The High Republic’s second phase has ended, which means all you trade-waiters can experience a small piece of that end with the second volume of the Phase II comics. Taking place concurrently with The Battle of Jedha audiobook, this five-issue collection concludes the titular battle and launches readers into the final arc of Phase II’s storytelling. Though the first volume ended with a tantalizing tease of the battle to come, Battle for the Force is a lightning-quick story with little to chew on. Lean on excitement, character development, or interesting narrative directions, it’s a trade that is hard to recommend to anyone but High Republic completists.
I should point out that you don’t have to listen to The Battle of the Jedha to understand what is going on in these comics, but it definitely would help. With the context of the audiobook in mind, the gravity of everything that is happening on Jedha is a little heavier. Even if you do listen to the audiobook, though, it still feels like the events of this series are of little consequence. Maybe it’s because we all go into this series knowing that the holy city of Jedha doesn’t get destroyed 382 years before its first on-screen appearance in Rogue One. More than that, I think it’s because the series only takes place over a couple of hours and constantly jumps perspectives during that time, which never allows the reader to soak in the moment or bask in the severity of the battle.
There’s no clear “enemy” of this battle, nor any distinct sides; it’s just chaos. In a way, that actually makes sense in the context of the series. The Jedi and the various other Force groups on Jedha are just as confused, with no real idea as to what is going on. So that is some pretty solid and immersive storytelling, but that doesn’t make it enjoyable to read. I constantly found myself asking, even on my second read, why anything was happening.
Thankfully, readers are eventually given some clarity, and the true culprits behind the battle are revealed. This is where the double-edged sword of the interconnectedness of The High Republic comes in to play — if you’re reading the rest of the publishing initiative, you’ll understand the severity of this revelation and the subtle shift in power within certain groups. If you’re not reading, however, I am not sure this revelation has any weight at all. What’s more frustrating is that this problem didn’t plague the comics of Phase I nearly as much, and they were undeniably stronger stories. Yet with Phase II, there’s a greater effort toward connecting the comics to the books and the stories are not enriched by this connection.
Marvel Comics
Despite the greater connection to the wider phase of The High Republic, the comics feature an entirely new cast of characters instead of using existing characters from the novels. Though I’ve typically disagreed with complaints towards the amount of characters in The High Republic, I do feel there is merit to that complaint in this case. The reader is introduced into this rather large cast of characters who are immediately thrust into this intense battle that lasts until the end of the story. There’s no time to really get to know any specific character, nor really witness any meaningful or earned growth.
Instead, it feels like each character simply falls into some cliche character checklist. There’s Tey, the wisecracking jokester who eventually shows his heart underneath his humor. The sullen old man, Vidlar, who is trying to move on from his past and find new purpose. And Matty, the scrappy young padawan with something to prove. None of these characters are particularly memorable, nor do they undergo any endearing transformations or growths. Their actions are entirely predictable and their outcomes fit perfectly into each cliche they clearly spawn from. Oh, and Tey’s incessant joking grows old within the first issue, and the consistently cause the most erratic and nonsensical tonal shifts in otherwise serious situations.
Marvel Comics
By the time this battle wraps up, you’ll notice there’s not much to sink your teeth into. Sure, the physical landscape of Jedha has changed, but not much else. The Path of the Open hand, who nobody really trusted from the start, has simply confirmed that they can’t be trusted. The convocation of the Force is still around, albeit they’re in need of a couple new representatives. The Jedi still have no idea what the Leveler or the Nameless are, only that they’re definitely a problem. The festival of Balance goes on as planned, despite the carnage of the battle. Very little has changed and the status quo ultimately remains the same.
This has been my biggest gripe with phase two as a whole: despite taking place over a very short period of time, the story is taking painfully long to meaningfully progress and feels like it’s constantly spinning its wheels. Sadly, this trade just upholds that trend and leaves me wondering what the point of this phase of The High Republic even was.
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