By Zack Quaintance — In news that caught me off guard, I will be reading a new Star Wars comic soon, thanks to writer Christopher Cantwell being announced for Star Wars: Obi-Wan. The book features Obi-Wan Kenobi, obviously, and it’s a five-issue mini, first issue dropping in May with art by Ario Anindito. But I didn’t know any of that, not when I decided that I would be reading it; nope, I only knew title and writer, and I was all, okay fine I’m in.

Cantwell — for those who haven’t been paying attention — has done absolutely stellar work across comics over the past few years, first telling original stories through Dark Horse Comics’ Berger Books imprint — those books being She Could Fly and Everything — and then later with licensed IP for Marvel Comics, including Doctor Doom and the current Iron Man (more on all of that below). Those comics are all great, and I’m a huge fan of the work, which is strong if a bit unheralded. Anyway, I don’t usually read Star Wars comics (there’s just so much Star Wars these days), but I’m going to read this one and today I want to talk about why…

Cantwell’s work with other IP rules

I can go on and on about Cantwell’s strong original series (and I have elsewhere on this very website), but that’s inherently a different arena than working with an established character in a vast corporate-owned universe that has specific aesthetics, tones, and governing themes. Thing is though, Cantwell has written comics in the Marvel Universe that are also great, specifically the aforementioned Doctor Doom and Iron Man books (like, seriously, read that Iron Man comic, it’s fantastic).

It’s the Doctor Doom book, though, that makes me especially intrigued by this new Obi-Wan comic, the two characters sharing a relatively similar solitary man vibe, albeit for very different moral reasons. Obi-Wan, however, comes complete with built-in sympathy, whereas Doom has to connect with the audience through a misunderstood genius sort of place. Which actually brings me to the next point on today’s list…

Cantwell does sci-fi, but what if psychologically engaging?

It’s easy to get lost in laser beams and portals, losing character threads, but in his sci-fi work, Cantwell has been adept at having core stories that speak to relatable psychological challenges, things like losing the self, overcoming behavorial patterns, and getting outside of trauma. The last item, I think, is especially relevant to Star Wars: Obi-Wan, and Cantwell and collaborator Adam Gorham have just done it so well in their Vault Comics series, The Blue Flame, which by the way also does a dual narrative thing similar to what this book seems interested in doing with its late-stage Obi-Wan to young Obi-Wan journals structure.

Finally, this one quote from a promo interview…

I want to close on this, one quote from the promo interview that ran with the announcement on StarWars.com…

What I love about Obi-Wan is that he is so much a character of patience and fortitude. He holds out hope and keeps that flame going even in the darkest times. He lost his Master, his best friend…he’s experienced a lot of grief. But he pushes forward. He waits on Tatooine for decades. He is the Buddhist concept of kshanti — patience — personified. He is able to hold onto the glimmers of light amidst the cloak of darkness. Every issue thematically deals with his ability to do that as a person.

“He is the Buddhist concept of kshanti — patience — personified.” …great stuff, and it’s going to be spread out through a series that deals with the start and end of the character’s life. Let’s do it, let’s see how that all connects. I know I’m down.

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.