Star Wars #10 (January 6): This arc is definitely channeling "Empire Strikes Back" in that things go badly and get worse for the Rebels.
Threepio manages to reactivate the obsolete protocol droid, or Talky, but Lobot has to intervene to make him function. Fearing the Rebellion will just throw him on the scrapheap when they get the Trawak codex, Talky negotiates a deal with Landy to provide the translations, though Lobot will need to continue working around Talky's processing-unit corruption.
Leia sends off Starlight Squadron, under Shara Bey's leadership, to the most likely rendezvous points for the other Rebel Fleet cells. Off Felucia, Starlight finds the Sixth Fleet's remains. They also find waiting for them Imperial probe droids, which attach themselves to the fighters' Astromechs to try to crack the new Rebel codes. Bey has everyone eject their Astromechs and initiate their self-destruct sequences, which solves the immediate problem but leaves Starlight Squadron with no path home (since the Astromechs contained all the navigational data).
Meanwhile, Talky can apparently heal the "stutter" in Lobot's interface between his organic and "calcutronic" elements but keeps this information to himself. With Starlight offline, Leia orders Talky to generate more codes, though Lando balks when Talky informs them the strain of Lobot continuing to operate Talky will likely kill him. Given his wife is missing, Kes pulls a gun on Lando, demanding that he lets Talky do his job so Leia can transmit the emergency protocols.
If the first iteration of this series was full of camaraderie, this iteration is notable for how little everyone likes one another. With Han frozen in carbonite and Luke disappearing on missions, Leia is left to navigate a lot of competing egos and interests. I'm really enjoying it more than I should, which is a testament to the sort of excellent characterization that Soule often delivers.
Star Wars: The High Republic #1 (January 6): Scott has a high bar to clear here as he essentially has to sell us on the entire concept of the High Republic line. I'll be honest that I'm not sure he sticks that particular landing. This issue isn't bad, per se, but it runs along particularly well trod paths: the Padawan sure that she's going to fail her test, the "test" isn't really a test because the event that interrupts the "test" is actually the test, the annoying yet vaguely cute alien. I'll hang in there for the initial few arcs because it's a Star Wars story, but at some point Scott has to offer something more compelling than what we saw here.
Star Wars: Darth Vader #9 (January 13): I was not a fan of "The Rise of Skywalker." Actually, to be more specific, I was a fan of "The Last Jedi" and "The Rise of Skywalker," but I wasn't a fan of us having to pretend they were somehow in the same continuity. "The Last Jedi" exists now as almost a "What If...?" interlude interrupting the duology of "The Force Awakens" and "The Rise of Skywalker." All that said, I'm definitely on board with Pak exploring the Emperor's construction of a secret armada on Exolgol and making it (hopefully) make more sense than it did in the movies. I also hope Ochi manages to survive Vader, because, other than Aphra, he's probably the best new character the rebooted Marvel Star Wars continuity has produced.
The Last God #12 (January 27): I read this issue right after issue #11, as I couldn't wait to see what happens. I'm glad I did. The first 11 pages really finish issue #12 with the last seven pages serving as a coda to the series.
With Skol and Valko seemingly dead, Cyanthe, Haakon, Kolba, and Shadow stand alone facing a Mol Uhtlep-possessed Eyvindr. The Last God takes a minute to gloat, declaring his intent to descend the Black Stair at long last and send Cain Anuun into the Void.
Kolba begs a dying Skol to rise, but she tells him that they have all the help that they need in him, Mol Choresh, the God of Riddles. Dun-dun-DUN! Skol asks if he's always been Kolba, and he says that he hasn't. His brothers and sisters all inhabited one body and thus died. But, he has passed among living creatures for eons to see the world. When he learned Mol Uhltep's avatars were born, he tried to steer everyone to the Black Stair. Federici then shows us that Mol Choresh had inhabited several characters who moved along the story (e.g., from the first issue, the woman selling the dead puppies and Eyvindr's friend who led him into the battle against the Mol Uhltep-possed King Tyr). He acknowledges that he may now have to do a little more to save Ang Luthia's creation.
At this point, everything starts to move very quickly Haakon tells Mol Uhltep that he'll not have Eyvindr or the rest of them and uses his power to separate the Last God from Eyvindr. Mol Uhltep then destroys Haakon, and Federici makes it devastating: we and Eyvindr watch in horror his skeleton and hammers simply fall to the ground. Mol Choresh then gives himself to Skol as the Fells Pyre was extinguished when Valko stabbed her. (I don't remember why that happened exactly, to be honest.)
The fellowship is now bringing the fight to Mol Uhltep. Eyvindr, now Fey-infused, is at his best here, asking Mol Uhltep what color a god bleeds. An awakened Skol chides Mol Uhltep, telling him that it was unwise to bring them to the Fellspyre since they now have a living god with them. With Mol Uhltep on the ropes, Skol tells Cyanthe that she should be the one to kill him: she infuses Cyanthe's arrow with Mol Choresh's energy and a determined-looking Cyanthe lets loose her arrow. Mol Uhltep appears to return to the Void. Valko survives for a last jab at Eyvindr, who thanks him for saving his life countless times. Eyvindr and Cyanthe take dying Valko's hand, and Cyanthe tells him that he did what a Ferryman king failed to do.
In the past, we see a laughing fellowship together, and Cyanthe asks Haakon to sing a song. It's a beautiful song, made all the more poignant as Kennedy Johnson reveals that they're approaching the House of Ruarc, where their fellowship shatters. The song - about three mysterious adventurers giving gifts to a poor hunter who shares his meal - overlays the series' coda. In the present, Eyvindr, now the Fey's guardian, brings Valko's corpse to his people. Cyanthe and Shadow return home, and, in the back material, we learn that Cyanthe becomes Tyrgolad's undisputed ruler, even after she frees the slaves and bans Freyth's worship. Skol, now the Goddess of Riddles we learn in the back material, returns to the Pinnacle and runs the Guild Eldritch seemingly without human sacrifice. The issue ends unexpectedly peacefully, as Evindyr sits on a quiet bank and watches a second Fey being born.
I mentioned in my review of last issue that I hoped - but doubted - that some characters enjoyed a happy ending, and I'm surprised Cyanthe and Eyvindr do. Haakon and Valko do in their own way, relieved of the burden and doubts that they carried for so long. But, Cyanthe is redeemed in a way that she deserved, after the horrors she endured with the original fellowship. It also isn't hard to imagine the joy that Eyvindr feels sitting on a riverbank watching Fey frolick after a lifetime in the slave cradles.
In his letter at the end of the issue, Kennedy Johnson answers what I long wondered: what next? I had thought the "Book 1" tag on the front of this series meant that we'd likely not destroy Mol Uhltep in the end. But, Kennedy Johnson acknowledges that the simple world that he intended to create had more became a world he unearthed, which definitely is how it felt. He hints at all the potential stories of all different types that Cain Anuun has left to tell: the stories the Sholtuan pirates tell of the Un-Men, the demigods, demons, and elementals like Norduuk that exist. He even acknowledges that he might not be the one to tell them, implying that the Book 1 of the "Fellspyre Chronicles" is really Book 1 of this amazing world called Cain Anuun.
Reading this series felt like being part of the group that initially played Dungeons & Dragons with Gary Gygax without necessarily realizing what it would become. I can't wait to see where Kennedy Johnson and all the other artists and authors go with Cain Anuun.
Also Read: Dungeons & Dragons: At the Spine of the World #3 (January 6); Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #9 (January 27)
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