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Republic #55: The Rainmakers

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Script: Haden Blackman
Pencils: Brian Ching
Inks: Joe Weems
Coloring: Joe Wayne
Cover: Mozart Couto

Reviewed by Andrew Liptak

Summary: The Republic has moved onto the world of Jabiim, a rain-clogged world that the war has moved onto. The rain has hampered the Republic's armored forces, and a slow, outpost by outpost fight has begun, with the Republic Forces moving slowly, and are becoming spread out. The Separatist leader, Alto Stratus, had taken control of the government, and has given the Confederacy his aid in return for material. Alpha, an ARC Trooper, points out to Obi-Wan that their forces are being drawn out little by little, and that an attack at that time would hurt the ground forces and cripple them. During the same time, the Separatist forces do attack, hitting the bogged down armor and take full advantage of the republic's lack of mobility, and ability to perform air strikes. Obi-Wan, Anakin and Alpha join the battle, and begin to push back the Separatist forces. At least one walker becomes mobile, but is mined by the enemy ground forces and is downed. Obi Wan and Alpha go inside to rescue the clones inside when it explodes, presumably killing everyone inside.

What Worked: I liked this issue from the moment that I saw the cover, with Obi-Wan leading a large group of Clones into battle. The story was very well done, on several levels. First, we see the way that the enemy see the Jedi, as monsters and killers, not as defenders and healers. The reactions from the Jabiim defenders are pretty well done and convincing. Second, the environment that the battle takes place in gets the point across that war is hell. This place is pretty miserable, and shows how well the war is going for both parties. Third, we get to see plenty of action from the battle, from clone troopers to Separatist forces. Forth, we see the introduction of the AT-AT walker, the first walker seen in Star Wars, during the Battle of Hoth in Empire Strikes Back. It's nice to see that there are some new connections between the Prequel Trilogy and the Original Trilogy.

The story was well done, but is incomplete for another four issues of this series, but what we have seen thus far is excellent. The dialog is pretty well done, with some pretty important things said, as well as some funny remarks from Alpha, nothing new about him. The art was done by the same team who did Republic 53 and some earlier issues, and the work here is a little better in my opinion. I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

What Didn't Work: There were a couple things that I didn't like about this issue. The first was the entire battle itself, why waste an effort on Jabiim when it seems to hold little value to the Republic in the first place? It doesn't seem to make much sense. The second thing was the differences between the Republic military and the Separatist military. The republic is having a lot of trouble with their ground forces, which makes one wonder why they used walkers in the first place, with such horrible battle conditions? The walkers are heavy and rely on legs to move. It seems that the Republic would use a little more thought before placing forces in such a region. Another thing: why didn't the Separatists have much trouble with their own forces? We see plenty of droid soldiers and spider droids walking around, but they don't seem to have much trouble at all. Lastly, the Nimbus forces that Alto has uses repulsor boots to get around. It's a good idea, but they look ridiculous on those things…

Overall, A great issue, and a great start to the Battle of Jabiim series that Dark Horse is doing. I can't wait until the next issues come out. This issue is an essential for everyone.

Rating: 8/10

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