Originally published on Set The Tape
The second and final part of the comic book adaptation of Jason Fry’s Star Wars novel The Weapon of a Jedi hits shelves this week, allowing a whole new bunch of fans to experience this story in a different medium.
Adapted by Alec Worley, who previously adapted Star Wars Adventures: Smuggler’s Run, the book features art from Ruairi Coleman, and Chris O’Halloran, and was originally published in four parts in the Star Wars Insider magazine.
Picking up where the first issue left off, Luke Skywalker has travelled to the planet Devaron after feeling a strange call in The Force. Drawn to the planet for unknown reasons, Luke has recruited a local scavenger to take him to the ruins of an old temple that many of the local population won’t travel to. Having left his guide outside, Luke, along with C-3PO and R2-D2, makes his way through the old tunnels beneath the temple and eventually finds himself inside the ruins.
Here Luke discovers tests that only a Jedi would be able to pass, and sets out to prove that he has what it takes to be a Jedi, dedicating himself to passing the trials before him and learning more about The Force. Unfortunately for Luke, the Empire isn’t far behind him, and there may also be another threat lurking close by too.
The story definitely picks up in this issue, and there’s a lot more going on now that Luke has managed to find his way to the old Jedi Temple. Whilst the first issue had a lot of mystery as to what was going on, and Luke looking for answers on this planet, this issue jumps straight into things, and we’re very quickly watching as Luke trains himself in lightsaber combat.
I like that this story is trying to fill in some of the gaps between the films, that it’s showing that Luke would have had to sought out other ways of learning about the Jedi, and how to wield both his weapon and The Force, before he ends up being sent to Yoda. It would be easy to hand wave away that he just practised by himself between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, but this is definitely a lot more interesting. It not only gives Luke more agency as he seeks out his destiny as a Jedi, but gives us little insights into the Jedi and what happened to them after the rise of the Empire.
The book also manages to pack in a surprising amount of action as Luke and his friends have to deal with not only the Empire, but another mysterious antagonist; one who really puts Luke and all he’s learnt to the test. These scenes aren’t just entertaining, but show how naturally the ways of the Jedi come to Luke, and how strong he is in The Force.
This issue provides an engaging conclusion to the story, one that is a lot more entertaining than the first issue, and delves into some ideas and character development that I wasn’t quite expecting it to. Whilst I did enjoy it I do wish we could have gotten into Luke’s head a little more, as we did in the original book, but Worley still makes sure that we get to see how Luke’s mind works, how he begins to understand more of the Jedi and what’s expected of him; which is the most important part of the story.
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