Star Wars: The High Republic – Fear of the Jedi 5 Review

by Henry Wood

Written by Cavan Scott

Illustrated by Marika Cresta

Colored by Jim Campbell

Lettered by Ariana Maher

Edited by Danny Khazem, Drew Baumgartner, Mark Paniccia, Robert Simpson & Grace Orriss

The Final Battle for the High Republic is here! Keeve Trennis and Lourna Dee face down the Nihil over the world of Eriadu! The Gios is being attacked by a gigantic Nihil scav droid while a Child of the Storm menaces the Defenders of the Republic, while Nihil reinforcements are on their way to finish off the Jedi!

This is the culmination of everything Cavan Scott has built in his time with the High Republic as the relationships and characters prepare to meet their final fates. This issue, like the last few issues, is all about Keeve Trennis and Lourna Dee as Scott’s script has them using what they’ve learned to solve this crisis. Keeve, the main character of Scott’s entire run on Marvel’s High Republic series, uses her unconditional methods, while Lourna, who started as an antagonist and has perhaps the most growth of any character in the entire High Republic initiative, uses her more vicious and violent tactics to solve her part of the battle.

This illustrates the differences between the two characters very well, as even though they are working towards the same ends, they have very different views of how to fight the Nihil. Keeve even voices her disagreement with Lourna’s deadly strategy. Scott does a good job of illustrating the characters and how this years long war with the Nihil has changed them all.

The only real criticism that I have of the issue is that the climax feels abrupt and as if it comes out of nowhere. Now, this is probably due to a few factors. One: this is only one half of the Battle of Eriadu, the other half being covered in Dark Horse’s Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures series. Two: The big finale of the era is in a forthcoming novel by Charles Soule, so Scott and Cresta can’t fully end everything themselves. However, there will be an epilogue issue scheduled to release at the end of July to wrap everything up, so maybe that will help.