– Spoiler Review –
Darth Vader podraced once again, but instead of stopping the Crimson Dawn-aligned Governor Tauntaza, he decided to finally save someone he cared about instead. With the governor’s deadly machine marching towards them, does Vader still have it to take down the threat or is Sabé’s influence more effective than either realizes? Find out in our review of Darth Vader #27 (Vol. 3)!
Governor Tauntaza hasn’t really been a direct threat, but Vader continues to be thwarted from stopping her. Sometimes it’s her doing, like when she tests a weapon against him, or other times it’s his own doing, like last issue when he decides to save Sabé instead of going after the governor’s deadly planet killing machine. While it turns out the Executor’s strike against the machine wouldn’t have been effective anyways, as they try it now as Vader returns with Sabé and Kitster alive, the point still stands: Vader may make progress, but he keeps failing. Far too often this series it has felt like Vader can just slice his way through all his problems, and while entertaining, it’s not as compelling, which is where previous Vader series have excelled when giving him obstacles he can’t just cut through. Yes, he literally cuts through this machine to get to the governor (in a nice little ‘like father, like son’ moment by hiding a lightsaber in an astromech), but he still falls short of taking out Tauntaza. It helps she’s using a big mech suit powered by the energy they store from desiccating the planet and Vader’s anger is unfocused and his confidence is overflowing, something she points out to distract him further, allowing her to escape once again. There might not be enough yet to fully understand her motivations or what guides her, so when the revelation at the end of the issue drops she’s been getting orders from the Emperor himself (most likely), this only muddies the waters because is she working for him and is a double agent, pretending to be Crimson Dawn related, and this is all another weird, grand plan against Vader by the Emperor? Either way, I’d just like some clarity going forward, because while I enjoy Tauntaza’s continued survival, more context would strengthen the continued battle.
Vader’s battle with Tauntaza’s power suit brings her machinations down a size, but it also leaves Vader almost dead and defenseless, which is when Sabé catches up, the Dark Lord’s life in her hands like she’s wanted for so long now. But much like Vader last issue, still not ready to let go, to make the ultimate sacrifice to truly safe someone he cares about, Sabé’s too hung up on Padmé, unable to let go of her and her insistence there’s good in Anakin still, somehow. So she uses Tauntaza’s energy source to recharge Vader, and as they walk back to the camp, adventures ahead for them yet, she claims she knows why she saved him. Did she save him? What does she think he’ll actually do on her behalf? Kill the Emperor and prove Padmé right? I mean, sure, he does, but it won’t be with her at his side, so I suspect she’ll come to understand sacrifice is needed to push Vader to change, but it won’t quite click for Vader yet. Whatever goes down with Sabé, it might mean he’s more susceptible to the truth of how to truly save someone, that sacrifice might need to be involved, so when Luke’s putting himself on the line to save him, he knows what to do. Or at the very least, the work Sabé’s done on Vader’s soul will probably be enough to get him to the point he’ll be a little more honest and forthcoming with Luke on Endor before they go to the second Death Star, his somber and submissive tone to the Emperor’s might likely from the recent outcome of Sabé’s fate.
Artist Raffaele Ienco is a master of scale, as while it’s hard to ascertain Tauntaza’s facility’s size, when Vader and his little astromech pal approach it, there’s a great, yet small panel where the two look tiny compared to even the tread wheels of the thing. This is after a few panels showing what it does to organic material, the weird forest creatures falling to the ground when trying to attack Vader, their bodies turning to dust, Alex Sinclair’s colors robbing the creatures of their typical red color as they melt into the other sand around them. The whole sequence of Vader using the Force to wreck havoc with the lightsaber in the facility’s innards really comes together with Joe Caramagna’s SFX, as the resulting “klang” and other noises as it flies around inside allows us to imagine what damage he’s doing, while the resulting explosion, Vader parting it to remain undamaged, and lightsaber flying back into his gloved hands feels so powerful due to the SFX aiding Ienco and Sinclair’s explosions. Beyond scale, big, bulky, weird things against Vader in battle is also another Ienco special, so Tauntaza’s power suit, with its arm canon, might look more suited (sorry, not sorry) for the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight video games, but he manages to make it feel like a natural part of the universe. The final page is an interesting visual, where Sabé and Vader stood antagonistically by one another several issues ago, now he leans against her to hold himself up, a smile on her face and Sinclair’s colors bright and hopeful, making the smile and moment genuine between the two. It’s the calm before the storm for these two.
Here’ s one other thing:
- The signal giving Tauntaza orders being traced to what seems like Palpatine’s office felt familiar: in the 2017 Vader series by Charles Soule, a similar moment happened where someone traces the kill order bounty out on Vader to find it came from the same floor as Palpatine’s office on Coruscant. Since it turned out to be conspirators in the Imperial ranks and not his master, maybe that could be the case here (though Ol’ Palpy was cackling last issue so he seems clued in on what’s going on), but using such a similar ‘reveal’ is what adds to my confusion on who’s working for who or what’s the purpose behind all the duplicity.
- In a bit of a ‘like father, like son,’ or in this case, ‘like son, like father,’ Vader hiding his lightsaber in the astromech, so he can use the Force and push it up and through Tauntaza’s machine to disable it, gave me Luke using Artoo to stash his in Return of the Jedi.
- Ochi had some funny moments here, especially when you see him zipping away into the forest, away from the organic destroying machine of Tauntaza’s, before Sabé’s even done really telling everyone to flee.
Darth Vader #27 (Vol. 3) has some solid moments with Sabé and her goals, while letting Tauntaza continue to be a thorn in Vader’s side, but all the duplicitous motivations are wearing thin, much like in the “War of the Bounty Hunters” arc.
+ Sabé saving Vader
+ Fun sequences by the art team
– Clarity requested
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