Oh man. Really? With Disney purchasing Star Wars and sweeping the prequels under the rug, most assumed that annoying racist caricature and perpetual punchline Jar Jar Binks was history. But now he’s back with his own story in this January’s Star Wars: Age of Republic Special #1, written by Chip Zdarsky.
The one-shot comic promises to give us new tales for characters from the prequel era, with the cover featuring Mace Windu, Jar Jar Binks, Clone Captain Rex and Asajj Ventress (please correct me if I’m wrong on those last two). While no one’s going to complain about seeing the further adventures of Windu or Ventress, I doubt the same adulation will greet the return of Binks.
Then again, perhaps we’ll finally learn what he was up to during the OT era. Though he’s most famous for his appearance in The Phantom Menace, Jar Jar went on to become a junior representative for Naboo on the Galactic Senate alongside Padme Amidala. But, in true Jar Jar fashion, he completely screwed that up in a dramatic way, as he was convinced by Palpatine to propose emergency powers that ended up paving the way for the Empire to take over the galaxy.
So, all those killed by the Empire (including the entire planet of Alderaan)? Their blood’s on your hands, Jar Jar! This is something the Star Wars universe at large seemed to recognize, too, as his most recent appearance in the novel Aftermath: Empire’s End found him relegated to being a street clown on Naboo, ostracized by both the Gungans and the Naboo for his part in helping the Empire rise to power.
But now he’s back, and hopefully we’ll get a look at him miserably watching the Empire rise to power and regretting the consequences of his actions, possibly letting out a plaintive “Meesa installeda fascist state…” before his pants fall down hilariously. Oh, that Jar Jar.
