Star Wars – The High Republic #7: Out of the Tip-Yip Pan and Into the Ronto Roaster

As this series has gone along, it has seen the Jedi struggling to hold a surmounting urban conflict back and ultimately failing. This issue takes place at the point where the mob madness is passing and those who wish to survive must stand and bear the storm. Everything about this chapter exemplifies that. Vildar Mac, who recently dealt with saving many from a falling building buy wearing its weight through The Force, immediately goes into a protective defense once everyone is safe. This signifies a turn in this battle. Now that he is out of protective mode, Master Mac and Matty Cathley are free to fight off the mob. With only a handful of issues remaining, this indeed signifies shift in the recent dynamic. This issue goes even further in giving Mac a few answers to long lost trauma he has held with him for a long time. With some closure, he is primed to live up to his untapped full potential.

A lot of this series has been a basic set up for the Battle of Jedha, which has played out in other “High Republic” media. This series established a lot of the setting location set up for these other stories to eventually play out. Now that this issue is fully into the battle, the time for set up is over and this series can finally fly on its own without having to worry about set up. This gives the main characters a brief time to re-establish their stance and ideals, and agency to act on those beliefs in the goal of protection. There is a side story involving an artifact that is important to a couple other “High Republic” stories, so this arc still continues its duty of bolstering the larger multi-media saga while letting its characters get some moments to shine.

The art is new and vibrant in this issue. Action plays out solidly and smoothly. That’s not huge surprise as the artists have changed up a bit. What is a bit surprisingly new is the color. That colorist has not changed, but the colors seem more vivid and bright. This gives the issue a visceral feel after a series of more pastel muted colorization. It gives an “in the moment” feel that is well needed at this violent stage of the saga. New avenues of storyline open up in this issue as well, giving it narrative importance. Everything in all this chapter seems like a tightened muscle. There is a lot of power there, but the potential energy it has for shaping the next few issues is even stronger.