Obi-Wan & Anakin #4 Review

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The Open & Closed put all their cards on the table in Obi-Wan & Anakin #4.

Warning: this article contains spoilers for Obi-Wan & Anakin #4. 

Obi-Wan & Anakin #4

Writer: Charles Soule | Artist/Cover Artist: Marco Checchetto | Colors: Andres Mossa | Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

 Obi-Wan and Anakin’s adventure across the war torn world of Carnelion IV continues. This issue opens with Mother Pran and Kolara fleeing from a crashing airship. Anakin has been tied up and is their prisoner aboard a glider as the airship carrying Obi-Wan and Grecker crashes to the Celadon Sea. Obi-Wan and Grecker survive the crash and become surrounded by savage, semi-sentient beings on the surface. Grecker desperately beseeches Obi-Wan to kill the beasts and argues that they are incapable of understanding Obi-Wan’s pleas that they not engage in a fight. Obi-Wan improvises and demonstrates why he is a Jedi. He finds a way to communicate. Rather than attack the “beasts,” as Grecker calls them, he demonstrates his destructive capability by destroying a rock with his lightsaber. The beasts get the idea and leave.

Grecker makes a weak attempt to console Obi-Wan over the loss of Anakin. His point is that Anakin is merely a child and Mother Pran and Kolara, as members of the “Open,” will take him away to one of their many fortresses that they have burrowed into the mountains. Obi-Wan cannot expect to see Anakin again. Obi-Wan is having none of it. Despite the difficulties that Anakin presents him, Obi-Wan still has faith in his Padawan. He trusts that Anakin knows the location of the beacon, and that he will join Obi-Wan there. Grecker agrees to continue the journey across the Celadon sea, but pauses to retrieve breathing masks necessary to survive the toxic atmosphere. He claims the war that ravaged Carnelion IV was the fault of the Open, and that they are liars that can be trusted. Amongst the ruins of what appears to be a major city, Obi-Wan asks Grecker if it really matters at this point. This has been a minor theme in this series. What does it matter who started a war and who retaliated if in the end everything is destroyed?

Mother Pran and Kolara take Anakin to the Fortress-Home of the Open. As Grecker described it, it is a fortress burrowed into the side of a mountain stocked with all sorts of military hardware. They present him to their people as a “Skygift.” In the previous issue, Anakin repaired an orb that Mother Pran possessed. As it turns out, this orb was able to power some sort of a war machine or droid. The other members of the Open immediately realize that with Anakin’s talents he is indeed a Skygift, and they have the opportunity to fix their war machines and destroy the Closed.

The story shifts to a flashback in which Anakin is meeting with Chancellor Palpatine. The pair have returned to Palpatine’s Senatorial chambers after visiting the cantina in the prior issue. Anakin is reflecting on what they learned of the corrupt Senators, but is dismayed to learn from Palpatine that there is not much that can be done to combat the corruption. It would be politically dangerous for Palpatine to pursue any allegations against Senator Colandrus, and the Jedi cannot get involved because they report to the Senate. Palpatine professes that he does not wish to become a dictator, and therefore, finding a resolution to this issue is problematic. Palpatine continues to probe Anakin for his thoughts on the Jedi Order and the condition of the Republic. When he asks Anakin if he is happy with his life at the Jedi Temple, Anakin responds that he is, and becoming a Jedi was all he ever wanted. However, it doesn’t appear that Palpatine believes his young friend. He offers him a place in his offices once Anakin has completed his training.

Later, Anakin approaches Obi-Wan and explains his desire to leave the Order. Palpatine’s words have sunk in. Anakin cannot abide suffering. He feels compelled to do something about it. However, the political situation of the Jedi and the Republic make taking action difficult at best. Anakin cannot tolerate being constrained. He feels the galaxy calling to him. He must act. He believes he can do something now. If the Jedi truly want him, then they can wait. Perhaps one day he could return to the Jedi Order. He hands his lightsaber over to Obi-Wan, who is very reluctant to accept it. Of course, this isn’t the last time that Anakin will consider leaving the Jedi Order. Later, once Padme Amidala re-enters his life, and they begin to form a life together, Anakin contemplates leaving the Order again.  The difference is that Anakin was compelled to remain with the Order until he was convinced that the Jedi were not the best means to protect his wife.

Obi-Wan and Grecker finally arrive at the location of the beacon that summoned the Jedi. Obi-Wan confronts Grecker. He isn’t a fool, and he knows that Mother Pran and Grecker agreed to work together once they realized Obi-Wan was headed to this location. He suspects Grecker knows what Obi-Wan will find here. Their conversation is interrupted by beasts bearing a resemblance to dragons. As Obi-Wan fights them off, Grecker uses the distraction to slip into a building. An unidentified figure wearing a hood and mask tells Grecker to get the Jedi, but Grecker refuses and draws a gun on him. However, this unidentified figure is quicker on the draw and shoots Grecker down.

Obi-Wan arrives and asks what has happened. The stranger replies that he has been waiting for the Jedi and reveals himself to be Sera (note: it was unclear to me from the art whether Sera is a man or a woman, and although I have used masculine pronouns to describe Sera, it is only out of efficiency’s sake and not out of an intended bias because my initial reaction was that Sera was a man). It may be coincidence, but while wearing a mask, Sera’s appearance somewhat resembles that of Kylo Ren. He has been collecting artifacts from the world that has been ravaged and sending up the kites that were seen in the previous issue in an attempt to find someone that could appreciate what they represent. He summoned the Jedi in the hopes of finding someone that could finish his work as he has become old. He doesn’t believe he has much time left. Obi-Wan doubts all of this is necessary because he believes the Open and Closed could be united under Sera. To this, Sera scoffs. He knows that they only want him dead. The Open and Closed are only interested in destroying one another.

Despite his distrust of her, Mother Pran gets just enough information out of Anakin to figure out where the signal was coming from. Anakin sees through her lies that she is going to try to save Obi-Wan, but gives up the location of the beacon. He desires to rescue Obi-Wan, but Mother Pran leaves him tied up at their fortress under the guard of Kolara as she takes their reactivated war machines to the beacon, where this issue concludes.

With respect to the events on Carnelion IV, this issue moves the series closer to its conclusion, but the overall story seems to have lost some momentum. Obi-Wan & Anakin spent the previous three issues travelling across the planet. The most significant event for this storyline occurred in the previous issue occurred when Mother Pran betrayed them and abducted Anakin before opening firing on the airship. While the story continues to develop in this issue, the reveal of the source of the beacon is not quite the payoff one could have hoped for. Grecker’s death, if he is indeed dead, was not as shocking as much as it was abrupt. However, that the Open and the Closed are both as bad and misguided as they originally appeared in the first issue of this series is somewhat surprising. The story isn’t concerned with the source of their conflict but only that they are past redemption. One can’t help but juxtapose the inhabitants of Carnelion IV with Anakin. One day in the future, much of the galaxy will believe him to be beyond redemption too. However, his son will have faith that he can return to the light. Is it possible that Sera once had the same faith in the Carnelions? Is it possible that Obi-Wan, Anakin, or somebody else might inherit that mantle?

The more interesting story is Palpatine’s growing influence over Anakin. This is where Soule’s writing really shines. Palpatine has subtly manipulated Anakin into not only seeing the injustice in the galaxy around him, but making him further feel the hopelessness of the situation. At this point, the Chancellor isn’t trying to make Anakin distrust the Jedi so much as distrust the system. The Jedi have been painted as ineffective. They may have a comfortable life in their temple, but the self-proclaimed guardians of peace and justice are helpless to end the corruption around them. The corruption lies with the very political body to whom they report. Palpatine presents a vulnerability to Anakin: frustration. He is frustrated that he cannot do anything to right the wrongs. Anakin cannot help himself. He has to try to help, and as a result, he is falling further and further under the influence of Palpatine. This is the story that makes this series such a compelling read.

Favorite Panel:

The favorite panel from this issue came down to two. First, I considered a panel in which Anakin is informing Obi-Wan of his decision to leave the Jedi Order. I appreciate the earnestness of this part of the story. Anakin has settled on a course of action. He believes he is leaving to pursue a higher calling in a way the Jedi cannot. Anakin looks content with his decision, but I think I see a hint of regret in Anakin’s eyes. I’m putting that panel here as an honorable mention.

The panel I chose for the favorite panel of the week does not carry as much narrative weight. However, it captured my imagination. Sera explains to Obi-Wan that he activated the beacon because he needed someone younger to carry on his work. He knows the power of the Jedi from a hologram that he recovered. He shows it to Obi-Wan and a Jedi in a combat pose appears. The identity of this Jedi is shrouded under a cloak. However, it was enough to convince Sera that the Jedi could do what he could not. This panel also raises other questions that are left unanswered. First, what were the Jedi doing on Carnelion IV in the first place? Second, did they play a part in the rift between the Open and the Closed? Were they powerless to stop it? If there were Jedi on Carnelion IV, why is the planet such a mystery to the Jedi now? There are a lot of possibilities with this panel, and it is the favorite of this issue.