Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures, Vol. 1

Star Wars: The High Republic

by Daniel José Older, Toni Bruno (Illustrator), Michael Atiyeh (Colors)

For young Padawan Sav Malagan, joining the ranks of the noble Jedi Order has been all she’s ever wanted.

But a chance encounter with a crew of eccentric misfits makes her question everything she’s taken for granted in her life. Trapped aboard the ship of infamous space pirate Maz Kanata, will Sav ever be able to rejoin the Jedi? And if she spends much long with Maz and her crew, will she even want to?

Collects Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #1–#4.

Genres: Star Wars, Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 2023

About the author

Daniel José Older is the New York Times bestselling author of the Young Adult series the Shadowshaper Cypher (Scholastic), the Bone Street Rumba urban fantasy series (Penguin), and the upcoming Middle Grade sci-fi adventure Flood City (Scholastic). He won the International Latino Book Award and has been nominated for the Kirkus Prize, the Mythopoeic Award, the Locus Award, the Andre Norton Award, and yes, the World Fantasy Award. Shadowshaper was named one of Esquire’s 80 Books Every Person Should Read. You can find his thoughts on writing, read dispatches from his decade-long career as an NYC paramedic and hear his music at http://danieljoseolder.net/, on youtube and @djolder on twitter.

Reviews

[Jim C · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection that is part of the second phase of The High Republic series. In this one we visit Sav Malagan as a padawan. We first saw her in the first phase as a Jedi. She wants more excitement to her life than the boring lifestyle of a padawan. She finds it.

Like the series run in the first phase this collection is really geared towards children and it shows. It is lighthearted and not serious in its content. Like I said we visit Sav as a padawan. I enjoyed this as it shows her adventurous lighthearted side and this was a nice contrast as how we see her in the first phase. As for the story there is nothing new here. It is your basic story of a group of eclectic beings joining up together to put a stop to the baddies. The reason for the team up with the common aspect is nothing special. It is there just to get everyone together. Like I said this is geared towards children so that can be forgiven. Speaking of the target audience the artwork is especially geared towards them as it is bright and displays an atmosphere of the previously mentioned lightheartedness. My major issue with this collection is that it is only four issues combined. We just stop in the middle of the story with no conclusions to anything. I know this a running series but four issues gives of the impression that this is a more of a money grab than adding to the lore. They really could have done another issue.

This is not my favorite collection from this universe. I am not really surprised as it had several things working against it. I have not been a fan of The High Republic series as I believe it has gone on for way too long. This being for kids and me reading it through my adult eyes did not help the cause. But just being four issues was an injustice that really affected my rating. I will say that I strongly believe children will enjoy this with the group of different characters and the nature of the story.

[Neil R. Coulter · Rating 1 out of 5]

This graphic novel seems like the result of a dare: "Make up a Star Wars story about a team-up that involves mostly characters people have never heard of, but also Maz Kanata and Dexter Jettster." Daniel José Older took that dare and created a book that I'd forgotten as I finished the last pages. Though Star Wars aliens populate every page, the story feels strangely nondescript. These could be any characters in any universe. The "adventures" of the title get off to a somewhat confusing start, and then the story ends just as they seem to be getting somewhere. This represents the problem of High Republic storytelling overall: No single part of it is complete in itself but only leads to the next part. You can only know the full story by laboriously reading every unsatisfying piece. And yet, this series goes on and on and on, whereas The Acolyte was cancelled after one really excellent season. I digress.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

While definitely a book meant for a younger audience, this series does a good job of keeping an older audience’s attention in this universe. Really enjoying the bright art in this series.

[katezsz]

every single one of these characters is the type of person to say “he’s right behind me isn’t he”

[Candice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gosh I love the High Republic Adventures comics so much. They’re goofy and queer and just a good time.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like the mid-republic adventures. What was up with the random art style change with like 5 pages of issue #3 left? What does this story add to phase 2? It relates to phase III, I guess?

[Billy Jepma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another very fun, light read. The Adventures line of the series is arguably better than the main, Marvel series because, unlike the latter, this one has genuine personality and charm. It’s relatively light on story, though, so as much as the breeziness is a feature, it does keep things from leaving more of an impression (for me, at least). Eager to keep going with it!

[Xiankowaty01 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bardzo dobrze się to czyta jak na komiks dla młodszych. Jak dla mnie jest trochę zbyt daleko od głównych wątków fazy II, ale mam nadzieję, że w kolejnym tomie się do nich zbliży

[ashlabooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Star Wars: Die Hohe Republik: Abenteuer Bd. 5: Padawan oder Piratin?

Die Handlung:

Padawan oder Piratin? Für Sav Malagan ist diese Frage schnell beantwortet. Doch dass sie so schnell als Teil der Crew von Maz Kanata endet, hätte sie dann doch nicht gedacht. Zeit für die Jagd nach einer Gruppe opportunistischer Machtnutzer!

Meine Meinung:

Die Abenteuer-Comics der zweiten Phase liefern einen Teil der Vorgeschichte der berühmten Jedi Sav Malagan. Insofern ist das Ergebnis dieser Reihe nicht schwer vorzustellen. Doch das ändert rein gar nichts an dem Charme und dem Witz des Piraten-Abenteuers. Mit Maz und Dexter Jettster (welchen Job hatte der Kerl eigentlich noch nicht?) erleben wir gleichzeitig zwei bekannte und beliebte Charaktere in ihrem Element. Older gelingt es eine Geschichte aufs Papier zu bringen, die sich selber nicht zu ernst nimmst. Das kann zwar unterhaltsam, aber manchmal auch albern wirken. Die farbenfrohen und simpel gehaltenen Zeichnungen passen gut zur Atmosphäre, sind aber dementsprechend auch nicht für jeden etwas.

Fazit:

Ein spezielles Star-Wars-Erlebnis für alle Freunde von Witz und Comic Relief.

Vielen Dank an Panini für die Bereitstellung des Rezensionsexemplars!

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. The artwork is a bit yo cartoony the story is ok, but the cameos of some great Star Wars side characters (especially in their youth) are great.

Sav Malagán, is a powerful Jedi Padawan. Possibly the most powerful and skilled of her class, but she craves adventure and possibly an unhealthy obsession with pirates. Most of all, her hero Maz Kanata. When a routine late night escape from the Jedi temple leads her to discover a plot against her hero, she joins the crew and us living her dream.

It was a great start to this series. I am interested to see what happens next. I love the way the story is interwoven into the great happening in the High Republic Phase II universe.

[Ahdom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun team up and another fun adventure from Older. The High Republic Adventures have plenty to enjoy about them and some great panels.

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of Sav, she’s super cool and I’m excited to see what the series does next as the crew is caught in the chaos on Jedha.

[Saimi Korhonen · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Everyone says I’m one of the strongest Force-users this temple has ever seen, that I’ll be a legendary Jedi one day. And don’t get me wrong – I love the Force. It feels like home. Problem is… I’m only fifteen and I’m already sick to death of the Jedi Order.”

The High Republic adventures of Phase 2 follows young Sav Malagan, who ditches her boring life at the Takodana Jedi temple to join pirate queen Maz Kanata's crew against a team of force-sensitive pirates.

I was hyped for this comic cause I loved Older's phase 1 adventures comic so much (it was one of my favorite stories of the whole phase), but unfortunately this story has not grabbed me the same way. While I like Sav, I just don't connect with her like I did with Lula Talisola, the lead of the previous comic, and I have not found myself growing attached to any of the side characters. I do like that we get to see Sav's backstory, how she met Maz, what she was like as a kid and all that. The High Republic is an era where we've gotten to see so many different kinds of Jedi, and I love that we know have a rebellious teen who is just bored to death of the Jedi, even if she does love the Force, and who sneaks outside and joins a ragtag team of criminals. I dig that story. Also, seeing Dexter Jettster as a younger guy (with a fabulous moustache) is also super fun. But unfortunately those cool things are not quite enough to make me love this comic. It's a solid, fun story, but nothing spectacular.

One of the reasons, I think, that this comic has not landed for me that much is because the issues have come out so slowly and infrequently, that I have not been able to stay connected to the story. Usually you get one issue a month, and that's regularly enough for me to stay focused and remember everything, but having breaks for many months? Not so good.

I will be finishing this comic, as I will everything High Republic, but, yeah, I am just a bit sad by how little I have loved this story.

[Melody Soundy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I am a person who has only read the novels. I am very new to the high republic comics so I might be bias in my review.

A fun comic that dives deep into the beginning of the High Republic Phase 2 brilliantly.

I loved this comic. Library got mixed up with which High Republic Adventure comic I wanted and I can't be angry about it. Absolutely fun for a reader of any age. It was just so fun I had a blast reading. I only have one negative.

I really think this should have been longer as it felt way too quick after all of this build up. It should have had 50 more pages at least as I would have liked to see what happened when Sav first went undercover. It just felt like tons of pages of the comics have been ripped out.

Apart from that I loved it. One of my favourite things is that we got to see characters we know and love like Maz and Dexter which gives tribute to the trilogies they appear in whilst also getting to explore the lives they lived during this era. If you told me Dexter Jettser use to be a pirate I wouldn't have believed you. It also showed Maz in her prime. Both of those two were absolutely highlights of the novel.

Secondly speaking of characters, I adored Sav as his character arc was amazing in this novel. Without spoilers I can say that I loved how in this introduction we're building on Sav not feeling like he belongs in the jedi order but instead growing to care about his undercover pirate family. Where we leave at the end of the comic felt super well earned.

Finally having only read parts of Phase 1 so far I'm very looking forward to reading Phase 2 as this comic felt like so much of a tribute to Phase 1 and set things up as a prequel very well especially with the inclusion of Maz who appears in Phase 1s High Republic Adventures. I love good continuity and this comic does that perfectly.

Overall another fun entry into the High Republic.

[Stephanie Yuzuki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sav Malagàn is a Padawan living at a Jedi temple on planet Takodana hundreds of years before the Empire. She's talented but has no patience for her teachings and craves excitement, sneaking out to nearby Maz Kanata's pirate hangout to listen to wild tales of smuggling and piracy. One night, she's swept up in an expedition against a group of Force-sensitive pirates, the Dank Graks, plotting to drive both Maz and the Jedi off Takodana. Sav handles herself so well that Maz's pirate crew allows her to join them on their ship, the Venomed Scabbard. Maz's crew gets into repeated scuffles with the Dank Graks, even stealing each other's spaceships for a time. Did Sav bite off more than she can chew?

I have to admit, I'm disappointed, although it's no fault of the comic itself. Rather, I picked this up mistaking it for a different comic, also titled High Republic Adventures and by Daniel José Older. This is apparently a prequel to what I wanted and was thrown by the confusing titles. Taking this for what it is though, it's pretty fun. I like Sav and the Venomed Scabbard crew, using a largely original cast consisting almost entirely of aliens with perhaps two humans in the entire book. Star Wars is a huge setting and I want to see more original characters and more all-alien casts. The art is colorful and cute and the tone juvenile; it's aimed at a younger audience and feels similar to the prequel movies with how wacky some of the characters and designs are. Not bad really; I just hope to get the title I really wanted soon.

[Brittany | Magically_Blonde · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic novel includes The High Republic Adventures from Phase II issues #1-4. While the artwork is incredible and the story is compelling, I haven’t enjoyed it as much as or felt immediately gripped by it like other comics in THR so far. Curious to see where it goes though!

#1: At first I thought it was shocking to see Sav from Phase I show up, but then Dex!? I wonder if he ever told Obi-Wan about this story were about to see unfold over caf. 😌

#2: Interesting that Sav wouldn’t want anyone to know that she’s a Jedi. I wonder why. This crew seems to take in all types of people, so why does she feel they’d be so opposed to a Jedi. Maz appears to already know (much more than one would’ve suspected) and she is 100% okay with it. I wonder how the rest of the crew will feel as they find out!

#3: This series has a great way of making me feel tension over the safety of these characters that I KNOW survive because they’re in later projects! 😂 Truly incredible writing and world building to be able to do that!

#4: I’m happy that Sav is finding a friend in Saya—one that she can relate to in more ways than she probably realizes right now—but I don’t think it will go over well for Saya to find out she’s a Jedi. Interesting that all these stories keep coming back to Jedha. Excited to see that battle unfold in the books, other comic series, and the rest of these issues!

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Phase 2 Book 1, 382 BBY.
On Takodana the reckless Padawan Sav Malagan sneaks into the fortress of the Pirate Queen Maz Kanata, intent on experiencing the adventurous life of a pirate for herself. Joining Maz's crew, Sav soon finds herself confronting the dark side cultists of the Dank Grak pirates.

Here we get to see the early adventures of the renowned Jedi who appears later in the timeline fighting against the Nihil and they're pretty fun, generally speaking.
I liked the idea of a Jedi teenager wistfully dreaming of the adventurous life of a pirate, being a subversion of the usual story of a young person dreaming of being a Jedi Knight. I also liked that the pirate crew consists of several familiar faces, such as Maz (Episode VII), Dexter Jettster (Episode II) and Therm Scissorpunch (Solo).

Unfortunately, as with much of the Star Wars material released under the 'Adventures' umbrella, the fact that this is aimed at 'all ages' (so, children really) works against it. It comes to something when even the murderous pirate crew of dark side cultists is more or less played for laughs. It's a shame because if this book could take itself seriously for five minutes, it'd be much better.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

382 BBY

This graphic novel contains the first four issues of The High Republic Adventures (Phase II) and follows Sav Malagan, a Kyuzo Jedi Padawan. While she loves being a Padawan, she finds that something else in life might be more to her calling. When she gets mixed up with Maz Kanata and her pirate crew, Sav wants nothing more than to gain Maz's attention and rise in the ranks. It certainly isn't fit for a Jedi Padawan to resort to piracy, but Sav aims to keep her Jedi part hidden while using her lightsabers to fight for Maz and the crew.

I was a bit wary about THRA previously, but found that this story is just as enjoyable as the main tales told in the Marvel runs. While THRA seem more for 12-16 year age ranged readers, there is a lot of merit to getting to know more characters in the universe and there are definitely life lessons and intriguing lore that any fan will love. I enjoyed getting to know Sav and find her to be a fun addition to the SW universe. Don't let the anime-style cover art fool you. She doesn't look quite like that. But the art was interesting and the assortment of new characters within, as well as seeing some of Maz's history, makes for an enjoyable ride of a read.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

We first met Sav Malagan in the Era 1 High Republic Adventures books, where they were a Jedi Master, overseeing the Temple on Takodana. Here, in the prequel Era 2, we see Sav as a Padawan, bucking the rules of the Temple and visiting Maz Kanata's Castle. Eventually working her way on to a pirate crew to help Maz (including a younger Dexter Jettster), Sav gets caught up in pirate affairs where using the Force helps her infiltrate the enemies.
This Volume stops with the bad pirate crew's arrival at the Battle of Jedha to stir up trouble. I'll be interested to see how Padawan Sav gets involved in that conflict.
Recommend.... but again.... I think I am done with Era 2 and want to move onto Era 3.

[Sal Perales · Rating 5 out of 5]

The High Republic Adventures returns for Phase II with Sav Malagan: Jedi! Padawan! Pirate! All-around adventurer bored to tears of the Jedi monotony! Sav heads over to join up with Maz Kanata the Pirate Queen! Bombastic adventures ensue! Daniel José Older once again brings his unique brand of Star Wars fun to this tale of a Jedi craving adventure and excitement! The fun, playful, energetic art by Toni Bruno and Harvey Tolibao fits the vibe perfectly.

Dexter Jettster weaves tales! Therm Scissorpunch earns his name! The Dank Graks pirate on pirate crime!

This comic is a must-read for High Republic fans looking for some smiles, excitement, and LOTS of heart!

[Luke Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine first four issues but a pretty clunky arc. Very little thematic material uniting these issues other than the brief references to found family. Sav hasn’t had any growth yet which makes her a bit uninteresting. There were several great opportunities to have her overcome adversity but they were passed up on. She’s kinda just gone around being great at everything. Hoping this is just setting up room for failure later on.

[Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sav is a fun character. She feels very reminiscent of Luffy from One Piece, with her obsession with pirates, even to the point of shirking Jedi duties to act like one. It is cool to see Maz's castle this far in the past (with Therm Scissorpunch!). I don't think this Phase II series is as good as the Phase I one.

[Noah Vance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Older’s writing tended to be overwrought in this volume, keeping it from a 5 star, BUT I also can’t blame him. This cast is a blast.

Who’da thunk Therm Scissorpunch, Dexter Jettster, and Maz Kanata had a pirate crew 200 years before The Phantom Menace?

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uhh, it's okay so far. I like Sav Malagan well enough, and it's fun seeing Maz and Dexter Jettster. The art is fine for the story. This volume is really just covering Sav teaming up with Maz and her group, and gets them to Jedha for the next part of the story.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Review for both volumes read back to back

It's a story in the Disney line of comics for children, so you know exactly what you'll get:

A Mary Sue female lead and homosexual relationships.
Oh, also ridiculously misplaced dialogue like "I feel seen".

Don't bother reading.

[Ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

apparently i've grown old enough that instead of reading this comic and going "heck yeah girl, show those grown-ups who's boss!" i'm going "who let this 15 year old run around on her own? she's making terrible decisions! where is the proper adult supervision?!"

[Elise · Rating 2 out of 5]

3/10.
+ An intriguing character premise. A Padawan bored with the Jedi Order that wants to hang out with pirates? Cool!
- Except that after that introduction it gets right back to the silly adventures of The High Republic Adventures that have little motivation or intrigue. Just because it's a kid's comic doesn't mean it can't have deeper themes or ideas to center on.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really cute and entertaining start to the adventure series.

[Books_gang_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5/5 Oproti té řadě z roku 2021 fakt sešup kvalitativně dolů. Moc naivní, moc goofy. Zase na druhou stranu tam není taková propojenost s ostatními věcmi.

[Star Wars Lads · Rating 3 out of 5]

The follow-up to The High Republic Adventures Phase I is much more underwhelming than its predecessor.

Check out our review on the channel now!
https://youtu.be/8RTN2wAUbmo