– Spoiler Review –
The “Dark Heart of the Sith” makes its final beat in Darth Vader #5 (Vol. 3) as Vader brings his stomp through the prequels to a quick, maybe too quick, close.
Vader storms into Padmé’s tomb, ready to tear it open for any shred of evidence of where she was taken and who helped hide Luke from him, but Sabé is close behind urging him not to, while his memories only compound her message and stop him from forcing the tomb open. ZED switches from saying Vader can do as he please one moment to agreeing with his choice to prevent the disturbance of evidence the next, since he’s smart enough to know it’ll save his circuits. The droid scans her body, only to find a med implant that traces back to…Polis Massa! We already know he won’t learn about Leia, that’s Luke’s secret to give away, but can a trip there give him the closure he needs over losing Luke, which he blames on others and not himself, despite his actions necessitating Luke being hidden from him?
Vader allows the handmaiden squad to live, urging them and the rest of the Amidalans to join him at Polis Massa. Just as he starts diving into the outpost’s secrets, the Amidalans appear with a small fleet of fighters from the prequels, like Naboo starfighters and ARC-170s, and some new ships, and attack him. Without even a scratch, he takes down the fleet arrayed against him, as well as the ground troops, much like his terrifying show of force at Vrogas Vas. The fate of the handmaidens is left unclear, as while he did urge them to follow him, we never see them during the battle. Did they perish in one of the ships? Did they not show up, sending the others to try taking him out, and are now still out there in the galaxy? It seems very strange to have them so vital to the story of this arc only to have them disappear or not featured in a climactic battle. It’d be a real shame if this powerful and important group of women were brought back only to be killed off-screen at Vader’s hands, and even more so without some type of send-off. And while having him kill them one by one would be worse, disgusting even, neither is a great or satisfying answer, though it’d at least be an answer at this point, as Padmé’s handmaidens’ fates aren’t clear by the end of the issue, which is a confusing and odd choice for an otherwise solid and excellent arc.
Once Vader finishes with the distraction of the Amidalans, he continues his search through the rubble. Before rudely interrupted, Vader learned about Obi-Wan’s role in bringing Padmé to the outpost, which shouldn’t have been much of a surprise, but it still seems to sting as it only seems to fuel Anakin’s jealous-laden concerns (I mean, we all get it, Ewan McGregor is a handsome dude), and his anger about that is what he uses to help take down the Amidalans. And while the data records have been destroyed as he gets further into the outpost, helping keep Leia a secret again, Vader sees a recording of Padmé’s final words, about seeing good in him still. Her words bring another page of this series’ excellent memories/glimpses at Vader’s headspace, a page which recalls a page from the first issue, as now sees Vader watching himself (first as Vader, then teenage Anakin, then a young Anakin) falling down the shaft Luke dived down on Cloud City, whereas the first issue slowly zoom in on first Luke, then Shmi, and then Padmé in the same shaft. Where I took the imagery in the first issue to mean he thinks all three would rather die than be with him, it feels like this reverse imagery means Vader equates the good in him to his son, which much like the good/younger parts of him in these panels, have fallen further and further from him despite hearing Padmé’s words.
And then Vader’s back with the Emperor, with his journey suddenly complete. I really enjoyed the pace of this arc and story so far, but it feels like it ends too fast here at #5, as an additional issue likely would’ve helped flesh out more aspects, not leave things hanging (handmaidens’ fate), and give Vader processing his grief more space. The Emperor can sense what Vader went through on his little side mission, grieving the loss of his son to the forces arrayed against him, all while living through Padme’s death again, finding out even though he didn’t do it, his friend Obi-Wan couldn’t even save her after he basically killed her. Losing Luke is like losing her again, and Palpatine feels the other aspects of the Sith, like fear, anger, and hate have left him in favor of the grief. So Sheev promises Vader they’ll start all over again, beginning with fear, because no Sith is complete without those. What that fear all entails has been hinted at in solicits for upcoming issues (see: Mustafar) and it sounds like ol’ Palps is going to really make sure Vader goes through the ringer to get past the grief and back to the anger and hate…though judging by his decision in Return of the Jedi, this journey, feeling the grief of losing his son, likely opened the door to help Luke’s cries reach Vader when the time comes.
Raffaele Ienco and Neeraj Menon ran the gamut of moments once again with aplomb, from the big action sequence of Vader vs the Amidalans to his quiet, introspective moments. Those memories/flashbacks are the real killer and they don’t stop from disappointing in their usage again, as I really liked Anakin/Vader yelling “Liar” at Padmé and him to be visibly clenching his gloved hand in the next panel, showing how much these memories effect him, while of course having him watch various versions of himself slip away was the perfect crescendo to the memories’ usage; I’d not be made if the series didn’t continue using it into the next arc, as he’s done with this trip down memory lane, but I’d love to see what else they can do with it!
Here are a few other things:
- Big shout out to InHyuk Lee for this cover, it’s still as mesmerizing as the first time we saw it earlier this year. He’s been putting out some real great covers for this series so far, but this is the pinnacle so far!
- Sad to see ZED go, he was hilarious!
- Expect the next issue on October 14, while #7 should be on shelves November 11.
Darth Vader #5 (Vol. 3) tackles the grief within the “Dark Heart of the Sith,” though it’s a little too sudden of an ending for such an overall great opening arc for the newest Vader series.
+ Deep into that dark heart we went
+ Getting a foot in the door Luke later opens
– Wait, what happened to the handmaidens?!
– Over a little too quickly
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
DARTH VADER (VOL. 3)
Dark Heart of the Sith: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 / Arc Review (by Chris)