– Spoiler Review –
Darth Vader – Dark Lord of the Sith issue #20 places Inquisitors in Vader’s latest path of rage and destruction, leading to events which will spur on the meat of the “Fortress Vader” arc.
The answer to why Vader, after some brief meditation, brought his lightsaber to bear on some of his Inquisitors gets a somewhat puzzling answer on the surface: he claims one of them was planning on building a coalition against himself and Palpatine. The little time we do spend with Shades (a nickname I’ve given to her due to her helmet/borrowed from Luke Cage), the red-skinned female Inquisitor, whom Vader believes is the leader of this “infestation,” she seems to insist she’s done nothing and knows not to cross Vader, but he kills her and the dark-skinned Twi’lek who tries to protect her due to his feelings for her. Sure, last issue she pulled a mean trick and let their target go, only to snatch the baby out of the woman’s hands just when the other woman thought she was safe, so Shades could be lying, but now we’ll never know. Vader uses her trick as evidence she was a traitor, borrowing the Fifth Brother’s bird’s eye view of the moment, who claims she only reached for the baby when she realized someone noticed she let them go, to make the judgement call. Soule has always written an amazing Palpatine, having said in the past the Emperor is one of his favorite characters, so ol’ Sheev’s reaction to Vader’s claims, and wanton destruction to bring in the two “rogue” Inquisitors, was a true delight. Palpatine is less than pleased about the swath of Coruscant Vader ruined in his pursuit, with how he brings up Vader squashed an important Senator with a speeder out on a picnic probably brought the most laughs for me, and Palpatine decides the best way to save face so people don’t think he can’t provide security on the Imperial Homeworld is to move the Inquisitors to a new base (Arkanis, mayhaps?). He’s not even really that mad at Vader for focusing his rage on the Inquisitors…he’s just mad about how he went about doing it, as otherwise he’s rather pleased with Vader’s hunt for the missing Jedi and the Inquisitors’ work so far.
At first, I thought Vader actually believed what he was saying regarding the Inquisitors he hunted down, and maybe he’s forced himself to, but after rereading a bit of issue #19, remembering issue #18, as well as his conversation with Palpatine and his surprising demand in this issue, the true reason he went after the Inquisitors reveals itself. Vader is, for the lack of a better term, bored. Better yet, he’s not just bored, but also he’s a volcano of hate and rage, ever boiling, ever ready to erupt, and Coruscant, with its innumerable inhabitants untouchable but the Inquisitors his to do with as he sees fit, are of course going to be the ones in the crossfire of his rage-filled eruptions; It’s like storing a nuclear bomb in crowded city, when it goes off, no one is safe. In issue #19, he meditates for a bit, trains, and fixes his suit, but it’s not enough, and he goes after the Inquisitors to let out some of his rage. In issue #18, he found out he could still be challenged, despite a lack of Jedi, so him picking fights to keep himself busy isn’t terribly surprising. Vader needs somewhere else to rage in peace, as it were, but Palpatine misses the point by sending the Inquisitors away. Sure, Sheev rewards Vader with Padmé’s old ship (more on this in a moment), but he’s already back to ordering Vader on a mission, one that directs his rage away from Coruscant, but it’s a mere distraction and doesn’t get to the root of the problem. Vader makes the bold move of vetoing the mission, and I really liked the page where this happens, as Vader pronounces “No,” causing Palpatine to turn and stare up at his apprentice in a bit of shock, something rare for ol’ Sheev, and ask, “No?” Instead, Vader seems to have a demand: before going on any more missions, he wants a planet of his own. And which planet? Palpatine offers up Naboo, in a rare, suspiciously grand gesture, then suggests Tatooine, but Vader has someplace else in mind: Mustafar, of course!
This arc is about Vader getting his Castle there, as seen in Rogue One, hence the name “Fortress Vader,” so the answer comes without surprise, but the why of it is more intriguing anyways. It is the site of his greatest failure, though from the ashes of Anakin’s defeat rose Vader, something he’s already revisited a few times and will revisit long after the Castle, but it’s also where he crushed the spirit of a kyber crystal and bled it to his will, creating his first Sith saber, so he’s found a way to kill more of whatever bit of Anakin is still remaining inside of him there too. As much as his choice might be about that, I think it really boils down to how he’ll be able to meditate without the distraction of hundreds of billions of people, or the minds of his Inquisitiors to probe, as instead he’ll get to bask in the roiling fury of the planet’s volcanic makeup, much like the roiling fury inside of him; Distraction-free rage meditation in furious peace (hello, oxymorons). At the same time, if he does need to go off, even though I believe the planet’s natural rage-like conditions will prevent anymore outbursts where he has to justify his actions, it’s sparse to minimal population won’t get caught in the crossfire.
Vader being given Padmé’s ship ties into the first Vader comic series wonderfully, as its issue #4 revealed he had been using it, so now we get to see the how/why he has it in the first place. Though he chooses to leave it dirty here, post-A New Hope it’s looking as lovely and as shiny as can be, so one can only imagine he made some special modifications himself; getting attached to ships for sentimental value is definitely in Kylo Ren’s blood whether he likes it or not. One thing I left this issue a little disappointed on was how we met these two Inquisitors, not even getting their numbers, and they’re dead already. Sure, their actions are more important than who they are, fueling in large part this 7-issue arc, but they brought real personalities to the many Inquisitors and now they are gone, much like the Ninth Sister, whose sass I still miss quite dearly.
Per usual, Charles Soule’s writing has layers upon layers, and letting each issue ruminate a bit after reading reveals each new cleverly placed layer. He’s really one of the premiere Star Wars comic storytellers and I can’t wait to see what the rest of “Fortress Vader” brings. Alongside him for this excellent journey has been the phenomenal art team of Giuseppe Camuncoli (layouts), Daneiel Orlandini (finishes), with Dono Sánchez-Almara and Erick Arciniega helping out on colors for one issue, as well as a new letterer, Travis Lanham, offering an assist as well. From the chase scene through Coruscant’s traffic lanes, much like Attack of the Clones but much more violent, the picnic-ing couple who are consumed by a stray speeder, to Vader’s reflection in the dusty Nubian ship, the original team brought the expected goods and the new players brought it home in a style befitting of what’s come before, making new members joining look seamless. Bravo, all!
Here are a few other things:
- The new assistant editor Tom Groneman, who is much more active on Twitter than new Editor Mark Paniccia, offered a brief glimpse at behind-the-scenes details and art for the new Inquisitors of this arc, as well did his best to hype up readers for the next issue. I don’t recall the previous editors ever doing anything like this, besides their letters pages, so this was a nice new feature I hope we see more of!
- Two close calls to the Skywalker twins this issue: Palpatine suggests Vader use his fury to turn Tatooine’s sand in glass, aka Luke’s hideout; the mission Palpatine wanted to send him on was to teach Alderaan, and more importantly Bail Organa, a lesson about defying the Empire, aka Leia’s refuge. I kind of would’ve loved to see Vader on Alderaan and how they’d deal with Leia being there, so maybe this is a tease for an upcoming story?
- I was wondering if this series would pick up the story thread of Palpatine’s continued focused on bringing in Force-sensitivities children, and using the Inquisitors to do it, but after this issue I don’t believe we won’t go any further with that storyline this arc. Like I said in my summary of the underlying story last issue, I don’t mind the series isn’t going to go any further as I’m sure we’ll get more on it in the future.
- Jedi: Fallen Order is a single-player focused video game hitting gaming systems in fall of 2019, and its story focuses on a Jedi on the run shortly after Revenge of the Sith as the Inquisitors hunt them down. Since the Inquisitorius and their hunt for the Jedi has been central to this series, it’s been revealed this comic series will contain hints to the game. Could the Inquisitorius’ move to a new planet be what sparks the Jedi from the game to flee, as they arrive on their planet? I’ll be keeping watch in the upcoming issues for any potential bits that could be construed as hints for the game.
Darth Vader – Dark Lord of the Sith issue #20 wraps up Act I of “Fortress Vader,” laying the groundwork for what’s to come.
+ Vader’s bold demand
+ Deep, rewarding connections continue
+ Writing (making Palpatine humorous again) and Art (those little reflections in Padmé’s ship of Vader *chef’s kisses*)
– We hardly new ye, new Inquisitors
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
The Chosen One (#1-6) | The Dying Light (#7-10) | The Rule of Five (#11-12) / Arc Review | Burning Seas (#13-18) / Arc Review | Fortress Vader: #19| #21 | #22 | #23 | #24 | #25 / Arc Review | Full Series Review (by Chris and Ryan) | Annual: #2
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