Star Wars: Guardians of the Whill – Review

By now, and I’m happy about it, it has become a tradition for me to review the volumes belonging to the large block linked to Star Warsa very important editorial work carried out by Panini Comics to bring the sagas told in American books to fans of all ages. After Rebels, Balance in the Balance, and Leia, Princess of Alderaan also arrives in Italy the manga based on the novel by Greg Rucka, which he sees as protagonists two much-loved characters in Rogue One. What is the level of this new title? Find out as always with our review.

Surviving the Empire’s occupation

On the planet Jedha, occupied by the empire, the situation is becoming increasingly tensedespite the efforts of Chirrut And Baze: the two carry out some incursions to recover weapons for the defense of the planet, but above all basic necessities to support the poorest and the victims of the conflict; However, the food and medicines are not enough, neither for the orphans they help to look after, nor are they sufficient to reassure the oppressed population. Despite the guardian’s attempts to maintain a status quo of apparent peace, the Empire’s troops are becoming increasingly aggressive and numerous, both due to the type of weapons used and the maneuvers to suppress discontent, accentuated by the crackdown to discover the culprits of continuous thefts.

Chirrit and Baze’s days continue in this way until they arrive at Saw Gerrera’s orphanage, a no-half measures partisan who suggests he join the resistance: Baze thus sees the opportunity to oppose injustices more directly than his friend, who still hopes for a peaceful solution, mindful of his task as guardian. When all this evil risks falling on innocent orphans the two defenders of the city, however, are forced to make a choice. Continuing to fight is not the only way to keep the population’s hope alive: will they be able to pursue their goal of reducing innocent victims to a minimum? Will they be able to save the orphans and guarantee them a future? you can find out by reading the volume to the end!

Waiter, bring me a bit of context!

For those who are not very knowledgeable about the Star Wars universeespecially on the more recent creations, I feel “obliged” to provide a brief contextualization of the volume, which will make it feel closer to you: first of all it concerns the transposition into manga format (by Jon Tsuei) of one of the many stories that they are bridging the space-time of the brand and never released in Italian, that is Guardians of the Whills, published in 2017 by Disney-Lucasfilm Press through the pen of Greg Rucka. The story, as anticipated, follows two of the protagonists of Rogue One, namely Baze Malbus and Chirrut Îmwe, describing their life on the planet before the events narrated in the film. We have heard about these several times Guardians of the Whills, but who are they really? It’s about a religious current (this is why at the beginning of the volume Baze is keen to underline that there is only one guardian) linked to the force that had spread in the cities of the planet Jedha and which was responsible for protecting the Kyber Temple of the sacred city.

Unfortunately, it was precisely these very precious crystals and their mines that attracted the empire to the planet, which invaded the city, occupying the religious building and forcing the guardians to live on the streets like a sort of missionaries, with the only remaining aim to help citizens. You all know how it ended for Baze, Chirrut and the Guardian Order, both for Jedha City and much of the planet. destroyed by the Death Star and the Battle of Scarif shown in the Rogue One film; this conclusion however, just as happened with the excellent film, will not prevent you from appreciating the exploits summarized in the self-contained volume brought to Italy by Panini.

An exquisitely immediate friendship

I won’t beat around the bush: the best aspect of the entire manga it is certainly the description of the relationship between Baze and Chirrut, shown not only in their role as champions for the population of Jedha City, but above all through their more human and “natural” side, very often not exploited in Star Wars; a long-standing friendship, deep, but full of irony, represented in such a way as to take into account the strengths and peculiarities of both: on the one hand Baze’s impatience and desire to fight, who identifies more with resistance and the use of weapons to physically fight the imperial troops, on the other the calm and calm wisdom of Chirrut, who continues to believe in his duties as a guardian, which push him not only to protect the weakest, but also to avoid victims on both sides.

The two infect each other, in a continuous exchange of ideas and emotions that lasts throughout the manga, excluding the few moments in which they are separated, in which they nevertheless enter through their respective thoughts (as in the dialogue between Baze and Gerrera). The irony that pervades even the most tense scenes is spectacular, leveraging (just like in the film) the monk’s blindness, contrasted with his incredible abilities given to him by strength. A very pleasant management of the dialogues, which makes the story less heavy and more devoted to entertainment, offering fun and light-hearted gags, with a change of register that only occurs towards the final parts of the manga; even when we move on to more tragic and painful tones, in any case, the bond between the two never ceases.

The Force is with me and I am one with the Force

The contrast between the two characters is not dictated only by the differences in ideals, but mainly by the fact that only one of them relies on the Force, through a mystical perception: It has always been clear that this power has been treated almost like a religion since its inception, but this aspect is accentuated in the volume thanks to the presence of the Guardian and his way of acting: a relationship intrinsically linked to his faith, which seems to hold up even when the situation becomes more tragic. Baze’s pragmatism opposes all this, as he would like to resolve everything immediately without waiting for a solution peaceful resolution: Chirrut will always remain convinced, even with moments of doubt, of the necessity that only by believing in the Force and its path can one resist the invasion.

A topic which, above all due to the ways in which clashes and scenarios are described (with the typical guerrilla skirmishes) is perhaps too current, despite its science fiction aspect: reading the volume, in which the invasion of the Empire is presented to us, you cannot help but think back to the events of recent years, especially in the most tragic aspects; every act of violence is then emphasized by the words of Chirrut himself: although it was the Empire that brought the war to the city, he is aware of how much the conflict could explode, ending up corrupting everyone’s souls. Between the empire, the rebels and the population there doesn’t seem to be a real solution that doesn’t lead to violence or the destruction of numerous lives, and the monk knows every clash corresponds to innocent victims.

No words are needed to describe a war

Moving on to the graphic part, one of the characteristic points of this volume was the certainly impactful choice to leave much more space for illustrations than words: entire pages of gray without any sentences, with tables capable of transmitting the atmosphere of a decision or a plan in an instant, without turning the action into useless worries; the depression typical of guerrilla settings is also accentuated by dull colors and facial expressions. In this regard, although the characters are often stylized, with simple and almost sketchy linesthe faces are always recognizable (for example for the two actors in Rogue One) as well as the sensation or feeling they want to convey.

Subaru’s style is perhaps even closer to that of the comic compared to that of a classic manga, both for the features and for the visual construction (excluding certain meme-like expressions) and it cannot be said that they are of excellent quality, but most of these illustrations are enhanced by the almost cinematic management with which many of the events were narrated, in particular in the final part and in the representation of the plan to reach the spacecraft.

No elegies are needed either to describe war or beautiful friendship: of course, some passages are missing that were certainly lost in the transposition (having to adapt an entire book into a single volume is never easy), but I appreciated the work done by Jon Tsuei, who still managed to describe a good story in all its essential points, leaving many parts to intuition.

Who do we recommend Star Wars: Guardians of the Whills to?

As mentioned several times, there is always a wait for new stories set in the universe Star Wars, especially for those derived from books not yet published in our country. Likewise, although the manga format may be difficult for some, I can only recommend it to followers of the Forceand in particular to those who appreciated it Rogue One. For those who are not used to reading manga it could be difficult, but considering the style used the game is worth the candle; also don’t forget that this is a self-contained volume and at a decidedly affordable cost!