‘Star Wars: Obi-Wan’ Shows The Jedi At His Most Vulnerable
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“Obi-Wan” is a name we haven’t stopped hearing for a long time. Accompanying the release of the hit streaming series starring Ewan McGregor, we’ve had an abundance of Kenobi-centred stories coming out this year. Among these are the novel Brotherhood by Mike Chen, following Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker immediately after Attack of the Clones, and the novel Padawan by Kiersten White, in which a young Obi-Wan aids a group of Force-sensitive orphans on a living planet.
But one of the newest and intriguing of these tie-in projects is the Obi-Wan comic series. Written by Christopher Cantwell and drawn by multiple artists, this miniseries follows the beloved Jedi on five different adventures at various points in his life. Each issue shows Obi-Wan in a new era of the Star Wars timeline, facing a unique challenge and learning a fitting lesson. The fact that every issue is drawn by another artist also helps to give each story its own unique style and tone.
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Youngling’s Challenge, drawn by Ario Anindito, follows Obi-Wan as a child at the Jedi Temple. After being awoken one night, he goes outside to find fellow Jedi youngling Gehren Rand heading off into the underworld of Coruscant. The younglings are soon met by Nodrus Cay, a Zabrak bounty hunter who has promised to return Gehren to her father. Gehren has been having nightmares about him and has decided to leave the Jedi Order to help him. However, Cay ultimately turns on the younglings in order to hand them in for credits. Obi-Wan and Gehren escape from Cay and her underlings and use the stars to find their way back towards the temple. But before they get there, Gehren decides to run off and find her father on her own. Despite his insistence, Obi-Wan is unable to convince Gehren to remain with the order. Through this experience, Obi-Wan learns at a young age that he can't prevent everyone from putting themselves in harm’s way.
A Shadow Falls On The Padawan, drawn by Luke Ross, follows Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn on a mission to the Codia system prior to The Phantom Menace. The Jedi have followed a distress signal to an old mining outpost. Once inside, they find that every person aboard the station has either been killed or knocked out. After assisting one of the workers, they encounter Rosack Denahst; a Defel miner who has been driven mad by the outpost’s unstable radiation levels. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon determine the best way to resolve the situation is to reconstitute and reignite the station’s fuel rod, levelling out the radiation and returning Rosack to sanity. Using the Force and nearly going blind in the process, Obi-Wan manages to repair the fuel rod. His sight temporarily hindered, Obi-Wan is thanked by Rosack, who also expresses guilt for those he killed during his rampage. From this mission, Obi-Wan learns that even when issues are solved, people can still die.
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Darkest Before The Dawn, drawn by Alessandro Miracolo, follows Obi-Wan as a general alongside the 212th Clone Battalion during the early days of the Clone Wars. Obi-Wan and his battalion have been sent by Admiral Yularen to liberate the world of Abrion Major from a Separatist occupation. The Jedi and his clones are joined by Commander Mekedrix and his company of warriors from the Republic-aligned world of Roon. The following battle at Abrion Bridge is long and arduous, with many clones and Roonians being killed by battle droids. Among the casualties is Mekedrix’s long-time friend Oron. Putting his grief aside, Mekedrix assists Obi-Wan during the battle and are eventually able to secure a Republic victory, albeit at a sizable toll. From this battle, Obi-Wan learns that victory rarely comes without a cost.
The Sun Sets And It Rises, drawn by Madibek Musabekov, follows Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker on a secret mission in the midst of the Clone Wars. Following the Battle of Abrion Bridge, Mekedrix had gone AWOL and joined a group assassins known as the Death Wind. Under Mekedrix’s command, the Death Wind had been taking out Republic and Separatist targets. Having learned that Mekedrix had settled on the swamp world of Ando, Yularen secretly sends Obi-Wan and Anakin to kill Mekedrix if they are unable to bring him back to the Republic. Upon arriving on the planet, they follow an eerie collection of effigies made from empty sets of clone armor. Once they reach Mekedrix’s temple, they are escorted inside by the Death Wind after surrendering their lightsabers. The Jedi are then met by Mekedrix himself, who explains that those who serve in war become agents of death itself. Therefore, Mekedrix has devoted himself to killing for as long as he remains alive. Obi-Wan attempts to remind Mekedrix of life’s value, to which Mekedrix attacks Obi-Wan with a sword made from the bones of a slain clone trooper. Anakin quickly reclaims his lightsaber and stabs Mekedrix through the chest. As he dies, Mekedrix reveals that he wanted to be killed so that he could return to his people on Roon. From Mekedrix’s death, Obi-Wan learns that some people can’t be saved from the dark.
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The final story, Ben, drawn by Adriana Melo, follows Obi-Wan during his exile on Tatooine between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. While scavenging for resources in the Dune Sea, Obi-Wan finds the aftermath of a confrontation between a squad of stormtroopers and a local tribe of Tuskens. One of the stormtroopers has survived his injures and Obi-Wan, seeing how young he is, decides to take him back with him to his hovel to heal and rest. Once the stormtrooper awakens, he sees Obi-Wan’s lightsaber and attempts to run, only to collapse from exhaustion. Once they finally reach the hovel, Obi-Wan introduces himself as Ben and asks the stormtrooper for his name. He calls himself JM-909, to which Obi-Wan decides to call him “Jim”. Obi-Wan tries to calm Jim and assure him of his safety. However, Jim ultimately reclaims his armor and weapons before running off into the desert. But when he returns to his head officer, he is berated for losing against the Tuskens and informed of his imminent punishment. As he leaves, Jim whispers the name “Ben” to himself before putting his helmet back on. Through meeting Jim, Obi-Wan learns that even if he can’t save everyone, he can still reach the good in them.
Obi-Wan is a fantastic collection of stories showing the Jedi learning harsh lessons throughout his life as a youngling, a padawan, a general, a Jedi, and an old hermit. Each artist gives their respective story a fresh, eye-catching art style and Christopher Cantwell writes every character with the kind of layers and nuance one would expect from such iconic characters. This miniseries is an excellent companion piece to Obi-Wan Kenobi and a worthwhile read for anyone who’s looking to say “Hello there” to Old Ben Kenobi one more time.
Rating: 9/10
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