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Star Wars: Battle Of Jakku (2024)
Star Wars: Battle of Jakku - Insurgency Rising (2024) #1
NEW REPUBLIC STAVE OFF AN UNEXPECTED - AND DEADLY - NEW THREAT? A DEFIANT IMPERIAL takes center stage - and goes on the offensive against the NEW REPUBLIC! LEIA makes a startling discovery in the forests of ENDOR! Who are the mysterious and deadly ACOLYTES OF THE BEYOND?! What is the new villain's connection to DARTH VADER? All this as the post-Return of the Jedi storytelling BEGINS!
Kindle Edition
Published October 2, 2024
15 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Alex Segura
274 books572 followersAlex Segura is the bestselling and award-winning author of Secret Identity, which The New York Times called “wittily original” and named an Editor’s Choice. NPR described the novel as “masterful” and The L.A. Times called it “a magnetic read.”
Secret Identity received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, was listed as one of the Best Mysteries of the Year by NPR, Kirkus, Booklist, LitReactor, Gizmodo, BOLO Books, and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, was nominated for the Anthony Award for Best Hardcover, the Lefty and Barry Awards for Best Novel, the Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel, and won the LA Times Book Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category.
His upcoming work includes the YA superhero adventure Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow, the follow-up to Secret Identity, Alter Ego, and the sci-fi/espionage thriller, Dark Space (with Rob Hart). Alex is also the author of Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall, the Anthony Award-nominated Pete Fernandez Miami Mystery series, and a number of comic books – including The Mysterious Micro-Face (in partnership with NPR), The Black Ghost, The Archies, The Dusk, The Awakened, Mara Llave – Keeper of Time, Blood Oath, stories featuring Marvel heroes the Avengers, Sunspot, White Tiger, Spider-Man and DC’s Superman, Sinestro, and The Question, to name a few.
His short story, “90 Miles” was included in The Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories for 2021 and won the Anthony Award for Best Short Story. Another short story,“Red Zone,” won the 2020 Anthony Award for Best Short Story.
Alex is also the co-creator of the Lethal Lit podcast, named one of the best fiction podcasts of 2018 by The New York Times.
A Miami native, he lives in New York with his wife and children.
Secret Identity received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, was listed as one of the Best Mysteries of the Year by NPR, Kirkus, Booklist, LitReactor, Gizmodo, BOLO Books, and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, was nominated for the Anthony Award for Best Hardcover, the Lefty and Barry Awards for Best Novel, the Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel, and won the LA Times Book Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category.
His upcoming work includes the YA superhero adventure Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow, the follow-up to Secret Identity, Alter Ego, and the sci-fi/espionage thriller, Dark Space (with Rob Hart). Alex is also the author of Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall, the Anthony Award-nominated Pete Fernandez Miami Mystery series, and a number of comic books – including The Mysterious Micro-Face (in partnership with NPR), The Black Ghost, The Archies, The Dusk, The Awakened, Mara Llave – Keeper of Time, Blood Oath, stories featuring Marvel heroes the Avengers, Sunspot, White Tiger, Spider-Man and DC’s Superman, Sinestro, and The Question, to name a few.
His short story, “90 Miles” was included in The Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories for 2021 and won the Anthony Award for Best Short Story. Another short story,“Red Zone,” won the 2020 Anthony Award for Best Short Story.
Alex is also the co-creator of the Lethal Lit podcast, named one of the best fiction podcasts of 2018 by The New York Times.
A Miami native, he lives in New York with his wife and children.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 5, 2024
“Wars don’t end in a flash. They end in phases. Not like lightning, but mud. Slow and dirgelike. And sometimes, more often than not –- lives are lost between the drumbeats of war.”
The Emperor and Darth Vader are dead, and, on Endor, the Rebel Alliance celebrates. But the war is far from over, as remaining imperial leaders are preparing to fight for the tatters of Palpatine's Empire.
I really enjoyed this first issue and I have a feeling this is going to be a cool series. The time period – just after Endor but before the war actually ends – is quite interesting, since it's a very chaotic time with no one quite knowing what's gonna happen next: Will the imperials surrender or will they all fight to the death, what kind of government will the Alliance build, what are Luke's plans for the future of the Jedi Order?
After spending a lot of time, in the comics, in the time between episodes 4 and 5, it's gonna be fun to read stories where Rebels have the upper hand, the twin secret is out and all that jazz. I especially cannot wait to dive into Leia's emotions regarding her heritage – we already got some cool scenes with her in this issue that got me hyped for the future – and I'm so pumped to see her and Luke get used to their new relationship as twins. They are my favorite duo in anything ever, so there better be some good stuff with them, Segura! One thing that made me smile while reading this issue was how casually Han has taken the twin reveal – I guess he was just like "Oh, yeah, makes sense" and got on with his day, after the first brief initial shock we see him go through in ROTJ.
The villains of this series are quite promising. Adelhard - a character who has been mentioned in some books I have read but of whom I had no recollection of – is a tough-as-nails Imperial Moff who is determined to keep the Empire alive. He seems like a true believer, and there is nothing more frightening than a guy who is fanatic fascist. I despite him, naturally, but I did appreciate that he is a bit of a different kind of Moff. Unlike Tarkin and many others, he didn't come from privilege – he worked his way up to his role. It makes sense why someone who has given his life to rise in the ranks of the government he believes in would be ready to do everything to keep his position. What else does he even have? I'm also happy to see more of the Acolytes of the Beyond. They are a real bunch of creepy weirdos and I am down for that.
I'm very intrigued to see where this story goes and to see more of what is in store for this time period in comics. This is a great start!
The Emperor and Darth Vader are dead, and, on Endor, the Rebel Alliance celebrates. But the war is far from over, as remaining imperial leaders are preparing to fight for the tatters of Palpatine's Empire.
I really enjoyed this first issue and I have a feeling this is going to be a cool series. The time period – just after Endor but before the war actually ends – is quite interesting, since it's a very chaotic time with no one quite knowing what's gonna happen next: Will the imperials surrender or will they all fight to the death, what kind of government will the Alliance build, what are Luke's plans for the future of the Jedi Order?
After spending a lot of time, in the comics, in the time between episodes 4 and 5, it's gonna be fun to read stories where Rebels have the upper hand, the twin secret is out and all that jazz. I especially cannot wait to dive into Leia's emotions regarding her heritage – we already got some cool scenes with her in this issue that got me hyped for the future – and I'm so pumped to see her and Luke get used to their new relationship as twins. They are my favorite duo in anything ever, so there better be some good stuff with them, Segura! One thing that made me smile while reading this issue was how casually Han has taken the twin reveal – I guess he was just like "Oh, yeah, makes sense" and got on with his day, after the first brief initial shock we see him go through in ROTJ.
The villains of this series are quite promising. Adelhard - a character who has been mentioned in some books I have read but of whom I had no recollection of – is a tough-as-nails Imperial Moff who is determined to keep the Empire alive. He seems like a true believer, and there is nothing more frightening than a guy who is fanatic fascist. I despite him, naturally, but I did appreciate that he is a bit of a different kind of Moff. Unlike Tarkin and many others, he didn't come from privilege – he worked his way up to his role. It makes sense why someone who has given his life to rise in the ranks of the government he believes in would be ready to do everything to keep his position. What else does he even have? I'm also happy to see more of the Acolytes of the Beyond. They are a real bunch of creepy weirdos and I am down for that.
I'm very intrigued to see where this story goes and to see more of what is in store for this time period in comics. This is a great start!
October 22, 2024
The first thing I really love about the
Battle of Jakku
comic series's start is that it's made me want to read Star Wars comics again.
For the past few years, I've lost interest, mostly because a restricted cadre of writers have been in charge of way too many series. Charles Soule's attempt to stuff the time period between Empire and Jedi with too many 'epic' crossovers, stuffed to the brim with new, half-baked ideas and peppered with his own excessive Easter Eggs in lieu of worldbuilding, turned me off completely. Fortunately, in a single issue, Alex Segura has managed to turn that around.
The second reason I'm hooked? Battle of Jakku is clearly meant as an expansion of the most underrated Disney era book series: Chuck Wendig's Aftermath trilogy. With one key difference: Segura can use the main characters from the original trilogy, something Wendig wasn't allowed in 2015 with the sequels still in development. Now, with the sequels behind us, Lucasfilm Press finally have permission to retell the story in a way fans had hoped for back in 2015.
There have been a number of projects over the past few years that have suggested Lucasfilm was keen to explore the story told in Aftermath further. The first was when Jon Favreau used Cobb Vanth in the second season of The Mandalorian. Sadly, in the hands of such an inconsistent producer, Vanth's onscreen appearance cheaped the character Wendig had created. The next big attempt to rediscover was Adam Christopher's Shadow of the Sith, when Luke Skywalker comes face to face with Kiza, a former member of the Acolytes of the Beyond, an epic confrontation that teased that Luke had a bigger involvement with the Acolytes than their only appearance in Aftermath ever suggested. Now, they're finally coming around to telling that story in full.
The scale of Insurgency Rising is incredible, announcing with sufficient menace what Endor's aftermath will be like. The Empire won't go down without a fight, its tactics becoming increasingly brutal, just as the newly-formed New Republic won't back down. Much as it does in Ahsoka, Star Wars shows us what happens when a dominant power and the rebellious underdogs switch roles. Look no further than the main antagonist of the series: Moff Ubrik Adelhard. Adelhard has been unused since the Star Wars: Uprising video game introduced in 2015. Now, Segura brings him front and center as our Imperial MVP. And his characterisation is remarkable, from the revelation that he comes from nothing, beyond dirt poor, started as a grunt before reaching the highest levels of command. The issue's companion piece focuses on Adelhard himself, showing that he didn't survive by doing what he wanted, but instead figured out how the Empire wanted him to act. Now that the Empire has been dealt a deadly blow, he chooses not just to keep fighting but to deny reality. Obviously, this institutionalisation of denialism has many contemporary connotations, but it also serves as an excellent way to characterise Adelhard beyond the regular, run-of-the-mill Imperial officer.
This focus on previously neglected characters of this timeline, like Adelhard, extends to previously featured storylines that always left me disappointed, such as Leia's discovery of her lineage. Beth Revis's The Princess and the Scoundrel tried (and failed) to address this thread, but Segura revives it, showing us that it's going to be important going forward. But the biggest promise of Insurgency Rising is on the one character who didn't make an appearance in Aftermath's sequels: Luke Skywalker. Both Han and Leia featured in Aftermath's sequels, but Luke himself never appeared. Just as Shadow of the Sith teased us with a more complete backstory, Segura is now setting up what will undoubtedly be a fan-pleaser: a confrontation between Luke and the nascent Acolytes of the Beyond. Now that Vader and the Emperor are gone, what is Luke going to do? More importantly, who is he going to face?
This thread, and others, admirably continue Aftermath's main theme (the thrill of every victory has an end, and tomorrow brings a reminder of a wider, longer conflict). And its increased scale coupled with heavy character focus helps this issue avoid what was the most obvious trap: the first issue of the first miniseries in a trilogy of miniseries obviously has to serve a setup function. That ability to sidestep the trap is shown in Adelhard's introduction. In his first scenes, he is shown shrouded, his face hidden. This ominous use suggests he has either a villainous disfiguration, or that he's someone we know. Neither of those, as it turns out. When Adelhard is revealed, what struck me most was how 'normal' he was. And that's the point: Adelhard is just a normal guy, an underdog who found a way out, has now lost that way, and can't conceive of any other path forward. That makes him a scary, unpredicatable and all too-relatable villain. Setup established flawlessly.
I could go on, that's how much I loved this issue, but I believe I got the gist down. Hoping Segura keeps up the good work, I can't shake the feeling of how it has made me feel, something any Star Wars fan out there will recognise: renewed hope for the future of storytelling in Star Wars comics.
For the past few years, I've lost interest, mostly because a restricted cadre of writers have been in charge of way too many series. Charles Soule's attempt to stuff the time period between Empire and Jedi with too many 'epic' crossovers, stuffed to the brim with new, half-baked ideas and peppered with his own excessive Easter Eggs in lieu of worldbuilding, turned me off completely. Fortunately, in a single issue, Alex Segura has managed to turn that around.
The second reason I'm hooked? Battle of Jakku is clearly meant as an expansion of the most underrated Disney era book series: Chuck Wendig's Aftermath trilogy. With one key difference: Segura can use the main characters from the original trilogy, something Wendig wasn't allowed in 2015 with the sequels still in development. Now, with the sequels behind us, Lucasfilm Press finally have permission to retell the story in a way fans had hoped for back in 2015.
There have been a number of projects over the past few years that have suggested Lucasfilm was keen to explore the story told in Aftermath further. The first was when Jon Favreau used Cobb Vanth in the second season of The Mandalorian. Sadly, in the hands of such an inconsistent producer, Vanth's onscreen appearance cheaped the character Wendig had created. The next big attempt to rediscover was Adam Christopher's Shadow of the Sith, when Luke Skywalker comes face to face with Kiza, a former member of the Acolytes of the Beyond, an epic confrontation that teased that Luke had a bigger involvement with the Acolytes than their only appearance in Aftermath ever suggested. Now, they're finally coming around to telling that story in full.
The scale of Insurgency Rising is incredible, announcing with sufficient menace what Endor's aftermath will be like. The Empire won't go down without a fight, its tactics becoming increasingly brutal, just as the newly-formed New Republic won't back down. Much as it does in Ahsoka, Star Wars shows us what happens when a dominant power and the rebellious underdogs switch roles. Look no further than the main antagonist of the series: Moff Ubrik Adelhard. Adelhard has been unused since the Star Wars: Uprising video game introduced in 2015. Now, Segura brings him front and center as our Imperial MVP. And his characterisation is remarkable, from the revelation that he comes from nothing, beyond dirt poor, started as a grunt before reaching the highest levels of command. The issue's companion piece focuses on Adelhard himself, showing that he didn't survive by doing what he wanted, but instead figured out how the Empire wanted him to act. Now that the Empire has been dealt a deadly blow, he chooses not just to keep fighting but to deny reality. Obviously, this institutionalisation of denialism has many contemporary connotations, but it also serves as an excellent way to characterise Adelhard beyond the regular, run-of-the-mill Imperial officer.
This focus on previously neglected characters of this timeline, like Adelhard, extends to previously featured storylines that always left me disappointed, such as Leia's discovery of her lineage. Beth Revis's The Princess and the Scoundrel tried (and failed) to address this thread, but Segura revives it, showing us that it's going to be important going forward. But the biggest promise of Insurgency Rising is on the one character who didn't make an appearance in Aftermath's sequels: Luke Skywalker. Both Han and Leia featured in Aftermath's sequels, but Luke himself never appeared. Just as Shadow of the Sith teased us with a more complete backstory, Segura is now setting up what will undoubtedly be a fan-pleaser: a confrontation between Luke and the nascent Acolytes of the Beyond. Now that Vader and the Emperor are gone, what is Luke going to do? More importantly, who is he going to face?
This thread, and others, admirably continue Aftermath's main theme (the thrill of every victory has an end, and tomorrow brings a reminder of a wider, longer conflict). And its increased scale coupled with heavy character focus helps this issue avoid what was the most obvious trap: the first issue of the first miniseries in a trilogy of miniseries obviously has to serve a setup function. That ability to sidestep the trap is shown in Adelhard's introduction. In his first scenes, he is shown shrouded, his face hidden. This ominous use suggests he has either a villainous disfiguration, or that he's someone we know. Neither of those, as it turns out. When Adelhard is revealed, what struck me most was how 'normal' he was. And that's the point: Adelhard is just a normal guy, an underdog who found a way out, has now lost that way, and can't conceive of any other path forward. That makes him a scary, unpredicatable and all too-relatable villain. Setup established flawlessly.
I could go on, that's how much I loved this issue, but I believe I got the gist down. Hoping Segura keeps up the good work, I can't shake the feeling of how it has made me feel, something any Star Wars fan out there will recognise: renewed hope for the future of storytelling in Star Wars comics.
October 19, 2024
If I could give this lower than a one star I would, pacing is awful, buried the gays in the same page they’re introduced, badly crammed in a scene from Princess and the Scoundrel, why does Luke look like that, fan service in the worst way with this imperial villain.
November 13, 2024
A solid start, I think the dialogue is on point and the characters you know and love like Luke and Leia sound like their authentic selves. Not much happens in this issue but it does set the tone which seems to be going more for an “Heir to the empire” route which I dig. I’m not sold on the main empire baddie yet, seems a bit cartoonishly evil compared to Vader, Tarkin and Thrawn but till will tell.
October 2, 2024
A very promising first issue!!
Gave me the feeling we could get some heavy story moments for post return of the jedi, With a new group in the acolytes of the beyond and a new moff trying to control his sector of space and i hope we saw the start of delving into Leia's complex emotions about Anakin/Vader.
Very excited where this series could go!
Gave me the feeling we could get some heavy story moments for post return of the jedi, With a new group in the acolytes of the beyond and a new moff trying to control his sector of space and i hope we saw the start of delving into Leia's complex emotions about Anakin/Vader.
Very excited where this series could go!
October 13, 2024
A new era of Star Wars comics begins and I couldn’t be more excited. I love exploring the galaxy and how it transforms into the sequel era. All this extra context makes the sequels really fun to rewatch!
December 27, 2024
Leia's feelings about Vader here are very realistic. I think this all still fits with the timeline of events presented in Shattered Empire and The Princess and the Scoundrel? It's feeling full of a lot.
October 15, 2024
Solid first issue!! Adelhard seems like a promising villain and I like the newly formed sibling dynamic between Luke and Leia!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews