'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' Prequel Comic Fills Timeline After 'The Last Jedi,' Teaches Rey New Jedi Tricks
Marvel's upcoming comic book mini-series Star Wars: Allegiance fills in the timeline between The Last Jedi and the upcoming The Rise of Skywalker. New pages previews of the upcoming four-issue series reveal Rey expanding her repertoire of Jedi combat skills, following in Luke Skywalker's footsteps by taking on a new challenge for the Jedi beginner.
All four Allegiance covers were previously revealed, combining to form a single image, shown on banners at this year's San Diego Comic-Con.
Rey is strong with the Force, which enabled her to take on a wounded Kylo Ren during a duel on Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens. Her training with Luke in The Last Jedi leads to other signature accomplishments on the path to Jedi knighthood, including lifting lots of rocks and getting swatted with a stick by a cranky master. But by the end of the original Star Wars trilogy, Luke had overcome obstacles Rey has yet to encounter, most notably in his multiple run-ins with alien monsters, including a Wampa on Hoth and Jabba the Hutt's pet Rancor, which Luke defeated in Return of the Jedi.
A preview page from Allegiance gives Rey her own Rancor, in a fight complicated by a zero-oxygen environment, requiring a breather that looks very similar to the Roamer-6 breath masks stored aboard the Millennium Falcon.
Another preview page from Allegiance shows Finn surviving another Star Wars rite of passage: getting punched in a cantina.
Other preview pages from Star Wars: Allegiance center General Leia, who accompanies Rey to an unknown planet, which might be Mon Cala, home planet of the Mon Calamari Rebel leader Admiral Ackbar (who died in The Last Jedi).
The official description for Star Wars: Allegiance describes the Rebels as still on the run: "Running low on options, Leia decides to reach out to her former allies, the Mon Calamari, whose shipyards once powered the Rebel Alliance."
With so little known about the plot of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, it's not yet known exactly how the plot will relate to events in the four-issue prequel comic. Recent leaks and rumors suggest The Rise of Skywalker may, once again, revise Rey's origin story, while director Kevin Smith, who visited the set, claims the last shot of the movie will "melt your mind." The Rise of Skywalker is also expected to properly introduce the Knights of Ren — lieutenants of Kylo, previously only seen in a brief flashback in The Force Awakens.
Star Wars: Allegiance is written by Ethan Sacks with art by Luke Ross. The first issue will debut on October 9. The Rise of Skywalker will be in theaters December 20.
