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Jonah Chuang recommends

Kanan - The Last Padawan #1

This may be just one man’s subjective opinion, but Marvel has been killing it with these Star Wars books lately. They each showcase a different aspect of all the things I love about Star Wars. The main title gives us action and adventure, Princess Leia brings us on a familiar journey of growth and self discovery, while Darth Vader is all about intrigue, drama, and bad-assery. That trend continues into Kanan: The Last Padawan, which acts as a prequel to the upcoming television show, Star Wars Rebels.

Kanan is part political thriller, part underdog tale, part epic war story, and will probably wind up being more as the story unfolds. The bulk of the story takes place during the last moments of the Clone Wars, just as Emperor Palpatine orders the Clone Troopers to kill all the Jedi. Back then, Kanan was Caleb Dume, an inquisitive padawan to Depa Billaba, a wise and outspoken Jedi Master who happens to sit on the Jedi council and deeply disagrees with the council’s decisions (Any Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan fans?).

There are some surprisingly deep discussions on the themes of parenthood, society, civic responsibility, and identity in this comic, and Kanan is a really fascinating character. He’s just a young dude coming into his own and trying to figure out his place in life. Sadly, he picked the worst time to do that, as his whole world (actually, the whole galaxy) is about to fall apart around him.

From the briefest glimpse we get of the grown Kanan, he seems like a real cocky sort of outlaw—a very grizzled, Han Solo-esque figure, and I think the journey from fresh-faced young Jedi to that is going to be an exciting and rewarding one.

It all starts here!

[Read Kanan - The Last Padawan #1 on comiXology]

Jonah Chuang is a Production Coordinator Assistant at comiXology. His sister auditioned for a part in the new Star Wars movies and got a callback but was ultimately not cast.