The High Republic: The Blade #1
THE HIGH REPUBLIC
THE BLADE
Part I
This is a time of great exploration. Brave teams of REPUBLIC PATHFINDERS strike out into unsettled regions of space to build new communications networks and find hidden hyperspace lanes. Much is unknown. Danger is everywhere.
The JEDI ORDER has offered its help to the Republic, sending its JEDI KNIGHTS to help wherever they are needed.
On a far-off planet known as THE BONEWORLD, two of the greatest Jedi of the age embark upon their next adventure….
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Marco Castiello
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Colorist: Jim Charalampidis
Cover artist: Giuseppe Camuncoli
Editor: Danny Khazem
Publication date: December 28, 2022
Porter Engle. During the time of Phase One of The High Republic we grew to know him as an aged former Jedi hero, and one heck of a great chef. Step back 150 years into the past during Phase Two and we meet that legendary Jedi on The Boneworld utilising those skills in the kitchen, but amusingly his culinary skills fall far short of his powers in the Force. That’s how we open The Blade, Charles Soule’s latest foray into the era and quickly we’re heading out of camp as Engle and his sister Barash spot a standoff in the desert, which Porter first tries to diffuse using diplomacy and then his stunning skills with a lightsaber as he deflects blaster fire, startling them into dropping their weapons and leaving as we step back another 25 years to Coruscant and the Jedi Temple where we see the first meeting between young padawan Porter and Barash, his ‘sister’ as they spar with lightsabers.
Back in the now we visit the Office of the Frontier, a building representing the union between Republic and Jedi that sees petitions for Jedi aid listed in a similar way to the bounties are decades later. Barash chooses one, on Gansevor in the Tammuz sector, and despite no transport being available to head out there and them not having their own ship a Pathfinder team overhear their conversation and offer to take them out there. En route they chat, about the teams mission to improve communications to the Outer Rim and despite having a Temple trained Jedi amongst their ranks, marvel at having a legendary Jedi like Engle aboard.
It’s made very clear to them that with the sparse nature of communications out on the Rim menaing they have no direct contact with the Republic, Barash insists they still go to Gansevor and follow the will of the Force, and we wrap with a final splash page of the city. Once again, the second phase of The High Republic is delivering. The main title from Cavan Scott is entertaining and sure-footed, and The Blade is the same, giving us a younger incarnation of a character we got to know well in Phase One and hurling him into another adventure.
This is a different galaxy – whereas many of the major technical advancements once felt like they were laid down millennia before, the current run of stories seems to be showing they were centuries old instead. That’s giving storytellers some interesting scope for tales like this, and if we can get more mini series like The Blade then we’re all the richer for it.
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Soule, Charles (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 23 Pages - 01/25/2023 (Publication Date) - Marvel (Publisher)
