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Republic #58: Floodgates

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Script: Haden Blackman
Pencils: Brian Ching
Inks: Victor Llamas
Coloring: Joe Wayne
Cover: Tomas Giorello

Reviewed by Andrew Liptak

Summary: The battle of Jabiim is over, and Anakin Skywalker is ordered by Senator Palpatine to evacuate the remaining soldiers from the planet. Anakin travels by swoop to Monsoon Mesa, where the landing ships will be landing. Along the way, he destroys several assassin droids. Arriving at the Mesa, he finds that only one rescue ship made it through the storm, and makes the decision that the clone troopers, not the Jabiim loyalists would be evacuated. The Jabiim loyalists threaten to open fire, but Anakin force chokes Captain Gillmuun and orders him to stand down. The loyalists start throwing rocks as the troops leave. Two days later, they arrive in New Holstice, where the Jedi and Clones are regrouping. There, they evacuate the wounded and go to med centers. Anakin meets up with Jedi Master Hett and Jedi Bhat Jur. They go to the wounded Jedi and work to heal them. Anakin, remembering his force choke, tries to restart another wounded Jedi's heart, but she dies anyway. Finally, they go to a memorial, where Anakin remembers the other fallen Padawans that he was forced to leave behind. On another world, Asajj Ventress confronts Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has survived, and tells him that Anakin was dead.

What Worked: This issue was a fitting end to the battle of Jabiim, and unfortunately, it's not a happy ending. The reactions from the Jabiim loyalists was just as I had imagined, being left behind, and seems to be a good example of the beginnings of the hatred towards the Jedi. Several elements that we see are also very interesting, one of those being Anakin's force choke, which seems to be the first time that he's ever done that sort of thing. It is certainly something that will be used more later on. Secondly, the memorial to the Jedi was probably one of the more beautifully done elements that I have seen. It was mentioned that it had grown brighter every day, a testimonial to the horrors of the Clone Wars. Finally, Master Hett's cameo and Obi-Wan's appearance bring storylines that are coming in the next couple months.

Finally, the artwork, writing and action in this story has all been excellently done, Blackman and Co. have done their magic once again, and Jan Duursema did a wonderful job with the cover, once again.

What Didn't Work: Pretty much everything in this chapter ended the Jabiim storyline excellently, so I have nothing to complain about. The only thing that I didn't appreciate from this was that this story was fairly dark, but there's a need for dark stories in war.

Rating: 9/10

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