Comic Info
Comic Name: Star Wars: Kanan
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Greg Weisman
Artist: Pepe Larraz/Jacopo Camagni
# of Issues: 6
Release Date: 2015
Star Wars: Kanan #1 Variant
Reprints Star Wars: Kanan #1-6 (June 2015-November 2015). When Order 66 is issued, Caleb Dume finds himself with a murdered master and on the run from the Clone Troopers he thought were his friends. Wanted by the Empire, Caleb learns that the Jedi are believed to have turned against the people…and Caleb must start a new life. Caleb Dume is dead and Kanan Jarrus is born.
Written by Greg Weisman, Star Wars: Kanan Volume 1: The Last Padawan is a Marvel Comics Star Wars spin-off title. The series involves characters created for the animated TV series Star Wars Rebels and features art by Pepe Larraz and Jacopo Camagni.
I really enjoyed Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels and thought about how much I would have loved them if they had existed when I was a kid. With the Marvel relaunch of Marvel working to make many of these stories canon, visiting a canon telling Kanan Jarrus’s backstory is a fun trip.
Star Wars Rebels would dip in and out of Kanan’s past, but it never really presented a clear path for the character. Here we see how he survived the Jedi slaughter and became a pirate. Though Star Wars lore indicates that “all the Jedi were slaughtered”, recent books and movies show that it has been retconned to not be true. With Kanan’s survival, it makes me wish to see other Padawan who might have been able to slip away before Order 66 (even if this is called the Last Padawan).
Star Wars: Kanan #6
The story also has a lot of potential because of how Jedi are trained. It is assumed that Kanan was taken from his family and doesn’t really know a life outside of the Jedi temple and his training. While this volume of the series doesn’t focus on how Kanan had to pick up these survival and “real life” skills, I could see more early adventures of Kanan as he gets his feet as a smuggler and pirate.
Unfortunately, Kanan as a continuing series is rather short lived. This volume represents half of the full run despite there being a lot of opportunities for Kanan or even the Rebels of the Ghost. Marvel keeps pumping out Star Wars titles, and Star Wars Rebels popularity continues to grow among fans despite the series ending, so hopefully, Kanan will get another series (or even a new and modern version of Star Wars Tales with stories from all over the Star Wars Universe). Star Wars: Kanan 1: The Last Padawan is followed by Star Wars: Kanan 2: First Blood.
Related Links:
Star Wars: Kanan 2: First Blood
