Star Wars Yoda (2023) #6
STUDENTS OF THE FORCE
PART THREE: THE GREATEST TEACHER
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….
Yoda and fellow Jedi Dooku have taken on the training of a new generation of Padawans at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. After a few sparring sessions, the students are energized and eager to continue their training.
The dark visions that haunted the Wookiee Krrsish have becoming overwhelming for the young Padawan, causing him to strike out at fellow student Gheyr, the subject of his dark visions….
Writer: Jody Houser
Artist: Luke Ross
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Nolan Woodard
Cover artist: Phil Noto
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: April 19, 2023
This month celebrating the Return of the Jedi 40th anniversary, the super fun Return of the Jedi – Ewoks #1 arrived, kicking off with a tale showing two combative species (the ewoks and the duloks) coming to an understanding on Endor, without technology or galactic wisdom beyond the skies of the Forest Moon. Here in the 6th issue of Yoda we have a similar situation, where a wookiee and a trandoshan – two species long at odds with each other – come to blows, and while the cirumstances of the two comics and their styles are very different, it highlights that while we have Jedi versus Sith, Empire versus Rebellion, Republic versus Separatist, it ultimately all comes down to two people not seeing – or refusing to see – that it’s the differences that should be embraced. Throw in dark side visions and all the pressures if training to become a Jedi and you have a story.
We open with Krrsish about to attack trandoshan padawan Gheyr, the enraged wookiee fuelled by dire visions of her turning to the dark side. Their fellow padawan Jak’zin leaps in to stop Krrsish, only to be burned by his lightsaber and knocked down, and as the wookiee squares up to the trandoshan she ignites her own saber and they clash, a furious fight erupting. Trees fall to wild saber lunges, and as it appears the wookiee has the upper hand, Gheyr uses the Force to slam him into the base of a tree and moves in, destroying his deactivated hilt lying on the floor before turning off her own and pleading that they talk. Krrsish has no intention of doing that, leaping at her and powering her to the ground, his hands around her throat only for Yoda to arrive. He points out that the dark side is constantly present, and asks the wookiee what she has done to justify such rage. No actions but rather a vision, but even the details of the vision are sketchy to the wookiee.
Much to learn he still has, and we return to the temple on Coruscant as we watch Count Dooku training the padawans in Yoda’s absense. They convene, Dooku telling Yoda that the wookiee had confided in him, Dooku giving what he believed was the appropriate advice. Yoda insisted that he should have been told but Dooku countered, remembering young Sifo-Dyas and his challenges. While their views on the Force differ, Yoda does trust Dooku with the training of the initiates, and as they remark that no one has been truly injured and no harm done, we cut to Yoda meditating in the Temple courtyard, beneath the Great Tree. Gheyr approaches, asking for permission to leave with Dooku on his next diplomatic mission offworld, asking if Yoda can guarantee that Krrsish’s vision won’t come true. He can’t, and she explains that she believes she must give up her training to allow Krrsish a chance to complete his. We watch as Gheyr departs and hear Yoda’s sorrowful words, how visions of the future can infect the present and how even he fell victim to that, and we roll out with Yoda convinced he failed her as we swing to Dagobah, watch him walk into a doorway hewn into the trunk of a great tree as a voice calls to him; ‘You can’t ignore me forever. We both know it.’
The end of a fascinating arc and one that really does show the fragile balance a Jedi has to walk with the raging waters of the dark side to the left, and the tumultous expectations of the light to the right. It’s rarely so clear just how easy it is to fall to the dark side than it has been reading Jody Houser’s arc in this series; how constant vigilence is required to maintain the path towards the light side, and how quickly that path can be lost in the darkness. That may or may not have been the authors intention, but that’s the takeaway as this arc ends. This Yoda series could easily have been a trite walk through some obvious storylines, but instead it has delivered with a High Republic tale showing his teaching methods and this pre-The Phantom Menace era story showing just how precarious the path of the Jedi can be. Excellent stuff, and now the bar is raised for the next arc featuring General Grievous in a Clone Wars era story.
