Yesterday saw the release of issue #39 of Volume III of Marvel Comics’ ongoing Lucasfilm-licensed title Star Wars: Darth Vader, and below are my brief recap and thoughts on this installment.
Has there been some sort of edict at Marvel Comics that the ongoing Star Wars titles (which are currently set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) need to incorporate more prequel-era characters and iconography? I guess it wouldn’t surprise me too much, as the generation that grew up on the prequels are now full-fledged adults who embrace those movies far more than I likely ever will. Either way, prequel fans will be pleased to pick up recent issues of Star Wars: Bounty Hunters or Star Wars: Darth Vader, the latter of which features a battle between the Dark Lord of the Sith and an Octuptarra tri-droid (first seen in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith) in this month’s issue. Darth Vader #39 begins on the planet Mustafar– another prequel-introduced location– where the title character has just cut down an army of Scourge-possessed droids… by the way, this is a tie-in with the Star Wars: Dark Droids crossover event that’s going on right now. And the few droids that remain on Vader’s side are searching for their compatriot Zed, who unbeknownst to them has also been taken over by the evil A.I. known as the Scourge. Soon Zed shows up and reveals his true corrupted nature, unleashing the Octuptarra droid on Vader and his allies.
So the remainder of this issue is a big battle sequence between Vader and the Octuptarra in the lava flats of Mustafar, with Gee-Ninety, Ought-Six, and Arex doing their best to pitch in during the fight. The problem is that Vader still doesn’t have complete, precise control over his Force abilities, but when the friendly droids figure out that hate fuels his power, they decide to start attacking him as well. This strategy does work out in the long run, with the Dark Lord ultimately looking deep within himself– here we get some red-tinted flashbacks to The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith– and ultimately realizing there is indeed no one he hates more than himself. Well, there might be one person he hates more, as Emperor Palpatine discovers when he Force-connects with Vader after the dust settles, teasing an eventual confrontation between the two Sith Lords that will culminate in the climax of Return of the Jedi. This is a fun, action-heavy issue overall, and I’m still digging what writer Greg Pak and artist Raffaele Ienco are doing with the Darth Vader title and its characters. And at the end of the day I don’t really mind all the prequel stuff that much. In fact, I’d say I enjoy the interconnected nature of the current Star Wars canon so much that the general reevaluation of the prequels doesn’t particularly bother me at all anymore, even if I still don’t think the movies are that great.
Star Wars: Darth Vader #39 is available now wherever comic books are sold.