Comic Book / Star Wars: Republic

Issue #19, the first issue written & illustrated by John Ostrander & Jan Duursema respectively.

Republic is a Star Wars Legends comic series. Released to capitalize on the success of The Phantom Menace, this portion of the Star Wars Legends aimed at detailing the events of the Star Wars universe during the prequel films. This series began simply entitled Star Wars and became Republic around the time of the release of Attack of the Clones and the beginning of the Clone Wars storyline.

Originally conceived as a kind of anthology to showcase the vast array of new Jedi characters introduced by Episode I, the series soon developed longer storylines and recurring subplots, many of which tied in to related miniseries such as Jedi Council: Acts of War, the Jedi one-shots, Obsession and Purge (many of which were created by the same artists and writers working on Republic). By the time the series was retitled, approximately half of the stories focused on the continuing adventures of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, while the rest focused on the Ensemble Dark Horse Jedi Master Quinlan Vos and his own supporting cast of friends and enemies.

By the time the series was finished and replaced by Dark Times and Rebellion, the creative team of John Ostrander and Jan Duursema were essentially in control of the storyline. Some of the minor characters they created or made their own for Republic subsequently appeared in their next series, Legacy, including the Wookiee Chak, the Jedi T'ra Saa and K'Kruhk, and A'Sharad Hett, later Darth Krayt.

The comic was heavily influential for the posterior TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which featured both characters introduced on it (like Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Vos) and replacements of characters from the comic (Rex and Cad Bane, who were originally meant to be Alpha-17 and Durge, or Talzin, an Expy of Zalem), although the series altered heavily the canon of the comic in the process.

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Tropes:

• Aborted Arc: Ros Lai is taken by Vos to the Jedi Temple, all implying she will be important in the future. She never appears again in the comic although she does return for her only other appearance in Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Jedi Alliance as a Small Role, Big Impact. Furthermore, other than an ambiguously canon Star Wars Tales short, Quinlan Vos never shows up again after the final page of Republic 83. While Nat Skywalker's wife in Legacy was said to be from Clan Vos, the creators were very quick to say that it didn't necessarily mean that she was descended from Quinlan & Khaleen.
• The Ace: Sharad Hett is treated as the greatest Jedi knight of his generation in the backstory. However, Hett resents this status because it conflicts with Jedi ideals, and he is only as zealous as he is because it distracts him from the feelings of depression caused by his separation from his family. Around 150 years later, his son has become the Dark Lord of the Sith.

• Batman Gambit: Jedi Master Ronhar Kim attempts to locate the unknown Sith Lord controlling the senate by testing every senator for midichlorians. Unfortunately, he explains this plan to Palpatine, who arranges for his death.
• Berserk Button: Don't call Aurra Sing a Jedi if you value your health.
• Big Bad: Each story arc had one, but Darth Sidious is obviously the overall threat.
• Bittersweet Ending: Quinlan, Tholme, and T'ra Saa survive Order 66 with the help of Villie and Chak, and they go into hiding together with Khaleen and her son with Quinlan in the caves of Kashyyyk, though they mourn the death of the Jedi (including Aayla) and the Republic. This is also chronologically the last time we see or hear from Quinlan (who showed up in a single Tales story, before the series was considered full C-level canon, that was written by Duursema), Villie (though an Infinities issue suggests he may still be around during A New Hope), Khaleen, and Corto, with T'ra Saa and Chak surviving into the Legacy era and Tholme having died at some point.
• Blatant Lies: The Devaronian Version is a pack of lies told by Villie regarding his involvement in the Yinchorri crisis, complete with the listeners pointing out the Fridge Logic and holes in his story.
• Bloodless Carnage: Generally the case, but notably averted in Outlander, which gets pretty bloody as Star Wars comic books go.
• Breakout Character: Quinlan Vos. Originally just a Dark Is Not Evil Jedi that stood out among the ensemble, he got more and more focus as the years went on. The final arc is about how he survived Order 66.
• The Caligula: Prince R'cardo Sooflie IX of Lannik in Emissaries to Malastare; the terrorist General Zug explains that holding him for ransom would be a good idea "if he were any other prince", but as it is, his people would probably pay the terrorists to keep him.
• Call-Forward: A lot of them.
  • When one of the Senate Guards is amazed at how knowledgeable Anakin is about machines, Obi-Wan says jokingly that sometimes it seems to him that Anakin is part machine himself.
  • When A'Sharad Hett, a human raised by a Tusken clan, finally abandons his habit of wearing a mask according to Tusken traditions, Anakin muses that he can't even imagine how anyone could live their life behind a mask.
• Captain Obvious: Lampshaded in this exchange:
  Adi Gallia: What?! They're shooting!
  Even Piell: Yes! One does not need the Force to see that, friend Gallia.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Khaleen doesn't like it when Aayla accompanies her and Quinlan on an undercover mission to The Wheel.
• The Chessmaster: Darth Sidious, Count Dooku and Master Tholme are particularly skilled at this.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Averted in the early issues when the Jedi wielded lightsabres of almost every possible hue, but played straight after the series became Republic and the standard green and blue for Jedi, red for Sith rule came into play.
• Combat Pragmatist: To track down an assassin, Tholme trained with an Anzati martial artist, and relies on guile and tricks as much as his skill with a lightsaber to win his battles.
• Continuity Nod
• Corrupt Church: The Ffib Priests in the 'Emissaries To Malastare'' story arc.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Iaco Stark in one of the earliest arcs and the Separatist leadership council in the Clone Wars storylines.
• Could Say It, But...: Tholme's former Anzati master Akku Seii is forbidden to tell him about their involvement or lack thereof in the Clone Wars, so he sends his dozen or so students against Tholme. Tholme easily defeats them, thanks him for the help, and leaves. Anzati tradition demands each master only have one student. By showing he has numerous students, Akku is telling Tholme that the other Anzati masters are otherwise engaged.
• Dark Is Not Evil: A major element of Quinlan Vos' character arc.
• A Day in the Limelight: The related Jedi miniseries focuses on an adventure of fan favourite Jedi characters such as Mace Windu, Aayla Secura and Shaak Ti.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Subverted. After his defeat by Aayla, Bok tells her his life is hers. When she tries to spare him anyway, he throws himself from a cliff to kill himself. This is revealed to have been a ruse he used to escape.
• Downer Ending: It is appropriate that the series which followed this one is called Dark Times.
• Dual Wielding: A'Sharad Hett, Asajj Ventress and Sora Bulq. The last one is a more realistic example as he employs a regular lightsaber and a short one.
• Ensemble Cast: One of the biggest in all of Star Wars, given its original anthology format.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Lyshaa to Shaak Ti.
• Evil Matriarch: Tinté Vos, leader of the Guardians and great-aunt of Quinlan Vos. Initially she is portrayed as an Obstructive Bureaucrat who wanted her nephew to leave the Jedi Order and assume his proper place in the Guardians. Later, she is revealed to have poisoned her brother to take his place and betrayed Quin's parents to the Anzati.
• Facial Horror: Gargon the Hutt from Emissaries of Malastare is missing the right side of his head after a wandrella bit it out. He's slowly regenerating it (with full regeneration expected in one-hundred years), but the wound heavily exposes his cranial cavity.
• "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner: Jedi Master Kim and his Clone commander get one when their army is surrounded by battle droids;
  Ronhar Kim: Take out as many of them as you can. Die well.
  Dox: Copy that.
• Fantastic Racism: The Gran senators who rule Malastare use the native Dug species as indentured servants, with the excuse that they have "freed them from savagery".
• Foregone Conclusion: Like with Star Wars work set in the Prequel Trilogy era, most of the Jedi will be killed during Order 66 and Emperor Palpatine will transform the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire despite the best efforts to stop this transition from ever happening.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: In Clone Wars Adventures #8 One of a Kind: Vianna D'Pow, Zeltron bounty hunter is revealed to have been bullied as a child because of her albinism - her fun-loving species mistreated her and "taught her how to hate" so she consideres holier-than-thou characters to be hypocritical. Her opponent, Obi-Wan, was unimpressed and remarked about the problems in her excuse; she was angry at him "psychoanalyzing" her.
• Friendly Enemy: Vilmarh Grahrk to Quinlan Vos, most of the time.

• Gate Guardian: Darkness features a prison planet where the people are being menaced by the vampire-like Anzat. The Jedi Order sends Quinlan Vos to investigate. At one point, he approaches one of the few remaining settlements on the planet and is shot at by the sentries (who he non-fatally subdues) due to their orders to kill anyone who approaches the gate after dark.
• Godzilla Threshold: Tholme refused to get cybernetic implants to repair his damaged leg for a long time to avoid being made something he was not. When he finally does in response to the Anzati training an army of Morgukai his companion notes how serious the situation must be.

• Handicapped Badass: Subverted by the Sand People proverb, "Whoever has two hands can hold a gaderffi." When a warrior loses a hand they choose to kill themselves rather than become a burden to the clan.
  Sharad Hett: "We have no bacta tanks here, Ki-Adi-Mundi."
• Harmless Villain: Vilmarh Grahrk, who thinks of himself as a criminal mastermind despite being a nuisance at best.
• He Knows Too Much: Ronhar Kim and his Padawan Tap-Nar-Pal come up with a plan to locate the hidden Sith lord in the Senate; test all of them for Midichlorians and see who has the highest level. Problem is, the man they pitch the plan to is Chancellor Palpatine, who promptly arranges a massive Separatist ambush that kills them both.
• Healing Factor: Fay's unique Force connection gives her one, though she loses it at the worst time when she transfers her Force reserves to Obi-Wan after being stabbed through the chest by Ventress. If not for having to aid Obi-Wan's escape that way, Fay would have been able to recover from even the wounds Ventress dealt her.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Quinlan Vos must be one of the best examples of all time.
• Heroic Sacrifice: A very frequent occurrence, probably starting with Micah Giett in the Jedi Council: Acts of War miniseries.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Kh'aris Fenn is promised the governance of his home planet Ryloth by Count Dooku but tries to steal the funds he was allocated to conquer it anyway.
• I Have Many Names: Sharad Hett gathered a collection of heroic titles during his time as a Jedi.
• Karma Houdini: Vilmarh Grarhk gets away with organising a war between the Jedi and the Yinchorri which leaves several Jedi dead on the orders of Darth Sidious because his help is necessary to Quinlan Vos when they get trapped on Kiffex.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Averted. One unnamed Jedi after Order 66 decided it would be a great idea to make a passionate speech decrying the Empire on the steps of the Jedi Temple, call out to his fellow Jedi to fight back, and charged the garrison of clone troops stationed there. He's immediately gunned down and one of his fellow Jedi, Kai Hudorra, notes that even if he and the other four Jedi hiding in the crowd had joined the fight they would have been killed just as easily.
• Long-Runners: From 1998 to 2005. With Dark Times officially keeping the Republic numbers in their indices, it became the longest running Star Wars series with 115 issues, compared to the original Marvel's 111 (108 issues and 3 annuals, counting the 2019 released 108 as part of the original run)
• Mage Marksman: Jedi Zule Xiss and Dass Jennir wield both lightsabers and blasters in combat during the Clone Wars and the aftermath of Order 66, respectively.
• Master Swordsman: While most of the Jedi featured in the series are handy with their lightsabers, characters who are specifically noted for their sword skills include Mace Windu, Sora Bulq and Count Dooku.
• Might Makes Right: The Yinchorri race live by the belief that they are entitled to anything they are strong enough to claim. The Jedi council discuss the trope, observing that the Yinchorri are essentially Tempting Fate with a philosophy that is, "often recanted upon meeting a more powerful adversary".
• Mundane Utility: Kai Hudorra's retirement plan after Order 66 is to use the Force to succeed as a gambler.
• Mythology Gag: An officer named Pellaeon appears briefly as the captain of a Republic star destroyer.
• Mutual Kill: Near the end of the battle of Jabiim, Aubrie Wyn, the only member of the Padawan Pack (except for Anakin Skywalker) still alive at this point is fatally shot by Alto Stratus. However, as she dies, she is able to plunge both of her lightsabers into Stratus’ chest.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The Anzati are martial artist space vampires who consume the "soup" (read: brain) of their victims. Volfe Karkko is one of these with the power of a Dark Jedi Master.
• P.O.V. Sequel: The Devaronian Version is Vilmarh Grahrk's embellished retelling of the Acts of War series.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: Sharad Hett, Jedi Knight and leader of the Sand People in the Outlander story arc.
  Hett: I'm a war leader, my friend, not a king.
• Psycho for Hire: Durge and Aurra Sing.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Supreme Chancellor Valorum. As seen in the films, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine pretends to be one as part of his public persona.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After surviving Order 66, Quinlan Vos initially vows to enact one of these against the Sith. However, he soon changes his mind when he realizes that his duty is to save a Wookiee village from the ruthless clone commander who threatened to raze it to draw him out.
• Rotating Arcs: While the subplots could overlap, after Twilight the comic settled into a pattern of Quinlan Vos arcs alternating with arcs featuring other Jedi.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Order 66 causes many surviving Jedi to simply leave, fading away into obscurity and letting the Empire do as it will.
  • During the ambush at Merson, Captain Pellaeon elects to take his surviving Star Destroyers and flee the system. However, this is a pragmatic choice rather than an act of cowardice; Master Kim's forces on the ground have nearly been wiped out, and his ships are under heavy attack in orbit, so sticking around would simply result in even more Republic losses. Kim agrees with the decision, but his Padawan doesn't.
• Ship Tease: In the early issues between Aayla and Quinlan. Also, between Aayla and Kit Fisto during the Clone Wars.
• Shout-Out: Frequently. For a single panel, for example, we meet a Jedi Master named Shon Kon Ray.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: Sora Bulq, who joined Count Dooku before returning the Jedi to try and turn his old friends and apprentices to the dark side.
• Space Elves: Fay. Who is awesome.
• The Spymaster: Tholme
• Stop Being Stereotypical: Twi'lek females are basically bred to be either pliable slaves or vapid arm candy. Aayla goes undercover as both at different times and is decidedly unhappy with how easy adopting these roles come to her.
• Story Arc: The whole storyline is divided into several distinct arcs. The main subplots are centred on Ki-Adi-Mundi, A'Sharad Hett and the Dark Woman in the first part of the series and Quinlan Vos and his supporting cast in the second.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Prince R'cardo Sooflie IX of Lannik in Emissaries to Malastare; when Master Even Piell introduces himself as the Jedi who foiled the assassination attempt on his parents, Sooflie complains that if he hadn't, Sooflie would have ascended to the throne earlier;
  • later, Sooflie dismisses the need for an escort back to his chambers before his departure; in his chambers, he is nearly killed by the Red Iaro terrorist group, before the Jedi burst in and rescue him. Piell embarks on a very gentle "I told you so", but Sooflie just runs out of the room, screaming for his entourage to get him off the planet as soon as possible.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Tholme tracks Dooku after Geonosis, but since Dooku is ten times the duelist he is he brings along Sora Bulq for support. Dooku defeats them both and corrupts Sora to the Dark Side, turning one of the Jedi's best warriors against them.
• War Hawk: Senator Ranulph Tarkin. He's such a war nut that he commissions an unsanctioned fleet, flies to Qotile, and promptly gets the force slaughtered, forcing Plo Koon to save his skin, and embarrassing the Senate with a pretty big scandal. To his credit, he realizes how out of his depth he is and tries to redeem his mistakes with a Heroic Sacrifice.
• War Is Hell: The Jabiim arc. Anakin and a group of Padawans crash-land in the middle of a warzone on scenic Jabiim, staying just one step ahead of Alto Stratus and his Jabiimi Nationalist Army. One by one, they're all picked off, save Anakin, and the last one to die manages to take Stratus with her. In the end, it was all for nothing. The battle was lost, and Anakin was forced to abandon the people of Jabiim, which earned him their hatred. And he's still trying to cope with Obi-Wan's supposed death.
• Worthy Opponent: How the Morgukai assassins perceive the Jedi Knights.
• Xanatos Gambit: In Jedi Council: Acts Of War, Darth Sidious manipulates the warlike Yinchorri into going to war with the Jedi Order. They are defeated in the end and the henchman responsible for organising the uprising is forced into hiding. When Darth Maul claims that they lost, Sidious explains that Maul's thinking is too narrow; Jedi deaths were never the objective and Sidious was going to benefit regardless of the outcome: the natural Yinchorri resistance to mind tricks could have caused trouble for his own plans; he used the Jedi to deal with them and managed to get several of them (including a Council member) killed in the process. Furthermore, Chancellor Valorum was forced to call in almost every favour of his political career to impose sanctions on them, which diminished his support in the senate.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Played straight for Sharad Hett, whose duty as a Jedi prevents him from visiting his homeworld. He considers leaving the Jedi Order so he can go back to his family only to discover that they were all killed by revolutionaries when he was away.

• You Killed My Father:
  • A minor example shows up in Emissaries to Malastare, where the sub-plot revolves around podracing. Elan Mak (whose real name is Kam Nale) plots to kill another racer named Aldar Beedo, an assassin who killed his crimelord father. In a later story set during the Clone Wars, Anakin teams up with the Tusken Jedi A'Sharad Hett, almost losing control of himself and killing him in retribution for the death of his mother at the hands of another Tusken tribe.
  • The Morgukai warrior Bok holds a grudge against Quinlan Vos and Aayla Secura after they kill his father, Tsyr.

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