Star Wars: The Fall of Kylo Ren #1 Review
Star Wars: The Fall of Kylo Ren is the latest run following Kylo Ren by Charles Soule, following on from The Rise of Kylo Ren, which explored Kylo’s relationship with the Dark Side and how he was seduced by Snoke, and The Legacy of Vader which follows Kylo as he traces the life of his grandfather, Darth Vader. These two books take place in the lead up to the Sequel Trilogy and in the immediate aftermath of The Last Jedi respectively.
The Fall of Kylo Ren picks up right before the 9th film in the Skywalker Saga, The Rise of Skywalker. Kylo Ren has recently taken up the title of Supreme Leader of the First Order after killing his master during the events of The Last Jedi, having believed he has destroyed the Resistance. This first issue see Kylo reuniting with his main fleet, struggling to gain control of the Hetzal Prime system. The First Order fleets are being boarded by local militia group and are having a hard time recovering. This is where we see Kylo get his comic book version of the Skywalker Hallway Fight. Now, compared to Vader in Rogue One, or Luke in The Mandalorian, this one is nothing to write home about, but I still appreciate the homage.
This leads to the title page of the book. That reads “The young tyrant’s quest for power is at its apex but with his renewed pride come… The Fall Of Kylo Ren” whether this is meant to be a reference or not is neither here nor there, but this line does remind me a lot of the final encounter of Count Dooku and Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith where Anakin, in attempting to intimidate Dooku, says that his powers have doubled since last they met. Dukoo merely brushes him off, saying “Twice the pride, Double the fall.” Which is not only true about Anakin, but also himself in many ways, especially considering this is his last duel.
We pick back up with Kylo meeting General Hux and Admiral Pryde, whose bickering seems to be creating a leadership challenge among the rank and file of their fleets. Kylo is uninterested in their petty fights and only interested in solving the problem of getting past the shield protecting this system. Hux’s plan is to use the cannon on his dreadnought to destroy the shielding device to get to the surface of the planet and commandeer their means of production. When he attempts this, the cannon malfunctions. General Pryde then suggests copying what the rebels did on Scarif to get through, which is using bombers to temporarily shut down the shield generator so that fighters can sneak through in the window before it resets. This works instantly and the First Order wins the day. Kylo promotes Pryde to second in command only under himself. We then see Kylo and Pryde discuss the set up and how sabotaging Hux worked perfectly to their advantage.
The last we see of Kylo in this issue is him monologuing to the destroyed helmet of Darth Vader but this time it speaks back to him. The voice of Vader tells him that he will be taking watch over him from now on. Now, we know this is actually the corpse/consciousness of Emperor Palpatine on Exegol using the guise of Vader to trick Kylo.
The issue concludes with the remnants of the fleet from Hetzal Prime connecting with what is left of the Resistance fleet. I will say this issue leaves a bit to be desired and feels more like a teaser that would be given on Free Comic Book Day or a #0 that would be an optional prequel issue to kick off a greater story in the first issue.
What I enjoyed about the previous books from Soule is his voice for Kylo. He seems to be able to get in the head of this character easily and write him well. This does continue here but with a bit of a twist. Rather than the belligerent, rage-filled character we’re used to, Kylo is much more stoic. Now, those who know the character know that this doesn’t mean he’s emotionally regulated. His rage seems more controlled; this version of Kylo does seem more like a leader. Even the way he speaks is more formal and much less rash that he’s been in the past. It does not feel dissimilar to the change in tone between Anakin’s way of speaking to Vader’s.
This first issue of The Fall of Kylo Ren didn’t grab me the way I had hoped but I’d likely pick this up in trade to see where the story takes Kylo Ren. He’s one of my favorite characters from the Sequel Trilogy and I’m more than happy to get more time with him.
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