn when she chooses to throw in her lot, albeit secretly, with the Rebellion.
Luke confronts Commander Kanchar.
The story also introduces us to some new characters. The hulking Commander Kanchar, with his eyepatch and robot arm, is certainly very interesting visually; but there’s really not much else that elevates him above the standard evil Imperial. He actually comes off kind of like a Bond villain, or the henchman of a Bond villain, in his climactic fight with Luke Skywalker. Ubin Des, the Jedha native who joined the Alliance, then returned to fight for what’s left of her home planet, provides a link between the Rebels and the more radical Partisans. She is, in a manner of speaking, the foot in the door that our heroes use to get in with the Gerrera Guerillas. She is also the way in which they attempt to infuse their ethical mindset into the group. Benthic is too indoctrinated in Saw’s “kill ‘em all, let the Force sort ‘em out” tactic, and Chulco is more concerned with pursuing the Force, which leads him to destruction. It would be pretty cool to follow up this story with a look into what happens when Benthic heals from his wounds and resumes leadership of the partisans. Would he too be swayed by the leadership lessons that Ubin learned? Would there be a rift between them, leading to yet another splinter group? Gillen has been pretty good about bringing back interesting characters for further development, and I hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Ubin.
Notes
Princess Leia meets Queen Trios
Queen Trios, of course, previously appeared in Kieron Gillen’s Darth Vader series. We haven’t seen the last of her in this series.
Chulco Gi identifies himself as an aspirant to the Disciples of the Whills, but he is dressed like a member of the Brotherhood of the Beatific Countenance. I suppose he started off in the Brotherhood and then decided to convert to the Disciples; probably over a woman. The Brotherhood, the Disciples, and the Central Isopter are all groups that are seen or mentioned in Rogue One.
Speaking of Chulco, we never really get a scene where Luke explains what happened at the shrine. All you really see is a couple of panels where Ubin is comforting Luke. What? Did he tell them what really happened, and if so how did that conversation go? “Luke, where’s Chulco; what happened?” “Well, we were staring into some lava, he went insane, tried to stab me, so I had to impale him in the gut with my lightsaber.” “He went insane from staring at lava, so you had no choice but to kill him?” “Yes, that’s exactly what happened”, says Luke, while not so subtly caressing his lightsaber; “Any more questions?” “No.”
Yes, we see a Decrainiated on rather prominent display in the Partisan hideout.
Kanchar survives his fight with Luke and is seen escaping the Leviathan with Trios.
Comic Pack Wish List:
Kanchar would be good; Chulco with a removable hood; I’ve probably nominated Trios before, but that bears repeating; Benthic would be an obviously good choice.
Score:
I think Gillen really accomplished something worthwhile and commendable with his first outing on the main Star Wars series; as I said above, he keeps continuity with Aaron’s established stuff and begins to forge his own path. 4 Skulls.
