– Spoiler Review –
In Darth Vader #30 (Vol. 3), the handmaidens get desperate as the situation to save Sabé’s soul from the Dark Lord’s influence continues to spiral out of control…or does it?
Narrowing the story down by cutting away all the Crimson Dawn spy stuff has resulted in something similar to where this series started, the handmaidens and their goals against the Dark Lord a far more interesting story and set of characters to explore anyways. It’s not necessarily simpler, as Sabé’s trying to use Vader’s version of order to save people and honor Padmé’s hopes there’s still good in Anakin, while the handmaidens are still focused on revenge and saving Sabé from his influence, they still want to try and kill him, but it’s a clearer story with the chance for a more finite and straightforward ending. If the series can maintain this focus, even with the Jul Tambor subplot and how it ties into what the Amidalans tried in the beginning of the series, I can see this series heading towards an ending I’ll be more interested in.
Last issue, Dormé tried to pretend to be Sabé, but Vader knows the handmaidens too well for the trick to work. It was all part of the handmaidens’ plan to understand if she can be saved or if she’s already too much under his influence to rescue, going so far as to teaming up with assassin Ochi of Bestoon to get closer to both their targets. Vader might’ve been distracted by her before, but after their little visit to Palpatine, he’s taken a much more focused, authoritative approach, not even messing around anymore when it comes to Ochi’s duplicity (hilariously throwing Ochi around when he’s angry at him) and being very confident in his ability to have already turned Sabé. The implication if he’s right scares the handmaidens, but as worried for her as they are, they decide to chase after Dormé instead first in what is obviously a trap. Eirtaé, Rabé, Saché, and Dormé end up fighting Vader again, and while they get a few good hits in like they did last time, he remains undefeated…until they reveal both fights were actually part of a larger, more elaborate plan. Their first battle included them hitting him in the chest plate with a weapon, but in reality the weapon was drawing out the suit’s source code, which they combined with some Republic-era tech to mimic his command codes. I liked this reveal a lot, as it added some much appreciated depth to their plans, showing they’re still as sharp as durasteel knives, while it also puts them in a place where their focus on revenge has left them vulnerable. They threaten to blow up the Executor, with everyone aboard, and this actually pleases Vader, as they are more ready to serve him than they know if they care so little about all those lives if it means saving one of their own.
Before we get a chance to see if they’d really do it, Ochi interrupts with a transmission being beamed to them by Admiral Piett, which shows Sabé in Jul Tambor’s clutches! He asks them what they want and they decide, if it’s the best way to save Sabé, to team up with Vader. Will being with him influence them as well, turning them all down a path they can’t come back from? Will they manage to avoid this path and get away with their souls intact? And how much of these interactions help set Vader up for when Luke comes emotionally knocking at the Death Star II’s doors?
And wait…why is Sabé in Jul’s clutches if she killed him last issue?! As I imagined when last issue showed Dormé knowing how to shoot without killing, Sabé has done the same here since he wouldn’t listen to her about how foolish his plans are and how it could get all his people killed, like she and the other handmaidens did with the Amidalans earlier in the series. Repair by a reluctant ZED-7, Jul reveals he might a chance, studying recordings of all the fallen droids Vader’s killed that he’s picked up and repurposed (hence the return of Gee-Ninety), learning a lot about his fighting techniques…and also his one weakness: Sabé herself. So whether they’ve teamed up or he took her hostage to get his revenge remains to be seen, but a collision is unavoidable now and I’m actually quite curious to see what happens.
I really liked the way artist Luke Ross, with colorist Federico Blee and letterer Joe Caramagna framed the battle between the handmaidens and Vader, the double-page spread playing with the page break to distinguish different parts of it despite the bisecting, v-shaped panel lines. There’s also a lot of aerobatic-ness to the handmaidens’ attacks, jumping over Vader’s saber, flipping and jumping while shooting, while Vader’s lack of movement yet solid hits or throws of the handmaidens away from him highlight his power, great ways Ross shows each party’s strengths. Blee’s colors seem to have a red hue as Vader presses his attacks and it lacks it when the handmaidens get in their good hits, so the blue of the shock prod hitting him in the chest plate is all the memorable, teasing its importance to the actual plans of the handmaidens. Caramagna’s SFX almost tries to hide the prod strike’s importance, as to save the reveal, matching its intensity to his other battle sounds throughout their fight. There’s also a great little bit of distinctness between the handmaidens this issue, helping us tell them apart more so than the art has done in the past, which I appreciated since they are unique in their own ways so conveying that through the art can help build up our sense of their personalities now. I particularly liked Blee’s usage of like a sepia-filter for the flashback to the fight on Naboo, while the setting sun of the planet they are fighting on placing them in greater shadow as they approach their choice to fight alongside Vader to fight one of their own teases their choice and shows how his influence might be falling over their souls, the dark creeping in.
Darth Vader #30 (Vol. 3) sets us back on a course I’m cautiously optimistic to see more of.
+ Handmaidens reveal deeper plans
+ Curious where the heck this is going…
– …though awaiting to see if it’ll pay off
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 | #9 | #10 | #11 / Arc Review — War of the Bounty Hunters: #12 | #13 | #14 | #15 | #16 | #17 — Crimson Reign: #18 | #19 | #20 | #21 | #22 — The Shadow’s Shadow: #23 | #24 | #25 | #26 | #27 — Return of the Handmaidens: #28 | #29 | #31