Age of Republic: General Grievous (Comic Review)
All good things come to an end, including Marvel's Star Wars: Age of Republic. This amazing series wraps up with an issue following a murderous adventure with the Supreme Commander of the Separatist army: General Grievous. (In a story that's title makes the Hamilton fan in me very happy)
Star Wars: Age of Republic - General Grievous: “Burn”
The comic opens with Grievous engaging a Jedi and her Padawan on the planet Ledeve. The Droid General makes short work of the master and blitzes the apprentice and cuts him down too. Grievous looks at a holopad that shows him his target: a Jedi Temple.
Grievous stalks through the Forest until he arrives at the Temple. He makes his way through mocking the Jedi shrines inside and claims that unlike his statues they aren't earned or deserved. He then proceeds to deface the temple as he travels through.
Eventually Grievous reaches a waterfall with a glowing blue orb inside it. He reaches in and is sucked into (what I think is) The World Between Worlds and is mocked for the way he indulges his destructive blood lust to make up for his lack of Force sensitivity. The voice also shows him that his “power” is nothing and tells the Grievous how small he is all while he is witnessing his body morph back to his former Kaleesh body then down to just his origins falling through space.
Grievous falls back through the waterfall and with his ego scarred attempts to strike at the orb glowing through the water. Grievous throws in the towel and gets far away from the Temple and comms up to the Invisible Hand with orders to blast the Temple into oblivion. The cyborg general mocks the ethereal voice that mocked him thinking that his bloodthirsty lust for destruction proved too powerful for the Jedi ruins he turns his back on the rubble as we see the light where the water once was still glowing bright.
In a pleasant book end to Age of Republic, this issue goes back to the spirit quests we once saw with the Qui-Gon and Darth Maul issues. Once again, Jody Houser shows so much about these characters within mere panels. We see Houser and company present the cyborg as a primal beast. A creature that wouldn't be out of place in horror fiction. We also see how frail Grievous’ ego is, we see the way he embraced his “upgrades” because of his jealousy of the Jedi's connection to the Force, and his rage with things he doesn't understand. For all of his destructive might, the proud warrior is a very weak, pathetic, and frail creature (as shown by the Force Trip he took). All Grievous has left is his prowess as a killing machine and this comic shows how empty that existence is. In a melancholy way this is an excellent way to cap off Age of Republic; the futility of Grievous’ existence is very emblematic of how powerless to save the galaxy the Jedi were and the ways so many beings individual wills were all dashed and wiped away by the will of Darth Sidious. I give Age of Republic: General Grievous a 4.5 out of 5. I tip my hat to Jodi Houser and her amazing creative team for Age of Republic and thank them for this amazing mini series, I look forward to going on a similar adventure with Age of Rebellion.