Comics The Battle of Jakku Maxiseries (Oct 2024)

Gonna read this in a bit, but my final stance on the whole contradiction thing is that the old EU was riddled with stuff like that (we had two Sate Pestage deaths, ten Death Star plan heists, twenty seven evacuations of Yavin base) and if there’s any contradictions in this series (it’s been a long time since I read the aftermath trilogy), I trust the people to make it work and convince themselves everything is canon!

 

delete

 

If possible, delete this.

 

Weird thing about the canon status of Aftermath:

Spoiler

The narration of the final issue implies that everything depicted may contradict other accounts of the Battle of Jakku but “the message remains the same” about the battle’s implications;

Between this and how the 2020 run ended with a wink from Luke saying “all of this happened” to Ben, I’m almost getting the impression that Marvel is trying to do away with the idea of a hard canon

maybe they caught wind of a plan to do an animated series with the cast of the original trilogy thats gonna steamroll everything The Clone Wars style…

 

Everything is canon. Little or no convincing required!

It's easy when you understand that we're seeing a retelling of the "actual events" - with all the uncertainty that introduces - and not the "actual events" themselves. To adapt Linus's Law - given enough abstraction, all contradictions are shallow.

You're on the right track, but substitute "magic window" for "hard canon." And it's not just Marvel, but Star Wars as a whole.

 

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Some scenes from the Aftermath trilogy are certainly different, but still well represented. Regarding the signing of the Galactic Concordance, Empire's End says only Leia, Sinjir and Sondiv Sella attented the ceremony. But in this issue, everyone are here (Luke, Han, Chewie, Ackbar, 3PO). And Mas Amedda’s smile is quite telling, like he’s saying « Enjoy your victory for now ».

 

I think my understanding of the word ‘historic’ & Marvel’s might be a little different.

 

Felt really rushed at the end. And kinda a waste of Luke honestly.

 

The final issue was a bit rushed, but the story and art were better than several of the prior issues. I feel like this series was simultaneously too long AND too short based on the story they wanted to tell.

--Adm. Nick

 

The Battle of Jakku was barely in the book it felt like

 

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There does seem to be a Nagai connection, albeit minor: Reyna's knife is a Nagai tehk'la blade, shown and namechecked in this issue.

 

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Bragh may have died sooner in uprising but at least he sent out as a tough boss rather than being quickly stabbed after losing a lot of fights like this. Maybe this a replacement Bragh?

Shame that there is no liberation of Bespin since that was a big even involving many characters from this comic series.

Still, overall an enjoyable enough ending which wrapped up the main threads and introduced some potential new characters and plotlines for later. If nothing else it is great to get a bunch of images for characters and events only mentioned before.

I feel like I have gotten that impression a lot from recent comics. I talked to my brother about it, who is into Marvel superhero comics, and he noted they have the same problem - I can't remember his full explanation, but it has something to do with trying to appeal to both individual comics buyers and trade collection buyers by having stories kind of spin around until the last comic which then wraps things up superquick.

Ho ho...that is an interesting find, good eye.

 

Then Bragh somehow turns out alive in a couple yours

 

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I called it: Adelhard and Bragh are toast, while Oskure and Loring are alive to cause trouble for the post-ROTJ ongoing. Looks like this Praetor will be the next Big Bad, though.

I really hope the followup is back to monthly. Marvel has always struggled with issues feeling too rushed in the weekly format.

 

The only thing of substance to come from this series is confirmation that the FFG Starhawk design is indeed canon. Not bad, I guess…

 

I mean, we got that in Squadrons.

 

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So now that we know what Luke was "actually" doing during the Battle of Jakku, how well does that line up with the "it might have happened this way or it might not have" version from way back in Legends of Luke Skywalker? Read that a long time ago... I seem to remember Luke being on a Star Destroyer at Jakku in one of those stories, but that's about it.

 

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It can still work to take that story mostly seriously. The narrator could have been on Adelhard's SD. There's a huge time skip in the closing pages of the issue.

 

Actually, the Starhawk in Squadrons is different from the FFG Starhawk. The fantastic modeler Mel Miniatures did a great model and comparison here:

https://x.com/mel_miniatures/status/1320161754568065024

The stern section of the model in Squadrons is shorter and smaller. The assumption is that the prototype we see destroyed in the game is the literal Starhawk, with her three subsequent sister ships (Concord, Unity, Amity) all being to a slightly different design.

--Adm. Nick

 

Well I’ve finally done it and managed to squeeze this into my detailed timeline.
I made a post about it, with images and the usual link to my working document, on my Substack here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/daveytod/p/battle-of-jakku-maxi-series-super?r=ng579&utm_medium=ios

But I’ll put my biggest issues with it here:

Spoiler

Insurgency Rising #1:

Page 5 sees Han leaving Leia, to clean up “Imperial Dregs”, and while this is a perfect lead in to the Pathfinder mission on Endor from Shattered Empire I have a feeling that the author’s intent was that Han was heading off to liberate Kashyyyk.

Page 15 - Morning, Luke offers to train Leia to use the force. By my reckoning The Princess And The Scoundrel starts later that day but said offer isn’t mentioned at all.

Insurgency Rising #2:

Page 2 has one of Palpatine’s messenger droids delivering the Operation Cinder edict “almost immediately after Endor”. Shattered Empire and Alphabet Squadron book 1 have both previously confirmed the start of this operation as 2 weeks after Endor. We see Grand Admiral Rae Sloane mention “Operation Cinder has begun - Burnin Konn, Candovant, Abenedo, Commenor - just to name a few” which is an almost identical piece of dialogue Ackbar gives in Shattered Empire #4, which is place 3 months after Endor. Sloane’s rank as a Grand Admiral is potentially problematic too. Up til now the general assumption was that she was promoted by Rax between Aftermath and Life Debt as she’s only ever called Admiral in Aftermath and not called Grand Admiral until Life Debt.

Page 15 sees Luke ambushed by the Acolytes on Pillo. No real continuity issue here, it just means this must have happened pretty much the second that he leaves Dell in the Battlefront II mission.

Insurgency Rising #3-4

These issues are pretty self contained with nothing jumping out at me to contradict anything else, but I have placed them before the Operation Cinder operation on Naboo purely because it isn’t mentioned.

Republic Under Siege #1

This issue opens with Luke and Rynn on Lehanis with no indication that much time has passed since Insurgency Rising #4, however on page 6 we see Leia asking Kerrithrarr if he knows where Han and Chewie are. She’s told that the last Kerrithrarr had heard from the Falcon was at Ashmead’s Lock. This references Life Debt chapter 24 when Han, with Norra Wexley and her team (acting on a request from Leia) help free Chewie and other prisoners from Ashmead’s Lock. Afterwards the Falcon returns to Chandrila to drop off the prisoners but Han and Chewie leave again without even getting off the ship. So while it makes sense that Leia still doesn’t know where they are, it does show that a decent amount of time has passed since Insurgency Rising #4.

Page 13 implies that the Akiva summit was recent, but that started in Aftermath chapter 9 but it does, at least, show Grand General Loring entrenched at Malastare as mentioned in chapter 3 of Life Debt.

Backup story “Consolidation” page 3-5

There is some really important context and back story in the flashbacks on these pages, unfortunately there is no indication at all that they are, indeed, flashbacks and hence it could be potentially confusing.

Republic Under Siege #2

Pages 4-5: Here it gets really sticky. Rax and Sloane are heading a meeting of the Shadow Council and openly talking about “our plans at Jakku”. As per Life Debt, Sloane is never aware of Rax’s plans at Jakku and only heads there after the events of Liberation Day (Life Debt chapter 38) at which point she has basically abandoned her post. We also see Loring at this meeting despite Life Debt making it clear that Rax had little interest in bringing him into the fold.

Republic Under Siege #3

This issue is nothing but Segura bringing his own characters into play (from Poe Dameron: Free Fall and Return Of The Jedi: The Rebellion), but also pretty self contained.

Republic Under Siege #4

Page 1: Mon Mothma is recovering from injuries, assuming from the Liberation Day attack but it’s not mentioned by name.

Page 5: Mon Mothma mentions Jakku for the first time, this information is linked to “The Operator” - a mysterious Imperial insider who has been supplying information to the Republic. Problem is, as readers, we know this is Rax himself and the last genuine contact they has with him was in Aftermath chapter 15. After that the only contact was Sloane co-opting the Operator name in order to gain contact with Mon Mothma to discuss and Imperial surrender prior to the Liberation Day attack. Based on Life Debt the New Republic doesn’t know anything about Jakku until Temmin returns to Chandrila following Norra tracking Sloane there in Empire’s End chapter 4.

Last Stand #1

Page 3: During the Acolytes of Beyond attack on Leia it’s mentioned that it’s “so soon after the chaos wrought by Sloane’s visit” - terrible dialogue aside this the clearest reference yet to the Liberation Day attack and clearly soon after.

Page 16: Leia calls Luke to tell him Chandrila was attacked with “dozens injured”, but this can’t be referring to the Liberation Day attack as Leia was on Kashyyyk at the time (Life Debt chapter 39), and the Acolytes attack was much smaller in nature.

Page 20: Han is on his own (Solo?) on the Falcon, in “the Mid Rim, near Takodana”. Last we saw he was back on Chandrila, after saying goodbye to Chewie on Kashyyyk, because he had to concentrate on Leia and the unborn baby, so your guess is as good as mine why he’s out there. Maybe the author was trying to link it to the Battlefront II level but that was months ago at this point in time.

Last Stand #2

The issue opens with Han in the Outer Rim, so going in the opposite direction than where we left him last issue! It’s implied that he is only now leaving Chewie on Kashyyyk but we dealt with that in Life Debt chapter 39 when he and Leia left Kashyyyk together,

Page 5: Leia and Mon Mothma are surveying the remains of the attack. No mention of which one, but see my previous reasoning.

Page 6: Mon Mothma: “Ackbar is positioning the fleet towards Jakku” - there is still no indication at all that the Republic should be aware if Rax’s plan. We, as readers, only know of the fleet build up at Jakku in chapter 4 of Empire’s End.

Page 9: Han makes a heroic return to save Leia, despite the Empire’s End making him a molly cuddling husband since their return from Kashyyyk.

Page 17: Sloane tells Rax that Adelhard has attacked Chandrila twice. Rax remarks that Adelhard has co-opted their methods. On the one hand this clear puts both of Adelhards attacks after the Liberation Day attack, on the other (as per Life Debt/Empire’s End) Sloane was absolutely not in communication with Rax at this time'.

Last Stand #3:

Page 1 - Clearly sets itself after the Senate vote from Empire’s End chapter 24. Again getting The Operator story line confused by stating that "The Operator has confirmed" the Imperial fleet is at Jakku, but the New Republic's last genuine contact with the Operator was in chapter 15 of Aftermath. After that, in Life Debt chapter 25, Sloane pretends to be the Operator in order to get through to Mon Mothma to offer an Imperial surrender. Moff Randd tells Rax the "message from the Operator has been delivered and the New Republic fleet is enroute to Jakku". In Empire's End it is Norra's team, tracking Sloane, that discover confirm the fleet us at Jakku.

Page 2-3: Rax gives a speech to Imperial forces. New Republic fleet arrives at Jakku. In the issue Rax give's this speech from the Super Star Destroyer Scepter, while in Empire's End he gives it from the Observatory. Sloane is also back in her Grand Admiral uniform for some reason.

Page 6-13: In Empire’s End chapter 28 part 2 Wedge comes out of lightspeed with Phantom Squadron and, with Temmin, decide to concentrate on ground defenses. Ackbar must tell Wedge to keep Phantom Squadron in the fight, before heading to the surface, as they're mentioned a few times in this section.

Last Stand #4:

Page 1 panel 1: Sloane is depicted exactly as described at the end of Empire’s End chapter 15 despite the fact that the main battle hasn’t even started by that point.

Page 1 panel 2: One of Palpatine’s messenger droids states that the perimeter has been breached and Yupe Tashu asks how long until Sloane arrives. Given that Sloane arrives at the Observatory via stolen shuttle (in Empire’s End chapter 26, before the battle has even started) the perimeter surely would have only been breached minutes before the shuttle landing. Given this panel follows one of Sloane trekking across the desert it ignores vast chunks of her journey.

NOTE: There a couple of text boxes on this page that attempt to do some unreliable narrator hand waving…..but the damage was already done in my opinion.

Page 1 panel 4: Luke arrives in the Anoat sector having apparently travelled from Chandrila, via Sauwecer, since the battle started.

NOTE: The Cloud City interlude from Empire’s End sees Lando back in control of Cloud City after staging an uprising and starving out Adelhard. This interlude implies that Lando was present for the "months and months" that it took but as we see him several times in the Battle Of Jakku series let's imagine he left after the battle to supervise the rebuilding effort (apart from visiting Han, Leia, and Ben on Chandrila). This does mean moving the interlude from it's original place in the book between chapters 30-31.

I’d love to hear that I’m wrong about
any of the above issues, or any ideas to make it all fit

 

Yeoman's work @TOD-UK . Haven't looked at your spreadsheet yet but I'll be interested to see how you pieced it all together. Only thing I'll add is that not only should Sloane not have been in uniform during Rax's speech, she should have been tied up on the roof of Rax's base!

I also wonder who that is supposed to be standing with Sloane in the comic book's version of the speech. He's wearing a lab coat (?) and is ballsy enough to refer to her as simply "Sloane," without rank or honorific. Did this person show up earlier in the series and I'm just forgetting?

 

I’m assuming it’s Brentin, but with this series who knows??

 

In April's Marvel solicitations,

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Jedi Knights #2 has a "Sneak Preview Variant Cover" by Phil Noto featuring Luke and a Nagai with a Tehk'la blade, maybe?:

Spoiler: images spoilered for size

Reminds me a bit of the character on this cover:

I really want to believe this is what's coming, haha!

 

i'm pretty sure one of the ships was an F-18 Hornet, or at least heavily inspired by it. It would be amusing if it has a Geonosion pilot.