This Wednesday, March 27, 2024, a new High Republic one-shot comic, Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – Crash Landing, by Daniel Jose Older and Dark Horses Comics, came out.
In it there were at least three first appearances. There were probably more but these three have the best chances of showing up in other comics/media.
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – Crash Landing One-Shot
(W) Daniel Jose Older (A) Harvey Tolibao (CA) Rachele Aragno
“Crash” Ongwa and her ragtag crew have been fighting against anyone who had a hand in the Nihil Infiltration that plunged her home planet of Corellia into chaos. Even though an uneasy peace has been reached, if they don’t continue to fight, everything they sacrificed for could slip away. Now, Crash has a lead on the person behind the entire Nihil plot – if her crew can accomplish this mission, could true peace be on their horizon?
On sale Mar 27, 2024 | 32 Pages | 76156801195100111
$5.99
Covers
Let’s take a look at who appeared…
(obviously, spoilers ahead)
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – Crash Landing is a one-shot comic book about Crash Ongwa and her friends/crew. Crash (first appearance is in Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures Annual #1) runs a security business, The Supreme Coronet City Diplomat Protection Agency, in Coronet City on the planet Corellia. She and her crew provide security detail for celebrities, wealthy business people, politicians, etc. Meaning if a famous politician was visiting Corellia to make a speech or to attend a summit they might hire Crash and her team to follow them around to keep them safe.
UPDATED: See every comic, book, and variant from Phase III of The High Republic here.
But that changed after the Nihil attack that took place in Daniel Jose Older’s young adult novel, Midnight Horizon, from Phase I of the High Republic. It appears that now she’s running a hit squad of sorts dead set on taking out important/violent members of the Nihil. Her ultimate goal is to take down the Eye of the Nihil, Marchion Ro, to end the threat and save the Republic.
That’s what this comic is about. Most of her crew had their first comic book appearance alongside Crash in Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures Annual #1 from 2021 though her girlfriend, Svi’no Athchapat, recently got her first appearance in Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #4 back in February.
But some new characters got their first comic appearance in this issue as well…
First Comic Appearance of Baynoo Ongwa
This is Crash’s mother and former head of the security agency that Crash now runs. She’s in Star Wars: The High Republic – Midnight Horizon but this is her first appearance in a comic book.
First Comic Appearance of Ruu
Ruu is labeled in the comic as a “Hit Squad Chaos Agent” and “Former Padawan.” I honestly don’t know much of their backstory. I do know that Ruu was first introduced in the Star Wars: The High Republic – Tales of Light and Life anthology book in the summer of 2023. But his story was only in the Barnes and Noble Edition.
UPDATED: See all Star Wars books, novels, and collected editions coming in 2024 here
Since I don’t have that edition, I have not read it. But it appears that Ruu used to be a Jedi Padawan but has since left the order to become part of Crash’s Hit Squad to take out Nihil. Not very Jedi like so it’s unlikely Ruu will return to the order.
The interesting thing about Ruu is his eyes. They are referenced over and over and over in this comic for being black and appearing “endless.” In this art, they almost look like looking up at the stars.
No clue what species Ruu is or what is going on with his eyes but I thought it was an intriguing concept. Maybe it’s talked about in the Tales of Light and Life short story. If not, I hope they follow up on it and give us some answers about who this person is and why they are the way that they are.
First Comic Appearance of Ovus Buckell
Ovus Buckell is a human politician in Coronet City who is sympathetic to the Nihil cause. He is currently the Finance Minister of the city and a real shithead. He worked with the Nihil during the attack on Coronet City to usurp the former Finance Minister and apparently got away with it.
He also looks like he is a former executive for the Rock Slate and Gravel Co. in the Flintstones.
From there the rest of the comic is Ruu and Crash attempting to assassinate Krix Kamerat. This is the childhood friend of Zeen Mralla who ended up joining the Nihil and becoming close with its leader, Marchion Ro. They end up breaking Krix out instead of killing him because he convinced them that their best chance at getting to Marchion Ro was through him. Krix felt betrayed by the Nihil for letting him get captured and now wants to take down the whole squad and become a politician. War criminals are dumb.
Those three are the characters would COULD become important in the future. If I had to pick one as the best shot it would be Ruu. Star Wars has a firm history of former Jedi who end up fine with murdering people becoming important.
From there the rest of the comic is Ruu and Crash attempting to assassinate
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – Crash & Burn Coming This August
Also, at the end of the comic on the last page, Dark Horse announced a sequel to this comic called Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – Crash and Burn that is set to come out this August.
And it makes sense that this is happening because the comic makes no sense as a one shot. It’s clearly only part of a story.
Overall I was not a fan of this issue. I thought the story was confusing, the plot all over the place, the art sloppy, and character logic thrown out the window for the sake of jokes.
There was an odd amount of mentions about Ruu being “hot”, including a droid asking permission if they could flirt with him. Also, the prison seemed laughably easy to break into. They just flew in on jetpacks. The doors of Krix’s cell were not locked and his room looked more like a break room at a job than a prison cell. And the ending made no sense to me.
I like Daniel Jose Older and I enjoyed Midnight Horizon but I’m not sure what we’re doing here with this one. Hopefully we get more answers in Crash and Burn.
Grand Admiral Frik
