Sav Malagan is a padawan who left the Jedi temple to join a pirate ship! Check out her adventures in Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #2 by Dark Horse Comics!

STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC ADVENTURES #2 (OF 8)

Writer: Daniel Jose Older
Artist: Toni Bruno
Colorist: Michael Atiyeh
Letterer: Tyler Smith and Jimmy Betancourt
Editor: Matt Dryer
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: January 11th, 2023 

Previously in Star Wars: Sav Malagan was never satisfied as a padawan, often choosing to sneak to the nearest bar than focus on their studies. When the opportunity to meet the famous pirate crew of Maz Kanata, she sneaks out. After impressing the team after an odd droid battle, she is invited to join, which she accepts!

Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #2 starts with Sav realizing she is undercover to hide her force-sensitive nature. The pirate crew decides to investigate a seemingly abandoned ship and falls into a trap. Arkik Von and his team take over Maz’s ship and use her own weapon against them. The ship could only fly from someone who uses ForceForce. Maz and the crew fight off their ship but decide to retreat when the authorities show up, led by Inspector Raf Thatchburn. After they evade arrest, Maz Kanata reveals that she knows Sav is a padawan but is still welcomed on the ship.

I admit that in this issue, I had trouble keeping track of the cast of characters. Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #2 has a small pirate crew, and it is clear that we have main characters and supporting characters. But the supporting characters take up mental and visual space without contributing much. This distracted me from some of the subtle character development and plot points. However, I don’t think this is information overload, and I hope these supporting characters get a little more time to show me why they are essential and their place in the crew. However, the ideas in this story present a great all-ages comic that shows an engaging coming-of-age trope through the perspective of Sav. And a pirate as a mentor figure is always engaging!

The art is solid in this issue, but because of the large cast of characters, it feels a little busy. However, the action scenes were engaging, and these aliens’ facial expressions and character designs were well done. Fantastic work by the creative team.

Recently, I have enjoyed these smaller stories featuring new or uncommon characters more engaging than the large plot lines of notable movie characters. This issue has a lot of potential, and for what it is worth, I want to know how Sav balances the Force and piracy. 3.5 out of 5 stars for Star Wars: The HIgh Republic #2.