– Spoiler Review –
Does Sabé really know that Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader?! Not only is the answer to that question an interesting part of Darth Vader #23 (Vol. 3), but even more faces from Vader’s past add new wrinkles to the equation.
Darth Vader #23 (Vol. 3) picks up right after the end of the previous issue, Sabé’s bait for Vader to admit he once was Anakin Skywalker hanging between them, and Vader makes a swift rebuttal, issuing his usual ‘Anakin is dead’ line. Despite herself, Sabé pushes with the assertion of his identity, revealing the dots she’s connected that he must be Anakin: what Padmé told her about him, her Queen’s final words, to him not killing her every chance he’s had, she’s put the dots together and he has to be Anakin. While Vader doesn’t deny it, he rather demands she tell him what she wants, knowing if she’s got enough evidence to make the assumption on his true identity, her telling him now is less an admission and more of a threat in some regards, as if she knows, who else can she tell? He doesn’t care if she will or won’t use it against him, instead demanding to know what she wants, so she claims she wants to help him bring order, even though we know she wants to create more chaos using this craving for order, and reveals the mission she took on Tatooine on Padmé’s behalf to free slaves! This was one of the most intriguing parts of Queen’s Shadow and Queen’s Hope, Sabé and Tonra’s attempts to battle slavery on Anakin’s homeworld, and I’m not only glad to see it acknowledged and now part of the plot of this series, I’m ecstatic of its continuation here. According to Sabé, a group of refugees she’s freed are under the rule of corrupt Imperial governor, and not just any old corruption type, but the Crimson Dawn kind, the root of chaos he’s promised to Emperor Palpatine to eradicate. Not only would Vader get to rid the galaxy of another Dawn infiltrator, but Sabé says helping the refugees would prove Padmé’s final words about him. It’s a biting, pointed line, and whether Sabé means it truthfully or manipulatively (or a little bit a both) doesn’t matter much, as in the end to Vader, proving her right, could mean everything. It plays back into where this series started, back when Sabé was first introduced, as Vader was dealing with a refreshed loss of Padmé after his encounter with Luke and Palpatine had him go through hell afterwards for it, so what would proving Padmé right mean? If he proves her right, can he live with what he’s done since, will it be worth it to expose the reality inside? Or will he make sure he doesn’t prove her right so he can continue to bury that part inside, even if it’s there? I’m hoping writer Greg Pak and team can imitate their opening salvo of this series to explore the ramifications of this internally as much as externally.
Upon their approach of the colony, Vader skips going straight for the kill despite Sabé’s insistence, instead wanting to check if she’s telling the truth. They land in the colony, ZED-7 introducing his Master and hooking himself up to their local data droid to uncover what’s been happening. Sabé introduces Vader around the camp, where he meets two men working on a giant, kit bashed podracer, just like they used to on Tatooine….alongside a childhood friend of theirs…named Anakin Skywalker. That’s right, within this colony are two surprising faces (I mean, I sort of guessed one a while back, but it’s still quite the reveal): Kitster Banai and the Rodian Wald! Ani isn’t as much of a joker anymore, is he Wald?! Kitster has been a bit of a legend and running joke in fandom for some time, so much so The Star Wars Show had the actor Dhruv Chanchani on a few times, including their 100th Spectacular episode, but the Darth Vader series is taking him seriously by bringing him back at such a weird and unique time for Vader. Vader only has the briefest of red-tinted flashbacks to seeing Kitster and Wald with him as a kid while he does his usual act of pretending like he doesn’t know who they are. In the meantime, ZED has confirmed Sabe’s news, to the point it’s actually worse than she realized, though her personal vendetta has detached her from the group and she’s been out of the loop. Something is drying up the planet, and it may be the governor’s doing, but it doesn’t matter for a few minutes when beastly woodland creatures attack, a particular skill of Raffaele Ienco’s is weird beasties, and Vader ends up coming to the rescue of the camp, but specifically Kitster and Wald. The creatures only attacked because they are dehydrated, confirming the planet’s problems, and Vader decides to help the group.
However, Vader doesn’t quite think Sabé’s ready yet. She ordered Kitster and Wald to stay back but they insisted on helping her, putting themselves in near mortal danger before Vader stepped in. He tells her if she wants them to live, she needs them to obey her…is he trying to make her into a better leader to protect his old friends? To protect her? Or is it to see how far she’ll go, if she might join him, stay by his side? It’s unclear yet what Vader wants with Sabe still around and it’ll be interesting to see what will transpire between the two, as I imagine they won’t part ways as quickly as they did before. But there’s one person who doesn’t trust Sabé and doesn’t want her continued presence around Vader: Ochi of Bestoon. Valance gets the Revengers/Assassins back in line, telling them to be happy they’re alive and get ready for whatever Vader wants from them next, but Ochi isn’t down for rest and relaxation, heading off to stop whatever Sabé’s about to put Vader through. Will he throw a wrench in Sabé’s plans? Will she put him in his place? Or is Vader’s allegiance to her, to his memories of Padmé, leading him to defend her against Ochi? One thing’s for sure, the two ambiguously aligned agents will face off soon enough! Sabé really has been a delightful injection into the story again, moving away from a lot of the double/triple backstabbing and maneuvering, and bringing the truth of everyone’s allegiances out in the open and less obtuse, while offering more opportunities for the series to focus a bit more on Vader again during this time period.
Raffaele Ienco, now with colorist Carlos Lopez and letterer Joe Caramagna, took the issue from a calm stroll through the colony to an all out brawl with the big red, clawed, and horned filled monstrosities, ramping up the tension with the sheer overwhelming amount of them and the immediate danger to Kitster and Wald, both receiving scratches or bites and quickly gang-piled on in a quick, brutal series of panels. The following two pages are Vader tearing through the monsters, a neat collection of panels with them being cut up, a giant Vader standing among the grouping, while the close-ups of him cutting Kitster and Wald free show of perilously close he came to murdering them in the same swipe. The cobbled together podracer was one of my favorite images from the issue, its enlarged engines recalling Sebulba’s, while the pod where the racer sits hovers above them, and it’s just so large and ridiculously imposing I love it, though I was a little surprised there weren’t any callbacks to Anakin’s racer in some way. Kitster reminds me of another character Ienco drew, though his faces sometimes are similar which is no big deal because it’s way better than tracing we get in other art, but the goatee and coloring help set him apart. Lopez’s colors seem a little less shiny than previous contributors, and the darkness of Vader’s suit similarly benefits, as it’s almost like a black hole, like nothing can escape its shadows and the sun can’t pierce them. And Caramagna’s black-filled word bubbles for Vader are always such a cool, small way to capture the baritone bass of James Earl Jones’ voice, while the SFX in the monster attack really helped explode chaos into the situation.
Here are a few other things:
- I’m working on my review of Shadows of the Sith right now, and should be live a week before it releases on June 28, and while I can’t say anything much, fans of Ochi probably won’t be disappointed!
Darth Vader #23 (Vol. 3) was far more my jam due to its similarities to the opening arc of the series, which had less grandiose plotting and more internal brooding, though it’s now a happier marriage of the two.
+ Sabé’s work on Tatooine brought into the story
+ Kitster and Wald?!
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: #24 | #25