Published: February 11, 2026
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writers: Marc Guggenheim & Ahmed Best
Artists: Kieran McKeown & Laura Braga
Colours: Mike Atiyeh
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover Artist: Taurin Clarke
The synopsis;
JAR JAR BINKS RETURNS — CO-WRITTEN BY JAR JAR HIMSELF, AHMED BEST!
• JAR JAR faces the consequences of giving emergency powers to CHANCELLOR PALPATINE.
• What pivotal role does Jar Jar play in the formation of the REBEL ALLIANCE?
• Guest starring fan favorite JEDI KNIGHT KELLERAN Beq!
The review;
I don’t want to say I’m sulking but… I’m sulking. My favourite series ended and I was really enjoying it. Jedi Knights was just so good. So, when my editor asked if I wanted to review a one-shot I was like, do I? Then he mentioned it was co-written by Marc Guggenheim – writer of Jedi Knights – I did not think twice! Yes! Yes, I did! Guggenheim just has a way of writing Star Wars. The fact it is a Jar Jar Binks one-shot I think is great. Not only will it be a similar era to that of Jedi Knights (still sulking) but also, I was thirteen when episode one was released, I never had a problem with Jar Jar. I was horrified watching the second season of Light and Magic with Ahmed Best to see just how dark things became for him. I don’t want to focus on that because his is a story of light triumphing over darkness, of him proving those people wrong. He did it in the Clone Wars, he did it in The Mandalorian and he’s back doing it here with the incredible writer that is Marc Guggenheim. That’s quite a duo to tell what I’m sure is going to be an incredible story. Joining them to tell their tale are artists Kieron McKeown and Laura Braga, both who have done a smattering of work on Star Wars before. It’ll be interesting to see what they bring here. This story promises to bring two of Ahmed Best’s characters together, one a Jedi, one a senator, who knows where this could lead…
Before even the first panel starts, Best and Guggenheim are very quick to establish where this is placed, straight after Attack of the Clones. This might seem like a trivial thing but the amount of writers who leave readers wondering when things are set sometimes does more damage to the story than it should. With that quickly established it’s easy to progress with the story. There is a lot here to unpack for a single issue, and I’ll say this right from the beginning, this could have easily been unpacked into a mini-series. I understand why it wasn’t and because of that the pace of this issue is incredibly fast. Guggenheim has just come off of Jedi Knights; he is used to doing one-shot stories and doing them incredibly well. He brings that same talent here.
The two heroes here are of course Jar Jar and Beq. They are so different and yet as Palpatine will comment later in the story, so similar. The speech for Jar Jar is spot on; you can tell that Bets is helping to write this. You can hear the inflections in the voice as you are writing. The way he acts, he is far too trusting and seeing the good in people, when we -as the reader – know better. He also brings that sense of comedy, but it isn’t overplayed here. It gets the laugh but doesn’t distract from the story that is been told here and it is an important one.
Beq on the other hand, is the opposite. He doesn’t come in all loud and obvious. There’s not the groan you can hear from the crowd at the loud tourist stepping onto the planet, but the wow, he is so cool. His entrance just says it all. Wrapped in smoke and shadows, his hood hiding his face, he just screams coolness in every panel.
Both of these characters are captured perfectly by McKeown and Braga who really get the likeness of Best for Beq and Jar Jar. The details in all the panels are fantastic. But it is that atmosphere, the shadows that really add to the atmosphere that seeps out of the panels, that lend so much to the story, that really stay with you as a reader. It’s a great collaboration with the duo.
So, we have two opposite characters on a planet – called Urubai by the way – why as Star Wars fans do we care? Why has this story been written and why should we be reading it? Usually, a one-shot like this is to give us more insight into a character and there is some of that here. Yet this comic goes far, far beyond that. Like all masterful stories, this one relates to the real world. The premise is that Jar Jar has given emergency powers to Palpatine but that has a negative effect, mainly on a group on Urubai called the Unseen. They are working and literally been worked to an inch of their lives. The rich are getting richer, doing what they like while the workers are getting poorer, and poorer. All because of a leader in power who isn’t been kept in check. I don’t mean to hold the mirror up to our world here, but it doesn’t take a genius to work out the message that Best and Guggenheim are trying to get across here.
And to be fair it is and important message, one for us to reflect on about our own world, one large enough to carry the comic. But it is not enough for Bets and Guggenheim. They start talking about the fact that the planet is being mined so much that it is becoming unstable… this is starting to sound a lot like things from Andor. And as the story continue to the end, Guggenheim and Best begin to make suggestions that it is these two characters are the initial ones that start to set up a network. Is this the same network that leads to the first sparks of Rebellion? Because if it is, that is a huge, huge implication. We know that the Rebellion began in a few different places, and I think it would give Jar Jar a bit of redemption for having given Palpatine those powers if he helped to bring about his demise.
That also makes this such a monumental comic in terms of connecting so many things, the prequels, The Mandalorian, Andor, but the writers don’t stop there, because they also have to have a couple of cameos and quite a large Rebels reference to boot! This isn’t your typical one-shot and it isn’t something to offer a little insight into the characters of Beq and Jar Jar. This is something to make you stop and think. Not only about Star Wars and what is going on in that galaxy, but to stop and reflect about what is going on in our galaxy as well.
One-shots are always a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. However, they don’t usually go in, all guns a blazing, to the levels of depth, galaxy/lore changing that somehow Jar Jar has potentially done. But then again when you have Marc Guggenheim leading the charge with Ahmed Best, I can’t say I’m surprised. This man is just… oh he just gets it. This is going to be one of those one-shots fan are going to be talking about for a long time. The fact it links so much of Star Wars together is just the tip of the iceberg. This is an iceberg that has a lot under the surface. Best and Guggenheim have done a fantastic job, and I know I’m going to be rereading this as it’s a story that needs multiple reads to take it all in. With superb art from McKeown and Laura Braga, this is a must read. My only problem? It just makes me want Guggenheim back, to have more Jedi Knights, or just Jar Jar #2… I’m just going to go back to my sulking!
Availability;
Star Wars: Jar Jar #1 is a one-shot comic published by Marvel Comics. This issue retails at $4.99 and is available from comiXology and your local comic book store.
The post Comic Review: Jar Jar #1 (One-Shot) appeared first on Jedi News.
