The Acolyte – Kelnacca #1
KELNACCA FROM THE HIT DISNEY+ SERIES DEBUTS!
CAVAN SCOTT and MARIKA CRESTA bring the action as Wookiee Jedi Kelnacca steps into the pages of his own issue!
Delve deep into the history of Kelnacca and the world of the High Republic in this bombastic one-shot!
Includes an exclusive interview with Kelnacca actor Joonas Suotamo.
Writer: Cavan Scott
Artist: Marika Cresta
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Colorist: Jim Campbell
Cover artist: Phil Noto
Editor: Danny Khazem
Publication date: September 4 2024
We open the story in the ‘now, a century before the events of the bulk of the story as we meet an elderly Master Yarzion, bed-ridden on the world of Tozil and being tended to by his padawan, Ordea. He is close to his end, and comforts his padawan who is clearly concerned, and curious about who will complete her training. That reminds him of his own journey, and we step back a century to Eiram and the wreckage of Starlight Beacon, strewn across the bay and a young Yarzion running towards Elzar Mann on the beach. Yarzions master perished in the crash, and he asks Mann ‘who will complete my training’, only to look up and see Kelnacca – younger than we saw him in The Acolyte – newly arrived as part of the relief efforts from Coruscant. The wookiee silently strides away and Yarzion follows, and we see a montage of events a year later as master and apprentice battle the Nihil in the Occlusion Zone, and we learn that Kelnacca very much keeps his council, only speaking when absolutely necessary.
Two years later we are at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, as Yarzion is looking at a hologram of his slain master Lulad. She had runes tatooed on her head, and we learn that the runes drawn on his head spell out the name of his greatest teacher, as a mark of respect. Yarzion had ‘Lulad’ drawn on his head, and so she had his name tatooied on hers, explaining that a master never stops learning with the greatest lessons drawn from those they teach. To this, Kelnacca said nothing.
The final year of Yarzion’s traning and we switch to the world of Veek, on the Outer Rim. Kelnacca and Yarzion are protecting a father and child from a fire engulfing their home, and once safe the wookiee orders his padawan to leave the fire while he wields the Force. The child explains that their old droid is still inside with holos of her dead mother in its databanks and Yarzion leaps in to save the old droid. Silent once again, Kelnacca ignites his blade and snips the padawan braid from Yarzions head, knighting him. The wookiee had asked Yarzion to do something for him, and as Ordea asks what that was we see Kelnacca in the doorway. With a smile on his face Yarzion passes and the wookiee takes his lifeless body to a funeral pyre, placing him on top as he passes into the Force. Ordea looks more closely at the shaved head of the wookiee. He has runes on his skull and we flashback to see Yarzion tatooing his name on Kelnacca’s head as Ordea asks whether Kelnacca will comlete the final months of her training. We end the issue with the two sparring, her request accepted and a circle now completed.
The end of the story, but not the end of the issue. We conclude with an interview between StarWars.com editor Kristin Baver and Kelnacca actor Joonas Suotamo discussing his character, a very welcome end to a tale of masters and apprentices spanning the years while touching on key High Republic moments and establishing the stoic nature of the wookiee Jedi. Suotamo was involved in a brainstorming session with writer Cavan Scott, giving detail to Kelnacca’s more refined nature as a master Jedi, and it’s definitely feels like a marker to see if interest in further Acolyte era storytelling is there. New York Comic Con 2024 gave us news of a few future Acolyte projects so here’s to many more and the hope that the Project Luminous team can move on from Phase Three and into this era later down the timeline to give even more background and detail to the characters of the series.
