Star Wars: The High Republic #9 from the Phase II Marvel comics run by Cavan Scott came out yesterday and it set up one hell of a finale for issue #10.
Since there were some notable appearances/events in the issue I figured I’d make a post breaking down the three that felt the most important to me.
Check those out below and get the rest of this run here on TFAW.
RIP Jedi Master Leebon
Considering how mysterious the Leveler and the Nameless were in Phase I, it’s pretty wild to see them openly running around in Phase II.
And in Star Wars: The High Republic #9 the Leveler claims its latest victim in Jedi Master Leebon. This is/was Matty Cathley’s master and her death leaves a deep impact on her in the book, Path of Vengeance.
First Appearance of Shea Ganandra and Barkov
As Tey tries to take down The Herald, Yana, and Co. The Herald sends two members of the path of the Open Hand, Shea and Barkov, to “deal with it.” Shea Ganandra is a character in both YA novels from this phase, Path of Deceit and Path of Vengeance.
She’s an engineer that becomes one of the Path’s “Children,” a special forces type unit tasked with stealing Force artifacts for The Mother.
It’s also interesting that Marda Ro gets a mention on this page. It’s the first time she’s been mentioned in ANY comic. Really hoping that this is teasing an appearance for High Republic #10 that comes out in a few weeks.
**SPOILERS FOR PATH OF VENGEANCE**
Shea accompanies Marda Ro and Sunshine Dobbs to Planet X to find more of the nameless to fight the Jedi in Cavan Scott’s Path of Vengeance novel. Her boyfriend / future baby daddy Geth also comes on the trip. At the end of their mission there they get separated on different ships as they leave the planet. Some drama happens and Shea assumes that Geth is dead.
But he’s not (at least not yet) as we see Geth in Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – The Nameless Terror. He’s the bearded fellow below and his first appearance was in The Nameless Terror #1.
The Hand of Siberus
As Tey is getting worked over a bit by both Shea and Barkov he finds an old dark side artifact called the Hand of Siberus. It apparently gives anyone who wears it some sort of dark side force lightning, regardless of their strength in the force.
Siberus is a reference to Darth Siberus from George Mann’s Star Wars: Dark Legends book that came out in 2019. If you wanted to read the story know that it’s only in the Target Exclusive version of the book.
I posted about this a week or so ago on Instagram and you can see in the comments that George Mann confirms that the artifact and this sith lord are related.
Unsure if we get any more details about Darth Siberus in Star Wars: High Republic #10 later this month but we will for sure be getting more of the Hand of Siberus as Vildar slides it on at the end of the issue to protect Tey Sirrek from the Herald who has acquired two lightsabers of his own to try and take down Vildar Mac.
Plenty of other things happen in the issue but those felt like the most notable aspects as they related to comic appearances and Star Wars lore.
Check out all of the variants below for Star Wars: high Republic #9 (2022)
Star Wars: High Republic #9 | Phase II
MAR230903
(W) Cavan Scott (A) Ario Anindito (CA) Rafael De Latorre
Vildar Mac has been haunted all his life. Now, as the Leveler is unleashed, the Jedi Knight faces a terrible decision – resist the lure of the dark side or become what he fears the most to survive. Will TEY SIRREK pay the ultimate price for Vildar’s choice?
Rated T
In Shops: May 10, 2023
SRP: $3.99
Variants
