Star Wars Yoda #6 Review

 

Writer: Jody Houser

Artist: Luke Ross

Colorist: Nolan Woodard

Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Cover Artists: Phil Noto; Lee Garbett with Marte Gracia; Takashi Okazaki;

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $3.99

Release Date: April 19, 2023

 

The Force showed Wookie Padawan Krrsish visions of Trandoshans attacking Wookies. One was Gheyr, his fellow initiate. Master Dooku interpreted these as a warning. On a padawan field trip to Corvair II, the Wookie takes the Trandoshan aside. Their conversation becomes an argument. They exchange blows. Krrsish draws his lightsaber and attacks. Will visions from the Force lead to tragedy? Let's leap into Star Wars Yoda #6 and find out!

 

Story

Gheyr insists she would never attack him, let alone turn to the Dark Side. Krrsish refuses to listen. When Jak’zin, the Tiger-like Togorian, intervenes, the Wookie attacks him too. While Yoda arrives in time to end the fight, this doesn't resolve the conflict.

 

The conflict between Krrsish and Gheyr in Star Wars Yoda #6 explores the rift opening within the Jedi Order. Yoda’s concern for his former padawan Dooku—who works in the murky world of politics and worries unduly about the future--prompted him to reassign Dooku to the Jedi Academy in issue #4. Yoda and Dooku taught Krrsishl. Yet the Wookie relied on Dooku’s advice. From a certain point of view, Krrsish and Gheyr pay the price for Yoda trying to save his friend.

 

 

In the absence of overt signs, I assumed this three-issue story arc transpired over a brief amount of time. Yet after Yoda brings the younglings back to Coruscant, he claims he spoke years ago with Krrsish about this matter and thought the Wookie had put it behind him. Is Yoda referring to the conversation in issue #5, in which Krrsish didn't tell Yoda about his visions? Or another conversation years before events in Yoda #4 that took place before the Force showed Krrsish these dark visions?

 

In any case, the duel has tragic results for the participants. Dooku and Yoda's reactions also resonate. Yoda’s takeaway reminds me that, while anyone can instruct, the best teachers care about their students and never stop learning.

 

Art

Luke Ross' first page of Star Wars Yoda #6 reveals the planet's tranquil beauty, the students honing their control of the Force, Krrsish’s rage, and Yoda’s realization that something on Corvair II is very wrong. After this impressive start, the art falters. Faces remain highly detailed. Minimal penciling suggests grass, plants, and backgrounds. Direction lines imply movement. Often background scenery fades away, and silhouettes stand in for characters. Nor does Ross reveal Jak’zin’s injury. The Togorian covers it immediately. Krrsish’s lightsaber sliced through a tree! Yet on Coruscant, clothing covers Jak'zin's arm, or he holds it. It seems the Force is strong with this one's arm.

 

Nolan Woodard paints Corvair II in purples and pinks. He shades and highlights clothing without delving unduly into gray. Blank backgrounds receive eye-catching colors. Yet some panels—such as when he paints Gheyr’s body and clothing green, or Krrsish entirely blue—resembled initial color holds. After the highly detailed tropical beauty of Alaris Prime in issue #5, I expected more from the Jedi students' field trip. While the Coruscant imagery returns to near-past efforts, the minimal foregrounds and backgrounds of Corvair II robbed me of willing disbelief in these fantasy worlds. That probably explains why Gheyr and Yoda didn’t quite seem to inhabit the practice yard by the yellow-striped tree at the Jedi Academy. 

 

 

 

No blue block letters locate scenes in space and time in Star Wars Yoda #6. Thankfully, uppercase letters in spherical dialogue balloons still make for easy reading. Krrsish’s growls and roars burst from white balloons like exploding TIE Fighters. Lightsabers hiss like Gheyr, hum like Aunt Beru’s blender, and whoosh like Luke Skywalker’s speeder. On the final page, blue letters in white balloons lacking arrows suggest someone shares Yoda’s thoughts and wishes to speak with him.

 

Final Thoughts

A battle between students highlights a growing rift in the Jedi Order. Star Wars Yoda #6 reveals the legendary Jedi Master's concern for others, how hard he works for the institution he loves, and how harshly he judges himself.

 

Rating 7.4/10  

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Star Wars Yoda #5 Review

 

Star Wars Yoda #5 Review

Writer: Jody Houser

Artist: Luke Ross

Colorist: Nolan Woodard

Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Cover Artists: Phil Noto; David Lopez; David Messina & Alex Sinclair; and Peach Momoko

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $3.99

Release Date: March 15, 2023

 

The Force showed Wookie Padawan Krrsish a vision. Concerned, he told guest instructor Dooku about it. Dooku told him he was special but advised the Wookie to keep it a secret as most Jedi distrust visions. Will Dooku’s advice get Krrsish into trouble? Let's leap into Star Wars Yoda #5 and find out!

 

Story

Years ago, Yoda visited Alaris Prime, a moon of Kashyyyk. Wookie and Trandoshan corpses littered a grassy field. The surviving Wookies gave him a Trandoshan child. Yoda took the child to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The Trandoshan child Gheyr is now one of Krrsish’s closest friends. But neither knows Gheyr’s history. The vision Krrsish saw showed a battle between Trandoshans and Wookies. This—and Dooku’s advice—prompts Krrsish to distance himself from his friend.

 

This story reminds us how Luke failed to learn from Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back. It also reminds us of how Anakin's dark visions led him astray. In Jody Houser’s story, Yoda believes Dooku dwells upon the past. Like his friend Sifo-Dyas, Dooku places too much stock on his visions and worries about the future. Will Krrsish make a similar mistake?

 

 

 

Art

Luke Ross transports us back to Coruscant in Star Wars Yoda #5. Initiates wear the familiar padawan garments, and rooms remind us of the Jedi Temple in the Star Wars prequels. Among Krrsish and Gheyr’s fellow students, we see a Dathomirian Zabrak like Darth Maul, a yellow and red Rodian reminiscent of Greedo, and a Tiger-like Togorian that reminded me of Larry Niven’s Kzinti. Outside the temple stands a magnificent twisting tree with snake-like limbs. Like the white tree of Gondor and the Whomping Willow outside Hogwards, it symbolizes the Jedi Temple's vitality.

 

Nolan Woodard downplays the carnage of the battle on Alaris Prime. Instead, the moon seems a calming place, a paradise enlivened by swaying palms and vibrant flowers. The baby Trandoshan glows in the Wookie leader's hairy arms. He shades and highlights Ross' highly detailed characters. The way light and shadow course through Yoda's robes symbolizes how both sides of the Force—the good and the dark side—constantly battle for supremacy. Temple interiors range from yellow and orange to beige. These harmonize with Krrsish and the Togorian. Yoda and the Trandoshan stand out here. Young Gheyr shines so brightly in Star Wars Yoda #5 that we wonder how Krrsish can believe she’ll ever attack him. 

 

 

 

Large blue block letters locate scenes in space and time. Uppercase letters in spherical dialogue balloons make for easy reading. Krrsish’s responses pop those balloons as black expressive sound effects. His utterances compare favorably with Joe Caramagna's green sound effects that help us hear the clash of sizzling lightsabers. 

 

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Jody Houser steals much mystery by revealing the truth behind the dark vision Krrsish fears. Still, I like how her story suggests that anxiety transformed heroes into villains that transformed the Republic into an Empire. Rich, vibrant art conveys the battle for Krrsish’s soul in Star Wars Yoda #5. Like some Jedi who came before him, let's hope the Wookie’s story doesn’t end in tragedy.

 

Rating 9/10 

 

To preview the interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Star Wars "Fanboys"

Spock: I find Master's fascination with Star Wars most illogical.
Kirk: I've tried to understand it myself, but ultimately,
I failed.  It was just "too big" a conundrum.
Yoda: Do, or do not.  There is no try.
Spock: Who is that short, wizened green figure, Captain?
Kirk: Him?  Oh, he's nobody.  Just an interstellar Muppet.

Warning: This post contains plot spoilers!  (But not too many).

In the movie "Fanboys," Eric's friends Hutch, Linus, and Windows give him a chilly reception when he meets up with them at a party.  We soon learn that this is because Eric has traded in his dreams of drawing a comic book series with Linus, and instead has become a successful salesman at his father's car dealership.  Eric defends his decision: at least he has made something of his life.  The other three seem little changed in the three years since high school.  Hutch and Windows work in a comic book shop, along with their friend Zoe, and they are willing to set the past aside for a moment, to enjoy this unexpected reunion with Eric.  Linus, however, refuses to talk with him.

Through Hutch and Windows, Eric learns that Linus has been diagnosed with cancer, and has only four months to live.  Perhaps Linus saw his future as intertwined with Eric's, and when Eric chose to fulfill his father's expectations over collaborating with him on a comic book series, this left him with little hope of fulfilling his dream.  In any case, with no future left to him, Linus is reluctant to admit Eric back into his life.  So Eric embraces a wild idea he and the group had fantasized about in the past: to travel from their native Ohio to Marin County, California, where they will break into Skywalker Ranch, the home of Lucasfilm, and steal a rough cut of the new, upcoming Star Wars movie.*

Although the four are fascinated by Star Wars and comics, clearly they also have talent and abilities.  They exhibit these on their drive across the country.  Hutch in particular shows promise, as he has painted George Lucas and Leia on the side of his van, and installed an R2-D2 dome on the top. He's also "made a few modifications himself," which he exhibits during the course of their journey.  Although he still lives at home, Hutch dreams of starting his own auto detailing business, once he's gotten enough money.  But it is Windows who uses his Internet contacts to eventually get them detailed information on Lucasfilm's physical layout and security, and badges so they can get into the ranch. 

And the person who gives the boys the secret plans and forged credentials?  None other than William Shatner, aka Captain James T. Kirk.  They meet him at a convention in Las Vegas, where they also meet up with Trekkies who bear them grudges for previously ridiculing them in public.  The Star Wars versus Star Trek theme echoes aspects of fandom in which diehard fans defend the validity of their love for one franchise by putting down another.  But all of us define ourselves as much by what we embrace as by what we reject.  You can't become a person of real character by embracing everything.  Thus, in this way Eric, Hutch, Linus, and Windows show us who they are.  What their beliefs are.  What is important to them.  What they are willing fight to protect, and risk their jobs, injury, and even imprisonment for.

"Fanboys" received largely unfavorable reviews from critics, with the well-regarded Roger Ebert even suggesting that the boys should have poked fun at the Star Wars movies, and their heroes, rather than embracing them so fully.  But critics, and most people for that matter, will never understand those who love the characters, stories, and elements of a particular fictional universe so much that they seek to structure their lives around it.  For most people, there's Fiction, and then there's Reality.  For them, to embrace Fiction so fully means that one's progress through Reality is halted prematurely.  "Fanboys" isn't a perfect movie, and at times, it serves up a little too much crass and juvenile humor for my tastes.  But where it succeeds for me is in demonstrating how one can channel the positive elements of Fiction (as others would utilize Religion, Science, Politics, etc) to pursue the future one desires, even if one's dreams seem unconventional and unrealistic to others.  

But then, what do I know?  I'm not a person of real character, after all.  I tend to embrace too much, to love too many different types of Fiction. And yes, even that includes Star Wars AND Star Trek.

Dragon Dave

*Although made and released later, this film is set six months before the release of "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace."

Sock It To Me: A New Knitting Challenge

A guest blog by Dragon Dave’s Wife.

Dragon Dave is busy Christmas shopping, so I thought I would tell you about my latest knitting challenge.  Since I started knitting in the round a couple of years ago, I have been interested in learning how to knit socks, so when I received a knitting book with a pattern for socks for our anniversary I went looking for sock yarn. Yes, sock yarn is different from the other yarns I use for such projects as hats, fingerless gloves, and animals.  It is much thinner, and more refined.  I found a fun yarn, which also had its own sock pattern, so I decided to try that pattern first.  I dug through my stash of needles until I found my size: two double-point bamboo.  Then I got started.

While I found the pattern a little more difficult then I had originally thought, at least I knew all the stitches the pattern called for.  Using the sock yarn and smaller needles proved a challenge, as my eyes needed good light to make sure I was knitting the stitches correctly and picking up the yarn correctly.  I found the first part easy--the cuff and the leg--but then the progression of the sock seemed to slow.  

Finally, I made it to the heel.  For the heel I had to knit rows back and forth like a scarf, but I also had to add and decrease stitches.  The hardest part was counting the rows to correctly turn the heel and set the gussets (where the heel meets the rest of the sock).  As the weeks went by, the sock progressed.

One Saturday afternoon, I finally completed a sock.  I tried it on, and beyond my belief it fit.  But my moment of joy faded as I realized that I now needed to complete another sock to keep my other foot warm. 

After completing the first sock, some friends requested some fingerless gloves, so I took a break to make those, and then turned my attention to other fun projects.  So now, as the days get cooler, I must pick up the size two needles and start the second sock, as I need it to keep my other foot warm.  Wish me luck, as I hope to finish it this year.  Just don’t expect to find a pair from me under your Christmas tree this year, as I am not sure I really like making socks.  Still, you never know what you can do, or what you'll enjoy doing, until you actually do it.  

Or, as Yoda would say, “Do … or Do Not. There is no Try”.

Dragon Dave’s Wife

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