Star Wars - Jedi Fallen Order

Video Games

Feb 9

There is no argument that Star Wars is one of the greatest and most popular franchises of all time, and you could even go as far as saying that is the biggest franchise in Western culture. We are not only talking about the movies, which have become a big part of pop culture; we are talking about a franchise that has spawned hundreds of books, musicals, series, animation and, of course, comic books.

The Star Wars comic books have had a lot of ups and downs over the years, but there is no denying that it has offered something very important: expanding what was already a vast and incredible lore that covered entire galaxies. And in that regard, today we are going to talk about a miniseries that has had its fair share of fans and detractors: Star Wars – Jedi Fallen Order.

What is Stars Wars: Jedi Fallen Order?

This comic works as a prequel to the Stars Wars: Jedi Fallen Order videogame of the same name. That game received a lot of positive reviews, which is why that this miniseries, published in 2019, came out as a way to expand upon the mythos of that videogame, and add a little more to it, written by one of Marvel Comics’ most recurring writers at the time, Matthew Rosenberg.

In terms of the actual storyline, the Jedi Counsel decided to send two of their most reliable people, Cere Junda and Eno Cordova, to deal with a planet that pretty much has a race war. It’s up to the Jedi master Cordova and Padawan Junda to deal with this situation while not taking any sides in the matter, but, as you can imagine, a lot of things happen and the plot thickens and becomes a lot more complicated as the issues go by.

How was it?

For those that have followed the Star Wars franchise over the years, they know that the pre-Order 66 era is one of the most fruitful periods of the series, which has led to an endless well of potential storylines. This is why the Fallen Order videogame proved to be such a success: not only was it a very enjoyable game to play, but it also delivered in terms of a storyline.

This miniseries being a prequel to the story of the videogame, there are some obvious foreshadowing and some signs of why and how they are doing this or that. But you can read this series without having played the videogame, as it feels like a very classic Star Wars storyline during the prequel era.

Having said all that, there is a very fair argument that this storyline could feel very similar to others from this era of Star Wars. The main reason is due to the fact that you have a very similar Jedi Master-Padawan dynamic, a very notorious conflict that is very similar to the ones we have seen in other storylines and the constant criticism of the Jedi Counsel, which might feel a bit repetitive.

On the other hand, there isn’t anything offensive or very poor about this miniseries. It is fun, exciting and it has some entertaining fighting sequences. This feels pretty much like classic Star Wars from this time period and Rosenberg truly captured that, which is something that adds to the entire experience.

The conflict between the people of Dylanto Daa and those of the Fylari is perhaps the biggest highlight, at least from our perspective. This is due to the fact that miniseries goes in depth about why they are fighting with one another and what drives that conflict instead of having the plot telling you to root for one or another, which is something that a lot of writers tend to struggle with.

This situation allows for a lot of fascinating discussions and narrative that add a layer of complexity to the storyline, thus becoming something worth pointing out when you only have five issues to work with. The only problem with this is that the resolution in the final issue feels a bit rushes and not concluding in what could be considered as a satisfying ending.

Cere Junda and Eno Cordova

The main reason that a lot of people are going to read this comic is due to the appearances of Cere Junda and Eno Cordova as the main characters, and there is a very good reason for that: they are definitely the stars of the show in this miniseries.

The character of Cere Junda is established in a very solid way: she is straightforward, she is honest and she has no qualms about speaking her mind about her disagreements with the Jedi Counsel. She has also proven to be a bit rash and naïve from time to time during the story, thus giving us a greater insight about her flaws and virtues as a character.

On the other hand, Cordova is depicted as calm, collected and as someone who tends to analyze the situation before jumping into action. This is obviously done as a way to contrast and compare his position as a master to the one Junda holds as a Padawan, but this miniseries also sets in motion a concept that is going to be very prevalent in the videogame: his obsession with the Zeffo, which is a nice little bit of foreshadowing right there.

Their relationship could be viewed as a bit cliché within the Star Wars mythos because you can draw a lot of obvious parallels with Anakin and Obi-Wan and even Anakin and Ahsoka, which is not bad but it’s something we already saw in the past. It depends a lot on your appreciation of this type of relationship.

Conclusion

This is a very fun Star Wars storyline even if it doesn’t reinvent the wheel or doesn’t push the boundaries of the franchise, narrative-wise. If you are someone that happens to enjoy the videogame and wants to have more of these characters, then this miniseries by Matthew Rosenberg is going to do the job just fine.