– Spoiler Review –
Darth Vader Annual #2 adds another wrinkle into the construction of the Death Star, for better or worse.
On the surface, I enjoyed Darth Vader Annual #2: How it further explored the complicated, push-and-pull between Director Orson Krennic and Grand Moff Tarkin over the Death Star; Delving into the mind of Vader, showing both his brutality and Anakin Skywalker smarts; Having Vader recall events from Attack of the Clones and how he’s seen kyber crystals used as weapons before; Revealing some of the Geonosian resistance against being used as slave labor for the Death Star; That Vader and Tarkin’s relationship fluctuates from friendly to antagonistic, and how the Emperor keeps them from killing each other.
But when you look at the actual overall plot, or its implications regarding events from previous canon materials like Catalyst, a Rogue One prequel novel uncovering the story of Krennic’s manipulation of the Ersos, Darth Vader Annual #2 comes up a bit short. As enjoyable as this little tale of deception surrounding the construction of the Death Star and the subsequent investigation by Vader is, considering Catalyst covers the DS’ early days in greater detail and nuance, the story here felt superfluous. However, this is a single issue, not a full comic arc, so I wasn’t expecting it to be as detailed as Catalyst, but DV Annual #2 didn’t feel like it carved out a big enough part of the story to really be necessary. Then there’s how this new angle on the story takes some agency away from Lyra Erso, whom Catalyst revealed to be even more important to the Krennic/Galen struggle then the movie ever got across. Lyra was the one who managed to help Galen stop lying to himself about his work for Krennic and begin her family’s escape from Coruscant, when a friend shows her the Empire’s destruction of several worlds for Galen’s project and later she breaks through Galen’s haze of lies regarding his work, thus making her a catalyst (get it!?), but DV Annual #2 seems to point out Vader sent her a message to doubt her husband’s work in an attempt to sabotage the Death Star. I don’t think messing with Lyra’s agency was intentional by writer Chuck Wendig, as this isn’t the first time new material reveals a new, twist-like angle to a previously told story (like how Legends’ The Force Unleashed set up the Rebellion as something the Emperor helped create), but it’s an unfortunate consequence of trying to make the web of egos and personalities affected by the Death Star even more layered than it already was. It’s certainly a compelling idea that Vader would want to be the only terror in the Emperor’s arsenal (as Tarkin uncovers here), as it’s right there in his dialogue for A New Hope about the station being insignificant next to the power of the Force, and therefore he tries to sabotage the Death Star himself, but that it comes at the cost of Lyra’s role makes it less exciting.
One could argue Lyra being shown the planets the Empire raised could still be the thing that ultimately sets her on the course to help break Galen free from the grip of Krennic and the project, but Vader’s message looks to be more of the catalyst now than the previous way. For some readers, they may have never picked up or never will read Catalyst, so this will just be all they know, and DV Annual #2 would probably remain more entertaining that way. Wendig took to Twitter to talk about the decision to place this story in a complicated timeline and potentially mess with previous material: His reasoning, that this story fits within the context of Catalyst and we should allow for some wiggle room as a canon story universe expands, is one I generally understand and could willingly accept, and seems to show there was no intention to mess with Lyra’s story and thus would still allow the original moment in Catalyst to push along Lyra’s part in the story. However, it still doesn’t sit right with me, so I’m more likely to care more about Catalyst’s version of events going forward and put most of DV Annual #2’s story out of my mind, even though I enjoyed it and felt it was solid, fun, and well-paced.
I wasn’t a big fan of Wendig’s The Force Awakens adaptation, which the Manor’s Sous Chief Chris reviewed the first two issues, but this was more solidly written due to it being original material (as his enjoyable Aftermath Trilogy books were!). I especially enjoyed how he managed to use Anakin’s line about slaughtering the Tuskens here to describe slaughtering the rogue Geonosians, while bringing in one of his Loyalty Officer characters from the Aftermath books led to some fun conversations about Tarkin and Krennic. As for the art team, which consists of Leonard Kirk (pencils), Walden Wong & Scott Hanna (inks), and Noland Woodard (colors), I absolutely enjoyed how they made Vader look closer to his Ralph McQuarrie concept art look than from the films, while their artistic interpretations of the movie characters were unique but not too far off to be annoying, and Vader’s attack on the Geonosians was striking to say the least.
Darth Vader Annual #2, despite how entertaining it is, happens to be the dictionary definition of your mileage may vary.
+ More Krennic/Tarkin drama
+ Detective Vader
– Cuts at Lyra Erso’s agency
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
Darth Vader – Dark Lord of the Sith
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