"Star Wars: Yoda's Secret War"

 

                The following is a review of the graphic novel “Star Wars: Yoda’s Secret War” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

                It was a time before the Clone Wars, during the twilight of the Old Republic. Jedi Master Yoda had just rescued a young boy strong in the Force when he heard a calling. It led him to a planet that didn’t appear on any of his star maps. Upon landing and disembarking from his ship, he found himself surrounded by a group of children warriors called the Muckwhackers. They accused him of being a monster sent by their adversaries the Rockhawkers and attacked him. Yoda protected himself using the Force, and the children believed him to have strong Stonepower and to be the Deliverer. The Muckwhackers took Yoda to their home of Mucktown and showed him their Skyscreamers, who had used their Stonepower and their minds to scream for help. The Muckwhackers explained that the blue mountains granted the people of that world their Stonepower, but greed caused division and a war started, and all of their parents had lost the war and been cast into the mud. Two Muckwhackers got into a fight, and when the blue stones of their spears touched, Yoda felt a disturbance, as if the planet wanted to tear itself apart. The Muckwhackers had captured a Rockhawker scout. The Muckwhackers let him go with Yoda to return to the other Rockhawkers. Yoda was surprised to find that they were also all children. The Rockhawkers attacked Yoda and abducted him, then ordered him to go into a cave to find the Heart of the Mountain. While in the cave, Yoda found the missing parents, who had abandoned their children. Deeper in the cave, Yoda found a young Rockhawker named Garro, who had been exiled for his perceived weakness for not killing in battle. Yoda asked Garro to teach him the ways of Stonepower and for Garro to become Yoda’s Master. Garro agreed to train Yoda. During their training, Yoda and Garro discovered that the mountain wasn’t really a mountain but actually a barely living creature, and the Heart of the Mountain was the creature’s actual beating heart. Yoda awakened the creature, and he and Garro departed. The Rockhawkers asked Yoda what the secret of the mountain was, but Yoda refused to tell. Garro, however, revealed that the mountain was not really a mountain but a living thing and told Yoda that Yoda was no longer Garro’s student. Yoda returned to the Muckwhackers to ask them to help them wake the sleeping world, and together, they battled the creature. He then left this world and told no one of this adventure except for fellow Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi so he could pass on the lesson he learned, and Kenobi recorded it in his journal.

While searching for answers in his quest to become a Jedi, Luke Skywalker uncovered a journal written by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. The journal detailed Kenobi’s adventures during the time he was in hiding on Tatooine—including when Obi-Wan rescued a young Luke from Jabba the Hutt’s thugs during the Great Drought. Luke’s Uncle Owen Lars ordered Obi-Wan to stay away from Luke. A year after the Great Drought, Luke crashed Owen’s speeder, and Owen vowed Luke would never fly again. Obi-Wan, who was watching over Luke from afar,  believed Luke would have to fly one day and tried to sneak the parts to Luke through a group of Jawas that he assisted against Tuskan Raiders, but only succeeded in angering Owen, who returned the parts. Jabba hired Wookie bounty hunter Black Krrsantan to find the person responsible for defeating his water tax collectors during the Great Drought. Owen decided to renege on his vow and bought the parts to repair the speeder. As Owen was returning home, Luke was running away. Owen was abducted by Black Krrsantan. Luke sensed his uncle was in trouble and returned home. Obi-Wan came to try to rescue Owen from Black Krrsantan, and while Obi-Wan was the one who defeated the Wookie, it was Luke who saved Owen.

It was an era of renewed hope for the Rebellion. The evil Galactic Empire’s greatest weapon, the Death Star, had been destroyed by the young rebel pilot, Luke Skywalker. But Imperial forces still stood strong. Rebel spy Eneb Ray had infiltrated Coruscant, working under an Imperial guise and the name Tharius Demo. He quickly learned that some missions prove to be much more complicated than others. Princess Leia Organa informed Ray that Senator Nadea Tural and the Anti-Imperial Senators were about to be executed and instructed him to extract them from Arrth-Eno Prison Complex. During the breakout attempt, Ray learned that the Emperor was coming to witness the executions. He asked Leia to quickly assemble a team of Rebel agents to eliminate the Emperor. The assassination attempt failed, and in retaliation, the Emperor blew up Arrth-Eno, then broadcast a propaganda video, blaming the Rebels for the destruction of the prison.

After narrowly escaping another frightening encounter with Darth Vader, rebel heroes Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo took the evil Sith Lord’s secret ally, droid and weapon specialist Dr. Aphra, captive aboard the Millenium Falcon. Their mission to free the galaxy from the grasp of the Emperor continued as the Princess teamed with smuggler Sana Starros, while Luke and Han paired together on a secret mission for the Rebellion. Dr. Aphra was transported to secret Rebel jail Sunspot Prison and placed in Cell Block Nine. Sana was trying to hide her secret past with Aphra from Leia. Han got caught cheating at Sabacc and lost the Rebellion’s money, and he and Luke had to run away. A group of raiders infiltrated Sunspot Prison to kill the prisoners and to force Leia into killing some of the prisoners herself. Luke and Han tried to make money back for the Rebellion by transporting Nerfs. Leia released Aphra to help her and Sana survive and retake control of the prison. Sana and Aphra butted heads every step of the way, with Sana unable to trust Aphra given their shared history. Han and Luke arrived at Sunspot Prison but were knocked out. Leia confronted the mastermind behind the infiltration and stopped him. Leia and Sana then had to decide what to do with Aphra.

Kreel was assigned as Sergeant to the Imperial Scar Squadron. The planet Tureen VII, which had been providing aid to the Rebellion, was under siege by the Empire. The Rebellion wanted to destroy the Imperial bases set up on the planet’s twin moons, but they couldn’t risk sending their fleet to assist, so they needed something big, such as a Star Destroyer. The Millenium Falcon and Red Squadron battled Imperial Star Destroyer Harbinger. The Rebellion won and the Imperials abandoned the Star Destroyer, and the Rebellion took over the Harbinger. Leia and Han argued over who should be Captain. Ultimately, Leia won the argument. Luke and Sana investigated a shuttle that appeared near the Harbinger, and Sana blew it up. Scar Squadron snuck aboard the Harbinger. Luke and Sana went to investigate the break-in, and Luke was attacked by Kreel. Luke and Kreel had a Lightsaber duel. Darth Vader personally came to attack the Harbinger. The Harbinger was destroyed, but the Rebels were able to escape, except Rebel droid C-3PO was captured by Imperial forces.

Luke and R2-D2, who had a strong attachment to C-3PO, decided to recue him from the Imperials. While Luke was on the way, he started to read the journal of Ben Kenobi, which Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi had left for Luke, as Luke hoped it would make him a better Jedi. Luke read about Yoda’s secret war. Luke figured out which planet Yoda had been to and decided to see it for himself but arrived on the planet before he finished reading the story. Luke was confronted by Garro, and the two fought. The fight ended when Garro realized he had learned his final lesson from Yoda.

It was a pivotal moment in the galaxy. As the Empire continued to exert its oppressive force, the Rebel Alliance stood strong against their tyranny for the good of all. While heroic Rebellion agents like Princess Leia of Alderaan strove to undermine Imperial strongholds, the Galactic Empire continued to dominate and had doubled it efforts to eliminate anyone who would stand against its rule. Some chose to fight against waves of Imperial stormtroopers, while others chose the relative safety and security of obedience-and then there were those who refused to take a side at all. On the planet Skorii-Lei, Pash Davane, who had once been an underwater engineer, had been forced to become a janitor. She discovered an injured Princess Leia, and against her better judgement, chose to nurse her back to health. However, when Leia woke up, the two did not get along, but still Pash chose to help Leia to escape. They had to face several perils along the way, such as stormtroopers, before Leia could rejoin the Rebellion, and Pash had to rethink her life.

Phew, that was a lengthy synopsis. Now we can get on to my own personal part of a Tim Cubbin review. First off, we’re going to start with my reflections on this book. I’ll start by saying that I found the stories in this book to be highly entertaining. I will also say that this felt very “Star Wars,” which is what I was hoping for when I purchased this book. I would hate to have bought a book branded “Star Wars” that didn’t feel like it fit in with the source material, but I feel like Jason Aaron, Kieron Gillen, and Kelly Thompson really respected the “Star Wars” canon. I can actually say that I feel like the writers of the “Obi-Wan Kenobi” Disney+ series disrespect Aaron by contradicting the “From the Journals of Old Ben Kenobi” issues, as these issues actually came out several years before the show. But that’s just my opinion. Anyway, I constructed this review chronologically rather than by the way it was printed in the book to avoid storyline confusion, so what you read in my review was not actually the way the book was published, I just structured it this way as a courtesy to you. I grew up loving “Star Wars,” I watched the original trilogy with my Grandpa when I was a kid, and I’m actually currently watching “Star Wars” in timeline order on Disney+ (I’m currently on Season Three of “The Mandalorian” if you really want to know). So, I liked all the stories. Let’s go over them in the order I’ve discussed them. So, we’ll start with “Yoda’s Secret War” earlier past. I found it clever that Aaron wrote the children as not knowing about the Force and calling it “Stonepower.” It was interesting to me how the children had taken up the parents’ war and exiled their parents. I loved how the mountain was actually a living creature. I liked Yoda choosing to become Garro’s student. Next, we’ll talk about “From the Journal of Old Ben Kenobi.” I felt like the first part was a little slow and uneventful, but I did find the second part to be a lot more enjoyable and action-packed, and it really picked up the story. Annual #1 was particularly interesting because it introduced a new character to the “Star Wars” universe, and he actually turned out to be more important that I originally would have thought him to be. I enjoyed the ending of the Emperor using the spin on the Empire’s evil deed with their propaganda video, I thought that was a brilliant stab in the heart ending, and the bitterness really hit. “Rebel Jail” was actually my favorite story in the book. I enjoy the character of Dr. Aphra and always love seeing her on the pages. The story had a lot of action and was very intense, and the villain was a great surprise, but I refuse to give the spoiler, I want you to actually need to read this book to find out the ending so you can be surprised, too, but I thought it was a great twist. “The Last Flight of the Harbinger” was also enjoyable, but I felt like there were a few periods where there were dull moments, but there were a lot of good moments to enjoy that made up for the slight periods of boredom. As for “Yoda’s Secret War” later past, I liked how the two periods connected and the importance of Yoda’s story was felt in Luke’s story, and I felt like it really worked. Next up, we’re going to talk about the art. I was highly disappointed by the artwork in this graphic novel. I found it to be extremely unenjoyable. It was exceptionally visually displeasing, and I hated looking at the art as I read this book. Ironically, one of the artists was Salvador Larroca, who I complained about in my last review, “Iron Man: The New Iron Age,” for those of you keeping score, and once again, I will gripe about his artwork in this book as being unlikeable, although I will say that I feel like he was better suited for “Star Wars” than “Iron Man” based on his art style and I actually feel like he was my favorite artist is this Collection, which is extremely unfortunate, and I’m not trying to be hostile to the other artists, I just really disliked their styles, I’d never mean to be truly disrespectful while posting a book review. I think the final thing I need to reflect on is the title. The title of an Epic Collection can be a make-or-break factor with me. If I feel like the title is inappropriate for the volume, I will deduct from the score. When I heard about the title, I thought for sure this would be a break. After all, I knew this to take place after “A New Hope” but before “The Empire Strikes Back” and at that point, Yoda was not part of the story. Fortunately, there was the extensive series of backstory, and his backstory tied into Luke’s story in a later point in the timeline, and this was one of the two longest stories in this Collection, so I will not fault this book for the title, I find it to be absolutely appropriate for this book.

Moving on from this point, the next topic on our agenda is accessibility. Now, I know I’ve said this over six dozen times, but I have to say it once again for anyone who has never read one of my reviews before: what the heck do I mean by “accessibility?” To put it quite simply, accessibility means how easy it is to pick up this book and read it and understand everything you’ve read in this book, even if you have no prior knowledge of the source material. So, I feel like if you want to read this book and basically understand it, all you need to have seen is “Star Wars: A New Hope” and you must have read the content in the previous collected volume of the series. Having seen “The Phantom Menace,” “Attack of the Clones,” and “Revenge of the Sith” will help with more of the background knowledge, but not having seen them shouldn’t be too much of an inhibition. However, “A New Hope” and first fourteen issues of “Star Wars (2015)” and the “Star Wars: Vader Down” event are all you truly need to have consumed before embarking on partaking in this book.

Next up, we’re going to the bread-and-butter section of my review: the numeric score. Once again, I’ve explained my system over six dozen times now, but I am compelled to do it once again, so here I go. So really, it’s quite simple; I score on a scale from one to ten. One is the lowest score I can give, and that means that this book is complete, unreadable trash that should all be collected in one pile and burned from existence. Ten is the best possible score I can give, and that means that this book is sheer perfection and one of the best reading experiences I’ve ever had. I don’t give tens very often because I very rarely find a book to fit my definition of perfection. And as you can tell from my description of this book from the past several paragraphs, it is not perfection. So, let’s talk about what it actually is. So, we have stories that, while entertaining, had several moments of dullness and were, at best, mediocre. And we have artwork that was substandard and a visual nightmare. Those two factors do not look promising. But we have a few other things we can add. We have a title that is appropriate. And we have a book that is from a film franchise source that was truly respectful to its source material and felt like it fit in perfectly with that created universe. So those are a few other things I’m taking into account while giving a score to this book. So, all said and done, all cards on the table, everything thrown into the blender, turned on, mixed until completely liquified, we’re taking the score out and what we’re looking at is… a seven. There’s a good chance I could have gone lower, but I feel like a seven is actually very appropriate for this book and stand by my decision when doling out this score and that it is actually a very good score.

Finally, we’re going to talk about if I personally recommend this book and who I feel should be reading this book. So, in answer to if this book gets the personal Tim Cubbin seal of approval and recommendation, yes, it does. As for who should be reading it, I feel like if you are a fan of “Star Wars,” you should definitely make every effort to read this book, I think it will be an interesting read for you and hope you will find enjoyment in the story like I did, and if you actually like the art unlike me, I think that would be great for you.

Anyway, it’s been a long while that I’ve been going on for, we’re all ready to be getting on with our lives, but there are a few things I do need to say first before I begin the process of posting this on my blog site and then promoting it. I’ve been doing this blog for five years now and have done over 160 posts. If you liked this book review, there are tons of other reviews of Marvel Epic Collections, Modern Era Epic Collections, Ultimate Epic Collections, Marvel Comics Events, Marvel prose novels, and several other book reviews that are not Marvel, but the majority of this website is reviews of Marvel works. I’ve also done other content, such as short stories, poetry, articles, essays, and editorials. If this review seems extremely professional to you, it’s because I have a bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in journalism, so I am qualified to be doing this professionally, but due to circumstances in my life, I’m relegated to working in a grocery store, but I honestly don’t mind that that’s what my life is. Anyway, I post on this blog on a very frequent basis, as I collect every single Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection and Ultimate Epic Collection when they are released. Right now, we won’t have another Ultimate Epic Collection until March 2026, but there are plenty of upcoming Modern Era Epic Collections. I usually try to review every one of these books after I read them, I pretty much have succeeded in doing that, there are a few I’ve missed due to circumstances such as not having a laptop or just having an inconvenience, but I’ve reviewed almost every Modern Era Epic Collection except for four of them, hopefully that can be remedied someday, but I’ve reviewed all four Ultimate Epic Collections released at this point in time. There’s another Modern Era Epic Collection being released two weeks after the day after I am posting this review, so you can expect to see a review of that coming up sometime in the next six weeks. I just have to procure it and read it and then I can post a review of it. For those of you “Star Wars” fans, there are two other “Star Wars” Modern Era Epic Collection reviews on this site, “Star Wars: Skywalker Strikes” and “Star Wars: Darth Vader: Shadows and Secrets,” so if you are interested, feel free to check those out, too, I think you will find those entertaining, and there will be another “Star Wars” Modern Era Epic Collection review coming up sometime in the next two months, so be ready for that, and feel free to keep exploring timcubbin.blogspot.com for more content. That’s all for now, so until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!