Star Wars: Jedi Knights #5
BEFORE THE FALL
It is a time of peace and prosperity in the galaxy. Thousands of Jedi Knights serve and protect the vast expanse of THE GALACTIC REPUBLIC.
Jedi Knights Yaddle and Seera Longa have been dispatched to the Outer Rim world of Liskan to mediate a dispute between the Gillanter Corporation and the greedy Trade Federation.
But all on Liskan is not as it initially seems….
Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Artist: Madibek Musabekov
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Colourist: Luis Guerrero
Cover artist: Rahzzah
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: July 2 2025
Get comfy, you’re in for a great read as this is one of the most important, beautifully crafted and spot-on scripted comics you’re going to read for a long time. It opens during a key and terrible moment seen onscreen in the fourth episode of Tales of The Jedi, The Sith Lord, where Jedi Master Yaddle she meets her death at the hands of Count Dooku, and quickly we step back in time to a time years before the Battle of Naboo as Yaddle and Jedi Knight Seera Longa arrive on the world of Liskan to mediate a dispute between the Trade Federation and the Gillanter Corporation. With none other than Nute Gunray representing the Trade Federation, the talks start fast as the Gillanter Rodian representative Quillan Zarro accuses the Trade Federation of stealing one of their freighters. It transpires that the ship has indeed been taken, held in escrow for the lack of payment due from Gillanter, and quickly it becomes apparent that there will be no meeting of minds. Longa suggests a quiet word with Gunray, something outside the borders of the mediation terms, but Yaddle has another idea; sneak aboard the freighter to find out exactly what’s being held, and why.
They soon discover the cargo is Rylothian spice, and as Longo ponders on that discovery and the ramifications of that, Count Dooku – now a former member of the Jedi Order – steps from the shadows to introduce himself. Longa has never met a former Jedi before, and as Yaddle warmly greets her old friend, someone she still considers a friend of the Order, they’re interrupted by blaster fire as three wookiees arrive on the attack. The three leap into action, Longa diving to Yaddle’s aid as a thermal detonator is thrown at them, and in the confusion they lose sight of Dooku. Yaddle realises the truth, that Gillanetr are far from an innocent tradsing company but rather a front for far more illegal activities, and we switch to see Dooku, captured by the wookiees and chained up without his lightsaber, speak with an elder wookiee named Lonkus who asks the count why he’s helping the Trade Federation.
In classic Bondian style he explains his motives; simply put, how he is in league with someone who is in turn in league with the Federation, and as the Federation need help with something they’re planning, so he agreed to assist. We cut to Yaddle and Longa onboard a T-6 Jedi Shuttle, the Force telling the master to help free Dooku, despite a shroud that brings a chill to her soul. She knows it’s far more complicated than she can discern, but the will of the Force supercedes everything else, and so we cut back to Dooku just as the wookiee leader demands his death and we see his lightsaber fly through the air powered by the Force to impale one wookiee and free himself to face the others just as Longa and Yaddle arrive to help.
Yaddle uses a Jedi Mind Trick on one to send him home to rethink his life, and just as Lonkus makes good his escape he is stopped in his tracks by Dooku, who brandishes his blade at the wookiees throat. As the count is about to end the Kashyyykian, Yaddle leaps in to block the blow, telling him how that’s not the Jedi way, to which Dooku deactivates his blade, telling her there are forces in the galaxy who are willing to do the things that the jedi are not, and that the time of the Jedi will end. Walking away, he tells Yaddle that they’ll never know whether he truly owes her his life, and we end the issue with Yaddle telling Longa that preserving life is never regretful, whatever the cost may prove to be.
What a fantastic issue, loaded with callbacks, foreshadowing, action, wit, charm and some absolutely gorgeous artwork from artist Madibek Musabekov who right now is at the top of his game when it comes to eye-catching artwork and craftmanship. Jedi Knights has been a very enjoyable series so far, but this issue stands out as the one readers will remember and call back to when delving into the hostory of Count Dooku and the comparatively limited adventures of Yaddle, a character who now – after being portrayed so very well by Bryce Dallas Howard – has a humour and a soul that could stand to be written about far more than it has, and what a treat that is twenty-six years after we first met her so briefly in The Phantom Menace.
