Meeting The Knights Of Ren In Star Wars: The Rise Of Kylo Ren #2
by Josh Davison
Mild Spoilers Ahead
Young Ben Solo has fled from the new Jedi Temple to the safe harbor offered by Snoke. He is accepting of Ben and his doubts and Snoke offers Ben a new path. When Ben expresses interest in locating the Knights of Ren, Snoke encourages Ben to seek them out. Ben has met the Knights before and we learn of the first encounter between them. It was during an expedition by Luke and Ben to an ancient Jedi outpost on Elphrona. The Knights of Ren were hiding within.
Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren #2 finds Ben Solo’s doubts and fears being fostered by the insidious Snoke and this leads Ben down the path which leads to the Knights of Ren.
The Knights are a centerpiece in this narrative. They offer something that Ben Solo will need to become Kylo Ren and Snoke knows it. We still don’t learn their identities or what their end goal is beyond chaos and death. My hope is that this mini-series will shine more light on the Knights, as Rise of Skywalker didn’t quite provide much illumination in this regard.
Regardless, watching Ben’s fall from grace is still engrossing. Charles Soule has proven himself something of a Star Wars muse in the past couple of years. He gets the character of Ben Solo and it shows.
We do get to watch a pretty awesome fight scene involving Luke Skywalker, once again proving he is one of the greatest Jedi of all time.
Will Sliney provides some wonderful art to this book. He gives the book a highly-detailed aesthetic and Ben, Luke, and Snoke all resemble their on-screen versions quite well. The fight between Luke and the Knights looks awesome and the action flows quite well. Guru-eFX’s color work is vibrant and contrasts itself excellently.
Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren #2 is another engaging installment in Ben Solo’s origin story. We learn how he was led on the path to the Knights of Ren and why he felt drawn towards them. It’s a compelling read with great visuals and it earns a recommendation. Check this one out.
Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren #2 comes to us from writer Charles Soule, artist Will Sliney, color artist Guru-eFX, letterer VC’s Travis Lanham, cover artist Clayton Crain, and variant cover artist Jodie Muir.
Final Score: 8.5/10
