Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories: The Bad Batch: Rogue Agents #1
Another Batch
The Bad Batch is back!
When a Separatist scientist and his dangerous invention go missing during the Clone Wars, Clone Force 99 is sent to track him down and prevent the device from falling into the wrong hands.
But when Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair, and Tech arrive at the scientist’s abandoned laboratory, they quickly realize that they aren’t the only ones on his trail . . . and that this mission will be different than any that they’ve faced before!
Writer: Michael Moreci
Penciller: Reese Hannigan
Inker: Elisabetta D’Amico
Colorist: Michael Atiyeh
Letterer: Comicraft
Cover artist: Valeria “Lux” Favoccia
Editor: Spencer Cushing
Publication date: December 31 2025
It’s never a bad day when it’s time to sit down and review a story featuring The Bad Batch, and after the totally on-point Ghost Agents last year, Michael Moreci is back with Rogue Agents, still in the pre-Order 66 years as Clone Force 99 fight for the Republic and this time hunting down an errant scientist with a deadly weapon. We open in the Tesselate system, where we find Doctor Ergin Lazlo as he prepares to make a leap of science and, as he says, change the galaxy. However, despite his bravado we see the flare of a huge explosion, and his instant shock followed by panic, as we cut to two days later and the familiar helmet of Wrecker and the rest of the Batch as they plough through unfortunate Battle Droids. Wrecker is in his element, but Crosshair quietens him while looking ahead, and we see not more of the Separatists endless supply of droids but instead clone troopers firing back at them.
Hunter moves in, making himself known to the Clones (Charger, Hank and Rice) who are aware of the Batch and introduce themselves. Both squads are on the hunt for Doctor Lazlo, and together they descend into the hatch they’ve found, and both wondering why the Republic sent two squads independently to achieve the same mission. They find the laboratory of Doctor Lazlo, but inside their squad leader Sergeant Cole bristles at the constant questions raised by Tech, who is still surprised the Republic sent in a second team as a redundency. However, the moment is short-lived as Crosshair finds a box that once held some kind of device, one that would need two keys to open it – the very same key that is hanging off the belt of Cole, who claims he forgot that he took it off a downed Battle Droid.
Tech looks at Hunter, and as they make their way back to the clones vessel, a Nu-class attack/transport shuttle Hunter sends Tech back to the Havoc Marauder to find out more about these clones. The vessel heads for the skies, as the two teams compare their differences, Hunter asking Cole if he has any idea where the second key might be. Hunter is still suspicious, even after the clones own tech whizz Hank explains how they’ve developed a way of determining where Doctor Lazlo might have fled to. Cole tells Hunter to work with them, or not, it’s up to him.
Meanwhile, we cut to Tech aboard the Havoc Marauder, scouring through any information he can find on the clones. There’s no record of their mission, or even of their names in the active or deceased database, and digging deeper into the Republic database we see his visible surprise as we cut back to the Nu-class attack/transport shuttle as Tech tells Hunter to get off the ship, immediately. Hunter calmly asks that they be let off the vessel, and Cole quickly realises that Tech must have dug deep and found information about them, as suddenly the clones attack Wrecker and quickly the three of them find themselves locked behind a hatch, a terrible roar coming from behind them as a huge rancor tears in, attacking the Batch.
Wrecker has an idea, and orders Tech to bring the Marauder close, and we watch as he blasts the interior of the ship, opening it to the vacuum of space and we see the rancor contiune to grab and claw for them even as they float beyond the ship and we hear Cole and his squad remark how hard they are to kill. They agree to let the Batch do the hard work for them and find the second key, while back aboard the Marauder Tech tells the rest of Clone Force 99 that not only are the clones defectors, now working for the Separatists to bring in the bounty on Doctor Lazlo, but that they’ve gone rogue….
No surprises here, this is great fun, with Moreci capturing the voices of the Batch and the brusque tone of the ‘regular’ clones, who as we learn are far from regular. The artwork by penciller Reese Hannigan and inker Elisabetta D’Amico is crisp and clear, the colouring by Michael Atiyeh as vivid and eye-pleasing as his work always is, and the framework of the mini series now set. It’s clone vs clone, and with the Bad Batch one of those two squads, we know we’re in for a fun ride.
Dark Horse. if no one else is savy enough to continue the stories of Clone Force 99, then please – from a hopeful fandom – keep these adventures coming.
Have a listen to our Canon Fodder interview with Michael Moreci below where we discussed the first Bad Batch series, Ghost Agents.
