The Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda were heard but not seen in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. But in a new comic book adaptation, the pair of venerable Jedi are visible to Rey in her chockablock referential Force vision.
Marvel’s ongoing comic book adaptation of The Force Awakens has so far caused very little deviation from its cinematic source material, though atheistically, as a comic, it’s able to do things the film couldn’t. And one of things is to show us Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda appearing to Rey in Maz Katana’s castle on the planet Takodana. While this isn’t exactly a continuity-altering event, it does give us a glimpse into an alternate version of the film: Obi-Wan and Yoda show up in a little more physical sense. This comic adaptation is “written” by Star Wars novelist Chuck Wendig, meaning there isn’t a lot of new plot-stuff in here. But artist Luke Ross seems to have been given more freedom in the visuals.
Ben and Yoda say "hey" to Rey.
Science fiction films — and Star Wars in particular — have a long history of their comic book adaptations creating various continuity discrepancies, new scenes, or completely different visual decisions. Marvel’s original adaptation of the first Star Wars film has a widely different tone than the film, with loads of alternate dialogue, a deleted scene with Luke hanging out with Biggs, and Obi-Wan Kenobi wielding a red lightsaber. While a lot of those differences were connected to the comic being adapted while the film was still in production (a common practice back then) even more contemporary Star Wars comic adaptations have changed or added things not present in the films. Dark Horse Comics’s version of Revenge of the Sith even included a the presence of a different Jedi ghost not seen in that film: Qui-Gon Jinn!
Star Wars: The Force Awakens issue #4 — complete with Yoda and Obi-Wan’s shadowy silhouettes — hits comic book shelves next week, on September 14.
