Star Wars Yoda (2023) #4
STUDENTS OF THE FORCE
PART ONE: OLD FRIENDS
The wise Jedi Master Yoda has lived a long life in service to the greater good of the galaxy.
After the rise of the Galactic Empire, he now spends his days on the secluded swamp world Dagobah, awaiting an important visitor and reflecting on his many adventures….
Writer: Jody Houser
Artist: Luke Ross
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Nolan Woodard
Cover artist: Phil Noto
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: February 22, 2023
After the opening three issues of High Republic era adventure that Cavan Scott deftly laid out, revealing a choice made by Yoda that despite his best intentions largely backfired, we move on to the fourth issue as Jody Houser makes a return to the saga in a tale set in the now – the pre-Return of the Jedi ‘now’ – as Yoda is contacted by a disembodied voice as he waits in his Dagobah swamp home. We immediately step back to the past and a much younger Count Dooku – by appearance from the time of last years Tales of the Jedi – as Yoda requests that he train with the younglings rather than occupy his time with council matters and issues in the senate. Yoda reminds Dooku that their destiny is guided by the Force, not the ‘whims of politicians‘ and persuaded, Dooku agrees as we read Yoda’s thoughts, of how Dooku dwells on the past and ponders the future, a future Yoda hopes Dooku will help shape.
Dooku is introduced to the padawans, a wookiee, a togorian and a trandoshan and is clearly surprised at their kinship, given the longstanding interspecies hatred between the wookiees and the trandoshans. Away from politics and prejudice they have become a strong unit, and by means of demonstrating to them the strength of teamwork Yoda and Dooku face off, to give a saber lesson to the younglings who later reenact it in the halls of the Jedi temple as the elder masters clear up the training room and Yoda asks for Dooku’s impressions of the class. The wookiee has caughts Dooku’s attention, and Yoda agrees pointing out the strong bonds he has with his fellow students, much like Dooku did with Sifo-Dyas. Dooku askes of his old friend, who now travels with his own former master battling visions of the future. Yoda sees these as possibilities, while Dooku appears to view them more as premonitions, and while the two clearly have divergent opinions of the will of the Force and how to read it we cut to the wookiee and his friends as he appears to have his own future vision, seeing the wookiees and Yoda together, his people and the Trandoshans at each others throats, eventually enslaved by them.
We roll out of the issue as we see wookiee Krrsish visit the library where he encounters Dooku, and while apologising for disturbing the elder Jedi he reveals that he has had a vision, one Dooku advises he keep to himself, not even telling Master Yoda and we’re back into this pre-The Phantom Menace era once again as this satsfying series continues. Yoda is a character of which relatively little is known, and while we can’t expect any ground-shaking revelations into his motivations and psyche, to see him at work across a variety of eras is of great value when transposed upon decisions made during the Prequels and how his questionable judgement and choices led to a situation where the Sith were able to steal the galaxy from them and the Jedi who remained were forced into exile and abandonment.
The art by Luke Ross is as anticipated sumptious and crisp, while Jody Houser delivers a note-perfect peek into the relationship between Dooku and Yoda, one we know ends in a galaxy-shaking stalemate. As Obi-Wan and Anakin mature their relationship – albeit briefly – into one of equals, here the evolving nature of Yoda and Dooku’s relationship has clearly changed in increments, to the point where either can speak freely to the other. The fracture ahead was clearly one that caused Dooku deep sorrow, and while he was presented as the villain in the Prequels, a veil of regret always lay lightly over Christopher Lee’s performance. That’s fertile ground to investigate, and this looks set to delve into that and investigate the web-thin cracks that later sepatate into chasms.
