The solicitation says it all: Darth Vader grooms a new tool for the Empire—a new assassin. Meanwhile, Jedi Master K’Kruhk flees across the countryside with a group of young Padawans. His hope is to find a safe haven and prevent the impressionable younglings from experiencing any more tragedy. But tragedy is exactly what awaits them…
For those of you late to the party, the “Fire Carrier” storyline takes place in the aftermath of Order 66, the covert order from Papaltine to execute the Jedi leaders of the Grand Army of the Republic. Jedi Master K’Kruhk is able to save himself and a party of Padawans from the slaughter, managing to find shelter in an offworld refugee camp. Tangentially, the doings of Darth Vader ties up some loose ends from the “Out of the Wilderness” arc.
I enjoyed the story, thinking it set up a pretty strong framework for the upcoming issues. It was rather lacking in action, but the story it’s telling doesn’t really need action this early. This builds emotional stakes for the characters involved that makes future encounters hold more weight, giving them a certain frailty when compared to characters constantly surrounded by danger. The story also doesn’t make the Jedi shtick such a huge deal, seeing that they’re supposed to be in hiding after Order 66. The focus of Jedi segments is entirely on a personal level, keeping even force use to a minimum to ensure they stay under cover. Less space cop, more space monk. Good stuff.
The only mark against I have against the series so far is that the parallelism between the Empire and the Nazis is a bit heavy-handed. There’s always been a pretty strong aesthetic correlation, like crisp uniforms, use of Sturmtruppen, and high contrast palettes. However, the Empire has always been deeper and more developed than space Nazis. They take refuge in audacity when it comes to their politics, but so much of their evil stems from corruption and the sheer vastness of the Empire. While totalitarian, the fascist state just isn’t there. If anything, it’s more like the British or Roman Empires.
But I digress.
Anyway, “Fire Carrier” is building into what is ostensibly a Holocaust story in space, but there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a good basis for a story, combining a familiar narrative with a familiar setting. This lets us focus on the personalities, relationships, and conflicts of featured characters. That said, they didn’t really put any spin on it aside from Jedi genocide; the overall arc feels like someone filled out a mad lib for a 70’s World War II movie. I reiterate, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a good issue, and I enjoyed it. Just don’t expect too many surprises if you’re big on WWII cinema.
Overall, it’s a good read that definitely keeps in the spirits of the preceding issue, which makes it more than worth the $2.99 cover price. If you enjoyed the first issue, you’ll definitely like this one. It’s starting on fairly predictable notes, but there’s a certain comfort to that for introductory issues. Be sure to stay tuned if you liked “Out of the Wilderness,” because there’s no way they’re leaving that thread to hang there halfway through. Crossovers? I sure hope so.
Doc Watson is one of three editors for the Red Shirt Crew and is the resident Star Wars nerd on the blog. Feel free to validate his internet existence by leaving a comment or sending him a tweet at @DocWatsonMD.
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