Comic Review - Gavi and Driggit Reunite in "Star Wars" The High Republic Adventures - The Battle of Eriadu" One-Shot
Last week saw the release of the Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures - The Battle of Eriadu one-shot from Dark Horse Comics, and below are my brief recap and thoughts on this stand-alone issue.
The High Republic Adventures - The Battle of Eriadu one-shot begins on the surface of the titular planet, with Jedi Initiate Gavi Takitaken fighting the Nihil alongside security expert Alys “Crash" Ongwa (who happens to be named after this issue’s writer Alyssa Wong), Padawan Ruu, and singer Svi’no Atchapat, all of whom were introduced in previous The High Republic novel or comic releases. As Gavi deflects Nihil blast bolts away from innocent bystanders, he feels in the Force– which he perceives as a series of threads– for his friends and allies, including pirate Zyle Keem, fellow Jedi Initiates Kildo (who Gavi is in love with, we are reminded) and Tep Tep, Padawan Ram Jomaram, and ex-Jedi Lula Talisola, who has just recently married the Force-sensitive non-Jedi Zeen Mrala. That’s a lot of characters to keep track of– and you don’t know the half of it if you haven’t been reading the rest of The High Republic– but the important one for this issue is the final person Gavi senses: his old friend Driggit Parse.
Driggit has been working undercover with the Nihil since their invasion of Valo, and here we see her finally kick the last stage of her long-con plan into action. First, she volunteers to help launch the villainous Warden’s new fleet of Eviscerator ships into the battle, while outside in the chaos of war Gavi begins to follow Driggit’s “thread" toward her location and we get a flashback detailing how the two Valo natives grew up together, often swapping clothes and being confused for twins. Then Driggit reveals her double-cross to the Warden and fights her way out of the Nihil leader’s stronghold, running face-to-face into Gavi during her egress. But there’s not much time for them to reconnect before her explosions go off, and even after that Driggit is hesitant to let Gavi forgive her for joining the Nihil, even if it was ultimately for the sake of subterfuge.
And here’s where Driggit reveals the final step in her plan: just as the Eviscerators are about to unleash destruction on Eriadu City, she presses the button on a remote which destroys them all, ending the threat these vehicles posed and announcing to the Warden that she had provided him with fake, sabotaged blueprints for their design. Then she helps Gavi and Ruu defend some civilians against further Nihil attacks, but when the dust settles from that she finds herself explaining to her friend why she can’t stay with him or return to Valo– she doesn’t feel that she will ever be accepted back into society after working with the Nihil for so long. Of course Gavi feels the opposite is true, but Driggit doesn’t listen, tossing a thermal detonator as a distraction and disappearing into the rubble wearing a mask.
Gavi remains optimistic about his lifelong friend, however, saying that he can still feel her in the threads of the Force, and that he believes the bond between them is healing. That’s the end of this one-shot story, and I thought it was pretty good, if not great. The title The Battle of Eriadu is a little misleading, as it’s really just about the two characters of Gavi and Driggit, but Wong is a good writer and a really liked the vibrant, attractive art by illustrator Elisa Romboli (who has previously contributed to a couple issues of Dark Horse’s ongoing The High Republic Adventures title) with colorist Dan Jackson. Otherwise I thought for sure this would wrap up Driggit’s narrative, but Wong leaves that particular thread still dangling so I have to wonder if and where the character will pop up again.
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures - The Battle of Eriadu is available now wherever comic books are sold.