Star Wars: The Battle of Jakku – Republic Under Siege #1 – Adelhard Consolidates His Power

Star Wars: The Battle of Jakku – Republic Under Siege #1 kicks off the second installment of the Battle of Jakku trilogy, picking up right after the events of the Republic Under Seige.

The majority of the issue focuses on Adelhard and his attempt to consolidate his control over the remnants of the Imperial forces and Luke’s confrontation with the Acolytes of the Beyond over the Jedi relic. In between these sequences, readers also get a brief look at Leia and Mon Mothma debating on how to proceed with establishing the New Republic.

On the Outer Rim planet of Lehinis, Luke, and pilot Rynn Zenat continue their confrontation with the Acolytes of Beyond for possession of the Jedi relic. These sequences are where most of the action sequences take place in between the exposition of who the Acolytes are and giving Luke an adversary to contend with and provide the issue with some action sequences. While the verbal exchanges between Luke and the lead Acolyte are needed to fill in the background for the group,it is the action sequences and the reveal at the end of the main story that stand out here. Though it wasn’t a secret that they would be appearing, Doctor Aphra from the previous Star Wars comic series, showing up was a great moment since it means that she survived following the end of her series shortly after the Dark Droids event.

The majority of the main story and the backup focus on Adelhard and how, post his defeat by Luke in the Republic Under Seige issues, continues to move forward with bringing the other Imperial forces under his control. While most of these sections are dialogue-heavy, it is done so as a means of setting up this part of the overall story; The backup story expands the scenes from the main story and continues to expand Adellhard’s backstory which hasn’t been done in other Star Wars stories that merely mention him. Segura continues to do a good job of building his backstory and showing that he believes that he is the future of the Empire, not Grand Admiral Ray Sloan, who is working with Raxis who is de facto figurehead of the Empire, following Palpatine’s supposed demise in Return Of The Jedi.

It’s interesting to see that Adelhard is not above allying himself with the Acolytes of the Beyond and Pirates, along with using coercion to consolidate his power, using tactics from Vader, the Emperor, and others he served as he rose through the ranks.

Adelhard’s enforcer Purge Trooper Captain Bragh continues to be more of a background character while his aide and Rebel insider Lt. Kith Alaytia gets a moment to show that she is willing to do whatever is necessary, including executing a fellow Rebel to maintain her cover and/or cover for other inside operatives.

The short sequence featuring Leia and Mon Mothma continues to showcase the struggles the leaders of the New Republic are only beginning to experience in the post-Empire universe. This section works well because it continues to show Leia questioning her role and the larger tasks ahead. This segment also ties into the Aftermath trilogy because Han is missing and Chewbacca is currently on his home planet of Kyshyyk, working to free the Wookies from the remaining Imperials. It is a nice touch that Leia refers to Han as her husband, as their marriage on Endor wasn’t referenced in the first issue of the Republic Under Seige story, but was over in Ewoks. 

The art in this issue is noticeably an improvement over the pervious series as it is cleaner and less wonky when it comes to facial features and perspective shots.