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The Star Wars galaxy is vast and the cast of supporting characters that has emerged in the spinoff books and comics is surely in the thousands by now. But one stands out more than almost any other: Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Before he made his on-screen live action debut, as played by Lars Mikkelsen in last year's Ahsoka series, the character was best known for a series of novels written by Timothy Zahn. Those books have since been retconned as "Legends", but Thrawn was such a memorable character that he was eventually made a part of the modern canon in the Star Wars: Rebels animated series.
Now Timothy Zahn is back with with Star Wars: Thrawn - Alliances, a three-issue comic co-written with Jody Houser and drawn by Pat Olliffe and Andrea Di Vito. The series is based on Zahn's 2018 novel of the same name, which focuses on the blue-skinned Chiss working alongside Darth Vader. And, as it turns out, the pair go way back.
Spoilers ahead for Star Wars: Thrawn - Alliances #1
The first issue takes place across two distinct time periods. In the present - actually two years before the first Star Wars film, A New Hope - Thrawn is summoned to a meeting with the Emperor and Vader. Palpatine has sensed a disturbance in the Force on the planet Batuu and he wants Thrawn and Vader to work together in solving this potential problem.
Thrawn has been there before - as, it turns out, has Vader. In fact, the pair crossed paths at the time and even worked together, though Thrawn doesn't yet know it. You see, at the time, Vader was still the Jedi known as Anakin Skywalker...
Their first encounter came about because of Padme Amidala. She's been drawn to Batuu by a message from one of her allies, Duja. Alas, by the time she arrives on the planet Duja has been killed, but Padme discovers a hidden message on her body. It's a recording that tells her of a Separatist factory on the planet Mokivj, which Padme immediately sets out to find.
This sends Anakin into a worried spin. He comes to Batuu searching for Padme, but instead encounters an alien spaceship piloted by one Commander Thrawn, officer of the Chiss Ascendancy. After some debate, the two join forces and head to Batuu - where they immediately run into trouble.
Back in the present, Thrawn - now a Grand Admiral in the Imperial Navy - and Darth Vader return to Batuu and are forced to work together once more, this time taking on some violent aliens known as Darshi. That part of the issue ends on a cliffhanger with Thrawn and Vader engaging the aliens in a cantina-fight - though we can't imagine the Darshi stand much of a chance against the combined might of the Dark Lord of the Sith and the Empire's greatest strategist!
Star Wars: Thrawn #1 is published January 24 by Marvel Comics.
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