Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm #1A, CGC 9.6 (23), Dark Horse '12

1st appearance of Xesh, Trill, Kora Ryo, and Rori Fenn. Jan Duursema regular cover (Cover A).

Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm #1 opens one of Dark Horse Comics' most ambitious Star Wars projects: a story set 25,000 years before the Battle of Yavin, at the earliest origins of the Jedi order on Tython. Written by John Ostrander with art and cover by Jan Duursema, the issue introduces the Je'daii order, warrior monks who maintain a balance between the light and dark sides of the Force long before the Republic or the Sith wars. The setting is a genuine departure for Star Wars comics, world-building from the ground up in an era untouched by the franchise's familiar conflicts.

This issue marks the first appearances of Xesh, Trill, Kora Ryo, and Rori Fenn, characters specific to the Dawn of the Jedi era. Xesh in particular anchors the Force Storm arc as the central antagonist, a Force Hound serving the Rakata Infinite Empire whose arrival on Tython sets the series' conflict in motion. The Jan Duursema regular cover, Cover A, is the standard first-printing edition; the book later saw additional printings, making the first-print graded copy the one collectors track.

This copy grades CGC 9.6, certified under number 3834418023. At that grade the slab presents a near-perfect example of the issue. Duursema's line work on Tython and its Je'daii characters defined the visual identity of the entire Dawn of the Jedi run, and her cover work here is representative of her long collaboration with Ostrander on the Star Wars Legends universe at Dark Horse.