– Spoiler Review –
With the Emperor’s Wayfinder in hand, Vader must unlock it with the help of the assassin sent after him, but with every adversary with “of Bestoon” at the end of their name after him, will he manage to unlock his Master’s secrets? Find out in our review of Darth Vader #9 (Vol. 3).
Fresh out of the Eye of Webbish Bogg’s chamber, hunted by Ochi of Bestoon and the Droid Crush Pirates of Bestoon, Vader now has a Wayfinder, the same item Kylo Ren used to locate Palpatine on Exegol in The Rise of Skywalker. He doesn’t know what to do with it, however, and the cryptic ending to his interactions with the Eye, alluding to the Wayfinder as either Vader’s reward or punishment for his actions in Webbish Bogg, certainly make the prospect of discovering its secrets of the upmost importance to Vader. Will its secrets tell him he’s on the right path, that he’s been making his own decisions this whole time, or will the answers make it seem as if Palpatine has been manipulating everything, including Vader’s path, this whole time?
After sneaking away from the Droid Crush Pirates, which poke at his currently fragile ego with some taunting words that invoke more of the series’ memorable flashbacks, Vader locates Ochi and knocks him, reclaiming his lightsaber and destroying the droids. It’s impressive Vader manages all this without using the Force, as the Emperor has dictated, and it makes the pirate droid leader rethink his assessment of Vader’s old machinery. Using the droids’ parts to rebuild the Eta-2 class Jedi Starfighter we saw a few issues back, Vader’s control over Ochi convinces the Sith assassin to help Vader use the Wayfinder, revealing to Vader the name: Exegol. Vader’s no idiot however, knowing Ochi might try something here, and Vader drags him along in a barely held together pod, which convinces Ochi to actually plug in the right Wayfinder coordinates.
And when they emerge from lightspeed, instead of a broken, sickly red nebula like Kylo Ren and Rey Skywalker navigated in TROS before arriving at Exegol, there’s a giant, one-eyed, tentacled monster floating before them!! It reminds me a bit of Solo: A Star Wars Story’s summa-verminoth, but not as large and potentially more intelligent (as the solicitations for February’s comics hint at). What will Vader have to do to get past this latest monster? And what secrets will he uncover if he does?! I’ll be very curious to see what comes from the next issue or two, depending on how much longer the arc continues, but I am at a loss for what will come next on the series, and whether it needs to go on much longer will be dictated by what happens at the end of this arc.
The art team of Raffaele Ienco and Neeraj Menon, with Joe Caramagna on lettering, has a great habit of showing off Vader’s devastating abilities, Force aided or not, and his destructive path through the Droid Crush is visceral and succinct, as it should. And I don’t know how best to describe it, but it felt like, not only through his less than cocky attitude change after Vader captures him, the way the team draws Ochi makes it obvious he’s cowed a little by the change of circumstances, gone are is big movements and bold stances, instead he’s huddled and slinking. But then that giant, massive creature floating in space?! Much like the sando-aqua monster in the first arc, Ienco’s ability to give such massive creatures scale, as well as capturing a sense of intelligence, aided by Menon’s colors, really makes me excited to see what weird things they cook up for the next issue!
Here are a few other things:
- Is Bestoon really that “cool” of a place that people would want others to know they come from there? Is it like a cultural thing or law that everyone/thing must have “of Bestoon” added to the end of their name? Why must they announce where they are from to everyone? Is it supposed to be a show of confidence, like you know where I come from so I’m not afraid of you coming to attack me at my home? I hope this arc sees the end of the “of Bestoon” moniker in Star Wars in general for a while because I don’t know if I can handle it anymore!
- If you want more Vader content, we’ll have it soon with my review of Vader Immortal, as I got a Quest 2 this holiday (thank you, wife!) and finally got through playing all three episodes!
Darth Vader #9 (Vol. 3) has too many Bestoons, but it’s taking the series towards another weird, strange, and exciting place!
+ Vader getting on his way to Exegol
+ This art team could do more comics if they pleased, thank you!
– Bestoon me one more time, try me!
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 | #5 / Arc Review — Into the Fire: #6 | #7 | #8