Star Wars: Crimson Reign #4
THE KNIGHTS!
THE KNIGHTS OF REN have their role to play in QI’RA’S grand scheme to destabilize THE EMPIRE, and their task is arguably the most important…
Something crucial is locked away in FORTRESS VADER, and the Knights must steal it. A heist on the SITH-controlled furnace world of MUSTAFAR…with the Galaxy as the prize!
Writer: Charles Soule
Penciller: Steven Cummings
Inker: Victor Olazaba
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Colorist: Guru-eFX
Cover artist: Leinil Francis Yu
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: April 27, 2022
Crimson Reign #4 follows the same format as the rest of the series by focusing on one of the groups tasked with killing Darth Vader. This time it’s the Knights of Ren in what has to be the most anticipated issue of the series.
Reduced to low level marauders after the rise of the Sith, the Knights of Ren have languished amongst the Outer Rim for years, murdering and pillaging small time targets at will. As rival Dark Side users they fear the Sith and Palpatine’s inevitable retribution but still believe themselves to be a powerful dark side force, mostly due to leader Ren’s overt vanity and arrogance. They are approached by Qi’ra and promised power and freedom in exchange for a small task. That task? Breaking into Fortress Vader! It goes about as well as you can expect….
Ever since their debut in The Force Awakens the Knights of Ren have been something of an enigma and while Soule’s The Rise of Kylo Ren added some backstory and context for who exactly they are, there’s still more questions than answers. It’s one of the most tantalising and unexplored areas of the canon with only the aforementioned Soule series and the Lego Star Wars Halloween special being our only references points outside of their brief appearances in the movies. Does this issue answer those burning questions? No, absolutely not. It does, however, give us some small teases though to their history and reconfirms that they’ve been around for centuries with a new leader usurping the Ren title through murder. Is Soule setting up their inclusion into The High Republic with this information? I hope so!
The issue is a wonderful greatest hits package of the Soule-verse. Ren is his character and the inclusion of Fortress Vader, which Soule oversaw the construction of in his 2017 Darth Vader run, is a joy. I particularly enjoyed the cameo by a certain mask from his Vader and Lando comics. It’s one of the strongest points of him heading this crossover. He knows these characters like nobody else and it gives him licence to use his canon through-lines like Chanath Cha being part of the team, a character we have seen grow up through his works.
While it might be surprising that the main Crimson Reign issues are tangentially linked short stories, I think its quite clear that this is providing the necessary context and run up to the final part of Soule’s Qi’ra trilogy, The Hidden Empire. It’s a different approach to the first parts, War of the Bounty Hunters, more involved and convoluted web of tales but is ultimately a lot more successful and enjoyable in my opinion. It is slightly worrying though that we have one issue left and we have no idea of what endgame he has in mind. Hopefully Qi’ra’s true motivations will be made clear.
Star Wars: Crimson Reign #4 (Lopez Sabacc Card Variant) @ ForbiddenPlanet.com
