– Spoiler Review –
Ever since her re-return to Vader’s life, there’s been a push and pull on Sabé’s soul between her fellow handmaidens of Padmé Amidala and the Anakin Skywalker inside Darth Vader, though the choice remains hers. Who does she choose? And is it less important than the why? Find out all the answers in our review of Darth Vader #32 (Vol. 3).
14 issues after Sabé returned, trying to see if she could mold Darth Vader’s soul, find the good in him Padmé promised was there moments before her death, it’s changed from fighting over him with Emperor Palpatine to being the one whose soul is up for grabs. It’s a story thread, while overly long at this point, which has kept me coming back, and it’s been reaching a fever pitch in the last few issues, to the point I couldn’t imagine this series not wrapping up who wins in the fight for Sabé in this issue. The handmaidens even joined up with Vader to get close to Sabé again, though of course he used them in the process, catapulting their desire to win back their sister from this dark menace. Yet their calls for Sabé’s return seemed to fall on deaf ears, as she stood at the precipice of taking his hand to join him, and Darth Vader #32 (Vol. 3) picks up the cliffhanger with her extending her hand to him, though the handmaidens grab her before she can and fling themselves out of the falling ship with her in tow. She might’ve made her choice, but they can’t except it, so they steal her away instead, hoping time and space will give them the chance to talk her out of it.
I couldn’t help but get a Peter Pan vibe from the following scene, as the handmaidens float in the sky via antigrav technology, taking Sabé away from the dark menace to their neverland removed from his dark influence. While it’s not about childhood and growing up, it’s a similar principle, though here it’s about how they’ll fight the injustices in the galaxy, with the handmaidens representing the good way aka innocence and Vader representing the bad way aka growing up, if we’re following the Peter Pan mold. As she’s being whisked away, she’s trying to tell them the danger of Jul Tambor, of the innocents he’ll kill to kill Vader, and they tell her they’ll fight him with her, the right way, and Vader can’t be trusted. Instead of listening to them, as we already saw she’s made her choice, she flings away the antigrav tech they gave her to come with them, falling back to the planet and Vader instead, simply saying, “My sisters…goodbye.” Vader catches her and they get to work, while the handmaidens return to their ship and have Ochi to deal with, who isn’t the best person to interact with after having their sister torn away from them, but it’s who they are stuck with after Sabé’s choice. They all wonder her reasoning as they flee, with Dormé getting to the heart of it, and once we hear Sabé’s reasoning, we find Dormé wasn’t too far off when she says Sabé’s still doing this all for Padmé somehow. How could Dormé be right if she’s left her sisters to join the dark heart of Vader?
Vader and Sabé waste no time in trying to counter the threat of Jul Tambor, with Vader giving her command of the mission. The other Imperials initially bulk at her command, and her first request to learn more about their latest targets instead of just blasting them away draws some eyebrows, but it’s clear by the end of things she gets results. She calls Jul, seeming to tell him where Vader is, though stormtroopers are clearly standing behind her so we know something is up, she has some plan here, but warns him the city has innocent Skakoans there, his people. When he hears it’s only 12, he launches a barrage of explosives, believing he’s killed Vader and won the respect of his people…but the shuttles Sabé wanted more information on earlier contained innocent Skakoans and she rescued them, having them listen in as he gives his big speech about being triumphant and how the cost of 12 of his people was worth it. Discredited by his people and making the Empire look like the good guys by having them grant Jul’s refugees amnesty, Jul might not be dead but his thrall on his people is gone, kneecapping him without any actual violence or lives lost. It’s an impressive way to use the Empire’s tools and shows the real good Sabé actually can do with Vader, who is content to let her do as she pleases if it means she’s with him.
Vader is proud of Sabé, of the power he can give her, so he’s the closest to happy a Sith Lord can achieve. With Sabé choosing him, Vader believes he’s finally achieved what he couldn’t before with Padmé and Luke, and is infinitely proud of himself, eager to show her all the power he can offer her. But her responses to his offer of more power change everything, as she reveals not telling her fellow handmaidens about his true identity was done not to protect him, but to protect them, both from him but from wanting to stick around. Because she didn’t necessarily choose him…she chose herself as sacrifice, saying she’d rather her soul be darkened than all of their souls. I’ve been curious for quite some time now why she continued to follow Vader, what her plans were, and like Dormé said and it totally makes sense now, she’s still doing this all for Padmé, as she’s protecting her sisters as Padmé would’ve wanted by letting herself take the fall. This is devastating to Vader, as while he thought he finally achieved what he couldn’t with Padmé or Luke, it turns out he didn’t, as he was once again not chosen, nor was he chosen because the person wanted to be with him, but rather felt they had to, leading to him damaging the ship in anger, his soul, however close she got him to find the good inside himself, lost again.
In a way, this almost felt like a good place to end the series, as while it would still be intriguing to learn how much longer Sabé stays with Vader, as she’s seemingly not with him by the time of Return of the Jedi (which is very, very close in the timeline), but after 32 issues, largely dealing with Vader’s dark heart and the outside influences on it, like Sabé, this seems to wrap up the main story and concepts we’ve been dealing with. But there are many more issues to come, as the solicitations so far don’t even include the coming Ajax crossover event later this year, leaving me to believe my initial guess we’d switch to a new era by 2024 a bit optimistic, as I’m now guessing most of these on-goings will get close to or hit 50 issues at this point, which is around when I’d assume they’d finish this era. But we’ll see. Either way, Sabé being around and how much further she can push using the power Vader’s given her to do good things in the galaxy, maybe still work at the good inside Vader, is certainly interesting enough at the moment, while the solicits mentioning problems with the Force following the events of Hidden Empire’s finale* has me intrigued as well, since it means Vader and Doctor Aphra (my favorite character) will team up once again, so while this felt like an ending point, there’s potential in what lays ahead.
Ibraim Roberson remains on art this issue, alongside colorist Federico Blee and letterer Joe Caramagna, though it’s Roberson’s last for the moment, but he makes a memorable final showing. One of my favorite pages is the one of Vader catching Sabé after she drops the sky, as you can tell how gentle he captures her fall with the Force. Her cloak billows out behind her, as if she’s gently floating to the ground now, though it almost looks like wings, making her seem angelic as I’m sure Vader sees her considering he believes she chose him in the way he hoped, not in the way she ends up revealing later. I love the colors here too by Blee, as her cloak almost blends into the cloudy sky behind it, as if she came from the sky itself, further giving us Vader’s worldview of her, though the menacing red glow of her saber reminds us, and Vader, of the reality of it all. The grief stricken, tear-filled handmaidens was visceral, as while there was plenty of bold, italicized words in Caramagna’s lettering, their pain is clear in their shocked faces, or angry eyes, while Ochi’s outlandish complaints about having to deal with the handmaidens more lets his humor land for us readers and make us understand why they’d be so short with him in the moment. The Peter Pan comparisons mainly stemmed from the art, the way they short of float in the air and later fly, legs back and arms stretched forward, which I can almost see in my mind’s eye from the animated movie. Caramagna’s SFX for Vader letting out his anger over why Sabé is with him, the “skrak” sound of the ship buckling and collapsing under his powerful release of the Force almost felt like nails on a chalk board, angry and painful to hear, like he is at the moment. The word bubble and lettering is exploding on the final panel, his guttural shout almost taking up as much of the page as the SFX on the previous page, conveying the deep, deep anger and disappointment.
Here are a few other things:
- Fitting the Women’s History Month variant starring Sabé landed with the issue where she makes the big choice (see it above)! In June the Pride Month variants return and, while I wished they took a handmaiden from this series who is LGBTQIA+, Magna Tolvan gracing the cover is fantastic.
- After addressing Saché and Yané’s relationship last issue, seeing it visualized with them dancing hand in hand was a beautiful, long awaited moment.
- *While Hidden Empire’s final issue isn’t out until April 5, the most recent Bounty Hunters issue had a little spoiler about what happens.
- Darth Vader #33 (Vol. 3) will be out at the end of April, so the Marvel Comic’s panel at Celebration Europe 2023 (April 10 at 7:30am CST) will have already taken place, where I’m sure we’re going to learn about the scale and scope of the upcoming crossover event and maybe get some details on where this series will go and what the plans are for the era overall. Make sure to check back to the Manor, as we’ll bring you the news afterwards.
Darth Vader #32 (Vol. 3) finally sees the fight for Sabé’s soul come to an end, where she makes a bold choice to save her sisters at her own expense, a fitting and intriguing moment that resolves a long-lingering storyline.
+ Sabé’s reason for her choice
+ Letting us see Sabé through Vader’s eyes before the truth comes out
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 | #30 | #31