Comic Review - It's Clone Force 99 vs. Embo in "Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories - The Bad Batch: Ghost Agents" #2
Today saw the release of the second issue in Dark Horse Comics’ new miniseries Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories - The Bad Batch: Ghost Agents, and below are my brief recap and thoughts on this installment.
Hyperspace Stories - The Bad Batch: Ghost Agents #2 begins in the Akkadese Maelstrom in the Kessel sector, where Wrecker is nauseated by the turbulence as the Marauder careens toward its destination. Finally arriving on Kessel in pursuit of their prey, the members of Clone Force 99 peer over a canyon’s edge and spot the thief from the previous issue (it’s been more than a month and a half since that was released, so I’m struggling to remember what it was exactly that this person stole– could have used a text-crawl recap here as a reminder) talking with a representative of the Pyke syndicate. A deal is struck and the thief is permitted to board a Pyke shuttle and fly away, but not before the Bad Batch short-circuits a spice converter, causing an explosion as a distraction.
Along the way they also encounter Embo, the Kyuzo bounty hunter from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, who thanks Clone Force 99 for helping him get closer to his quarry and then spring into action attempting to capture the thief for himself. The thief (who it’s become pretty obvious is going to be revealed as Dathomorian Nightsister Asajj Ventress in a later issue) strikes back defensively against Embo and his anooba Marrok, eventually managing to escape in the shuttle, but with Hunter having stowed away by jumping aboard the ramp before it closes. Inside the hull of the ship, we and Hunter watch along as the thief murders all the Pykes aboard with her familiar-looking lightsaber when they don’t agree to take her into hyperspace.
Having witnessed this massacre, Hunter reports back to the other members of the Bad Batch that their problems just got a whole lot worse, and that serves as the cliffhanger ending to this second issue. I’d say this miniseries is just okay so far, though I remain curious to see where it goes from here. Unfortunately its mysteries (including the one surrounding the identity of the thief) are fairly obvious to decipher, and I’d say the writing by Michael Moreci is merely serviceable. There were also a few moments in this issue where I had to re-read through the same few panels multiple times in order to figure out what was supposed to be going on, and I think that comes down to some clunky choreography on the part of artist Reese Hannigan. Like I said, there’s nothing here that really stands out to me as exemplary when it comes to Star Wars comics just yet, but I’ll keep an open mind as we wait for the final three issues to be released.
Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories - The Bad Batch: Ghost Agents #2 is available now wherever comic books are sold.