Charles Soule’s ‘Crimson Reign’ Winds Down, While Unveiling a ‘Hidden Empire’

In the midst of the excitement about the Obi-Wan Kenobi finale, the final issue of Marvel’s Star Wars: Crimson Reign launched, bringing a close to Charles Soule’s impressive five-issue Qi’ra series. While there are still tie-in issues Marvel’s Star Wars: Darth Vader and Doctor Aphra to look forward to later this month, this marks the end of Star Wars’ deep dive into a point in Qi’ra’s complicated history. 

Issue #5, “The Scarlet Queen,” opens at the Imperial Palace on Coruscant as Darth Vader reports to Emperor Palpatine about the series of incidents that they have run into following their failed attempt to take seize Han Solo. Palpatine is quick to cast judgment on Vader for his failures, keeping him under his thumb by appeasing Darth Vader’s need to succeed. After the shadowy Director Barsha delivers his reports about the conflict within the criminal syndicate, Darth Vader makes an observation about his close encounter with Qi’ra. Her fighting style reminded him of someone else’s: Palpatine. The Emperor is offended by the perceived accusation, but Vader quickly clarifies that he doesn’t believe Qi’ra was trained by Palpatine, he believes she was trained by Darth Maul. 

Across the galaxy, Qi’ra is continuing to push forward with her schemes, this time sending the Archivist and the Knights of Ren to a frankly terrifying cavern filled with ghastly stone carvings of screaming Zabraks. In order for them to activate the giants, they have to trigger the Screaming Key, which they previously stole from Darth Vader, which proves to be more dangerous than anticipated. But things are getting more treacherous for everyone working alongside Qi’ra, as Palpatine paints a target on their back, sending the Empire after Qi’ra and her associates. Qi’ra’s plan to is to enlist everyone to create chaos, disruptions, and destruction to combat Palpatine’s plans to destroy everything she has done to plot against him and the Empire. With this, she announces her own “hidden empire” which she intends to use to bring an end to Palpatine and the Empire. 

The final page of Crimson Reign reveals that the story that began in War of the Bounty Hunters has not yet met its end, with the announcement that Qi’ra and her game of power will return in The Hidden Empire in October of this year. Like with Obi-Wan Kenobi, this is a story that exists within an already well-defined area of storytelling, leaving Soule with only a little wiggle room to create a riveting new tale for Qi’ra, and he manages to pull it off exceptionally well. Since Solo: A Star Wars Story premiered, fans have been eager for more stories featuring Qi’ra and while we may not have Emilia Clarke back on our screens, this series has given fans a lot of what they wanted. 

Across publishing, the comics and novels have been where Star Wars has really been excelling with exploring new characters and genres, and Crimson Reign has done much the same. The final issue utilizes elements of horror as the Knights of Ren and the Archivist descend into the creepy cavern, while Soule also delivers a more tender moment between Qi’ra and Cadeliah, showing subtle growth for Qi’ra who has been a character who has always focused on her own best interests. 

The Knights of Ren have been an exciting addition to the struggle between the crime syndicates, particularly because Soule was the architect behind expanding their own background in The Rise of Kylo Ren. With their reintroduction in Crimson Reign, we got to see them act out against Darth Vader and the Empire, which sets up some intrigue down the road when they bring Ben Solo into their fold, considering how he idolized his grandfather and wanted to finish what he began. While it may not be something explored in this series, or something that will ever be explored, but it helps to continue to strengthen the bonds between stories and eras. 

The team behind Crimson Reign, including Soule and the illustrator Steven Cumming, as well as Victor Olazaba, Guru-eFX, Travis Lanham, and Leinil Francis Yu and Sunny Gho deserve a round of applause for delivering a visually stunning issue, alongside a page-turning storyline that kept audiences hooked throughout the series and across the crossover issues.