Star Wars Yoda (2023) #9
SIZE MATTERS NOT
PART THREE: IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST
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 Anakin Skywalker have traveled to the planet of Golatha to destroy the foundry that is building “Megadroids”– a new breed of massive and powerful battle droids that the Army of the Republic would be powerless against.
Yoda and Skywalker successfully eliminated the foundry, but not before a prototype Megadroid could come online. And now it moves to destroy the two much-smaller Jedi….
Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Artist: Alessandro Miracolo
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Annalisa Leoni
Cover artist: Phil Noto
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: July 5, 2023
We arrive at the ninth issue of this fascinating Yoda series, a release broken into three distinct story arcs from three teams that have added depth and knowledge to the journey of our favourite diminutive Jedi Master. Diving right back into the action we find Yoda and Anakin Skywalker facing down a Megadroid, the most apt name as this towering durasteel behemoth appears impervious to lightsaber attack and as Anakin tries his best, Yoda emphasizes the reality that size matters not, it’s merely a matter of perspective as he crawls inside the droid and triggers it to launch out of the atmosphere. Hacking away at it’s mechanical guts he disables the droid, it’s heat cooling as he prepares for his end, entering a trance as a voices crackles his name. It’s Anakin in his Jedi starfighter, swinging around to attempt to extract Yoda. However, the cold has rendered him unable to help himself and so he entrusts Anakin with his safety as Skywalker steers the droid and his ship through a floatilla of space ice and then positions himself ahead of the droid, suggesting to Yoda that he cut through the droid from the insides.
Yoda does as Anakin suggests, ejecting from the droid and reaching out to his starfighter as they head back to safety, and onboard the Republic cruiser we see Yoda in the med bay, slowly recovering from his injuries caused by being in deep space. Anakin clearly doesn’t believe Yoda was incapable of freeing himself, and as Yoda swears to never tell we cut to ‘now’ on Dagobah as Yoda communces with Obi-Wan, telling his former student of how he saw his demise on the Death Star through the Force.
We then witness a rare moment of self-doubt. With Anakin as they battled the Megadroid, Yoda used his temporary physical weakness as a means to encourage the young Jedi into action; with Obi-Wan he reveals how he has avoided his former padawan, shaken by not seeing Palpatine’s plan for the galaxy or being able to stop the Emperor when they battled. The fate of the galaxy he takes on his small shoulders, and removing himself from galactic events was not only a penance, he did it because he believes the galaxy is better off without him. Unusual and unsettling to see the usually steadfast Yoda so defeated, but by way of setting up the tenth and final issue of the series it’s the perfect cliffhangar.
There are some beautifully observed moments by Marc Guggenheim with complimentary art from Alessandro Miracolo and Annalisa Leoni, showing why these mini series can be so effective. As an ongoing monthly title we’d fall into action arcs, storylines where Yoda could have an effect but ultimately be a part of a broader storyline with a wider cast of primary and supporting characters. Here in this series he is absolutely the core of the title, and its conclusion which is sure to touch on each of the eras we’ve seen so far, can’t come fast enough.
