After making his canon debut in Star Wars Rebels, Thrawn has since had lots more appearances and stories told. This 2018 comic series written by Jody Houser is an adaptation of the first canon Thrawn novel by Timothy Zahn. The story spans a long period of time between Thrawn’s first days with the Empire soon after the Clone Wars until presumably not long before he appears in Star Wars Rebels. The art by Luke Ross is a style I really like and does plenty for all of Thrawn’s really cool dialogue and his awesome expressions!
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Savage Thrawn
Thrawn is found by the Empire on a distant planet where he has apparently been exiled. He has awesome death metal hair and is brought before the Emperor himself.
Where he secures some job security with a weighty name drop.
Spaceism
On his fast track to career success Thrawn’s cadet days are filled with rampant bullying and racism by his fellow Imperials-to-be. As we all know, non-humans are not looked upon fondly in the Empire.
Thrawn learns much about the bigotry from his fellow cadet/aide/translator/bff Eli Vanto. Eli is a wonderful character throughout the story who is able to teach Thrawn about as much as he is able to learn from him!
Also I will never not talk about the greatness of the Imperial Cadet uniform…
Which Axel has outgrown for the second time.
Definitions of Success
As Thrawn moves swiftly up the ranks there are a few occasions where the Empire does not share his optimistic appraisal of the situation. Thrawn is berated for things like putting the lives of a crew above recovery of the cargo. He starts to see where exactly the Empire’s priorities lie.
Insubordination
Thrawn’s mission outlook and priorities along with his lack of political savvy continue to be the one weakness of his rise in the ranks.
Arihnda Pryce
A young Arihnda Pryce begins her political career here on Coruscant. While this series is an adaptation of a novel, getting an extra bit of that visualization for Pryce gives her story a whole new level of enjoyment. Also watching the seeds of that shady Governor from Star Wars Rebels is quite the ride.
While Thrawn may lack an understanding of politics, Pryce doesn’t have such weaknesses.
Patience
While most of the other military minds of the Empire solve problems by simple math, Thrawn’s measured approach is not always taken with the respect it should be. However, once the chips are down and Thrawn’s plans are ready to be utilized the results speak for themselves.
Commodore Unleashed
If you are familiar with Thrawn and his strategic genius then you won’t be surprised when he is in command.
Rebel Cell
Governor Pryce seems to have an issue on Lothal concerning a small cell of rebels.
I wonder who they are?…
72 HOURS REMAIN
The crossover we never knew we needed.
I just like that this particular panel makes me think that the Emperor himself has somehow acquired Majora’s Mask…
Grand Admiral
Palpatine congratulates his new Grand Admiral and Thrawn lets it be known he knows there are secret projects he is curious about.
Hope they don’t interfere with his TIE Defender program in any way…
Aralani
Thrawn’s friend since the beginning is sent to join with Thrawn’s people in the Chiss Ascendancy. Which does get explored a bit further in future books.
SPOILERS OVER!
The Bigger Picture
This was a wonderful adaptation and I really hope that we get more adaptations like this. Star Wars books are some of my favorite stories but adding in some of the visual storytelling gives us more to enjoy. Not to mention, as a costumer, these things are extremely helpful! Many times if I like a character from a book it’s really difficult to build a costume off of descriptive text. It’s so nice that if anyone who read the novel wanted to build a young Pryce now they have a great source of inspiration and reference!
(MAYBE THEY’LL DO A DARK DISCIPLE COMIC)
This is a must-read for Thrawn fans and anyone looking for a good Imperial story! While things get complicated as they always do with Thrawn, we can always trust him with a good payoff!
-Sal P.
The Rogue Rebels 