Star Wars Hyperspace Stories #11 Review

Star Wars Hyperspace Stories #11 Review

I don’t mean to be blunt, but bluntly speaking—can we not draw orbs around the opening of the lightsaber? It makes the lightsabers look like light rapiers, and that breaks the character.

For those who think light sabers aren’t characters, then I invite you to a special debate because, after studying emotions and having a few friendly conversations with psychologists who attribute color with emotion, light sabers aren’t different colors for no reason.

Light sabers never arc or ball up at the base of the pommel, where the light is fractalized into a focused beam of stabilized light; it creates the shape according to the function of the saber. Sorry, Fowler, sorry, Crabtree; I just can’t overlook those details. Aside from me being a lightsaber nerd, Yoda has more hair than usual, and Mace Windu has his hand back in this “before the fall” story called A Force United, written by Amanda Deibert.

Tailoring this issue before the big December anniversary of Return of the Jedi, A Force United sees Yoda and Mace Windu, post-Clone Wars, taking younglings to a planet near the settlement of Bursant. This location has just uncovered rare Jedi artifacts, but Mace Windu shares doubt. At Yoda’s behest, he agrees to Yoda’s wisdom, allowing them the opportunity to see artifacts up close.

This doesn’t stop the dark side, as paid purple mercenaries descend on the small archeological encampment to pillage the artifacts, but for who? The traitorous Count Doku, that’s who. I felt like his character was robbed a little, being that a lot of his dialogue here was recycled from his fight with Anakin and Obi-Wan on Geonosis when Yoda stepped in to save their asses.

Nothing against Amanda personally, but I feel like the editors should have stepped in and made a pivot. What was missed here was an opportunity to provide some deep-cut context regarding Doku and Yoda’s relationship.

While it wasn’t the main focus, I know that anthology series like IDW’s TMNT Saturday Morning Cartoons and this episodic anthology-like series, Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories, are tailored for scrapping the bottom of the river to pick up the gems left or lost to the force.

With a little bit of continuity and effort, we could have gotten a different fight scene or interaction. And how is it that Mace Windu foresaw this threat, but Yoda was blind to the presence of his former padawan? This is an example of how target writing hurts brand building because nostalgia gets in the way.

What I’m picking up on here is an example of how Yoda became blind to the dark side leading up to the series of events that destroyed the Jedi Order, which would justify his self-exile. Obviously, no Jedi Order code would give one Master the right to vote on the doubts of another Master’s abilities; therefore, Order 66 was allowed to happen.

I know these are cute little moments for Star Wars to rake in a new fan base, but I wish they’d move on from the events of this generation of Star Wars and into a new one. We’re all much older, and certain actions just hit differently now.

In the end, Yoda praises Windu for his crass wisdom and his sense, of saving the younglings but losing the artifacts in the process, or at least some of them. The worst part is that Doku got away with it. But like all isolated stories, this one comes to an end. I think the cover could have reflected the story better but to each his own.

If you want to check this out for yourself or preorder the Battle of Endor as you have never seen, then head on over to your local comic shop to get a copy of Star Wars Hyperspace Stories #11 or #12 today. As always, stay geeky, share the network, and don’t forget to catch me on the latest episode of Comics’N’Poptarts.