Star Wars: Jedi Knights #1
THE INVASION OF SYRINX PRIME
It is a time of relative contentment. While Supreme Chancellor Valorum and the Galactic Senate oversee democracy across the Republic, thousands of JEDI KNIGHTS maintain peace and justice across the stars.
However, there is still conflict in the galaxy. Centuries of distrust and tension between the Outer Rim worlds of VEKURA and SYRINX PRIME have broken out into open warfare with Vekura’s invasion of Syrinx Prime.
In response to the crisis, Chancellor Valorum has dispatched a contingent of Jedi Knights to bring about an end to the fighting….
Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Artist: Madibek Musabekov
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Colourist: Luis Guerrero
Cover artist: Rahzzah
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: March 5 2025
Peace reigns across the galaxy….well, almost, and as we open the gorgeous painted gatefold cover by Rahzzah we find our pre-The Phantom Menace era Jedi heroes swatting away blasts on the warring Outer Rim planet of Syrinx Prime, recently invaded by the world of Vekura. Masters Mace Windu and Yoda are at the leading edge of the battle, and as Windu asks Yoda about the peace talks we’re not only introduced to our heroes – Windu, Yoda, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Vetna Mooncrest and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who segues us neatly to his master Qui-Gon on Vekura as he attempts to negotiate a ceasefire after their unlawful invasion of Syrinx Prime. Jinn and newly knighted Jedi Berem Khana are meeting with Vekuran General Lafco, who is trenchant in his refusal to withdraw, citing centuries of conflict. Berem is overconfidant and impatient, attempting a Jedi Mind Trick on Lafco to end the war, but it’s a gambit that fails.
The General doubles-down on his promise, despite Jinn informing him that Supreme Chancellor Valorum himself has ordered an end to the conflict, and we cut back to Syrinx Prime and Adi Gallia and fellow Jedi Seera Longa who are taking a different route away from the fighting. Gallia laments their limited knowledge of the worlds involved, but their thoughts are paused when they stumble upon a prison, and upon entering are discovered by a guard, only for Gallia to enact the second Jedi Mind Trick of the issue, this time successfully and making the guard forget he ever saw them.
Back on Vekura, Khana and Qui-Gon are returning to their vessel, the younger Jedi asking what they will do with their information while Jinn reminds him they only have supposition and suspicion at this point. As they’re leaving Qui-Gon pauses, and we see a masked figure leaping in, blades drawn as they attack Qui-Gon in a furious fight that sees the renagade Jedi knocked down, as is Khana before Qui-Gon lashes out with the Force to smash the assailant into a wall. Catching their breath Jinn asks who his attacker is working for, Syrinx Prime or Vekura but before he gets an answer they drop a smoke grenade and disappear, and we see the Jedi gather themselves before heading back to Syrinx Prime, Khana picking up a sliced-off piece of Jinn’s robe.
The Jedi Council reconvene, with Jinn and Khana giving their report on the Vekuran general as well as Adi Gallia and Seera Longa reporting that they found a prison camp full of captured Vekurans. We see Saesee Tinn via hologram on Coruscant as Vetna Mooncrest tells him this isn’t an invasion, it’s a rescue mission. We see the entire council via hologram mixed in with those present on Syrinx Prime as Yoda laments that perhaps their haste to resolve the conflict meant they didn’t have the full facts at hand. Berem Khana doesn’t see how Yaddle’s hopes of an agreed truce to the fighting can come to pass, but Yoda has confidence in the power of negitiation and we see their battered T-6 lift off heading for Syrinx Prime with the intent to deprive the conflict of oxygen.
On Syrinx Prime a cadre of Jedi led by Adi Gallia arrive at the Syrinx weapons forge, asking if her fellow Jedi have their thermal detonators to hand while Yoda meets with the Syrinx predident as Windu meets with General Lafco. Both leaders are evasive, wary of dealing with outsiders but both are told in no uncertain terms that their weapons forges are being taken out by the Jedi, and we see these ‘weapons of peace’ tear the installations apart, fighting for justice. With that, the Jedi end their abilities to attack or protect, and order them to come to the bargaining table to make peace, a scene we see as the two leaders meet and shake hands.
Back on Coruscant, we see Berem and Qui-Gon meet, with the newly knighted Jedi not only noying thsat the suspicion and rumour they should never treat as truth was actually correct, but that the attacker on Vekura wasn’t coming for them both but only for Jinn. The small slice of Jinn’s robe that was cut off in the fight had a tiny beacon in it, meaning his assailant was directly coming for Jinn. We end the issue with Obi-Wan and Yoda training, as Kenobi focuses his mind on the future, some of which will come to pass and some not. In that vision we see a slew of images, some we know to be true (Dooku with a red blade) and many more immediate. One shows young Ben clashing with his elder self, another a dark Yoda, a third a Mandalorian on the attack. Kenobi is troubled, not knowing how to discern which of these will come to pass, and we end with a vision of the attacker on Vekura killing Qui-Gon.
Well, that was the way to kick off a new series. Cinematic, engaging, beautifully drawn by Madibek Musabekov and coloured by Luis Guerrero, this brings to life Marc Guggenheim’s pacet story as a conflict on the Outer Rim is quickly quashed in a manner that not only shows the mobility and strength of the Jedi, but also their ‘lack of vision’. The destruction of weapons supplies to end a conflict is a temporary patch in the moment for a long-simmering beef, one that in microcosm could be scaled up to the entire galaxy, one almost at tipping point as we well know. There’s an arrogance – the usage of Jedi Mind tricks comes to easily to this era of Jedi – but there are also shortcuts. They admittedly pile in not knowing the full story, on the order of the Supreme Chancellor, and while it would appear that this conflict on the Outer Rim is concluded, we know the problems grow the closer to the galactic capital we get. Superb work all round, and one that will be top of the pile the next time it lands.
