– Spoiler Review –
The Scourge wastes no time in revealing itself to Vader through his trusted droid, using its knowledge to attack while he’s weak. Will he find the hate inside to regain control of the Force or is he doomed to be next to the Scourge’s plans? Find out in our review of Darth Vader #39 (Vol. 3)!
At the end of last issue, Zed Six Seven’s fall to the Scourge was revealed and I was concerned it would take a while for this issue to make this known to everyone else, but thankfully Darth Vader #39 (Vol. 3) wasted no time in bringing this new threat to the forefront. He’s a fun form for the Scourge to inhabit, as his usual cutting wit, while dulled to a degree into the Scourge’s hunger for more and its desire to jump from metal to meat, still shines through here and there. His matter-of-fact statements by writer Greg Pak elicited some fun little laughs and made his plan with the octuptarra droid feel even more effective. Through Zed’s memory, the Scourge knows Vader’s current weaknesses and has crafted the droid to counter-act each one, making it seemingly impenetrable in Vader’s current status, still unable to properly connect to the Force. The Force Wave which disrupted Vader’s connection has seemed to dissipate, as it’s not really been an issue or brought up much since Dark Droids began, so at this point it seems like it’s just Vader’s holding himself back.
Arex, who tended to at least Jedi Master Kirak Infil’a before Vader killed him, realizes this as well, and despite his limited Sith knowledge, he knows hate seems to full Vader so he attacks the Sith Lord and orders his fellow droids to join him to help piss him off. It doesn’t quite work, but then he asks Vader to search inside and find who he hates the most, with maybe a focus on that person’s face and how they wronged him helping him unlock his full potential again. As Vader begins to ponder the question, we get an introspective journey of memories, starting with Anakin and Shmi having Qui-Gon Jinn, Padme, and Jar Jar in their home, then Anakin holding Shmi after finding her in the Tusken camp, and even his awakening in the armor with Palpatine’s no good, very bad news about his wife, seemingly arriving to the conclusion he hates himself the most. It’s not the most revelatory answer, and has sort of been something this series has tackled before, so it takes what had been an intriguing situation and makes it feel repetitive. Maybe that’s the point, to show us how a Sith will struggle to maintain their hate and anger much like the Jedi struggle to maintain the light over the course of their lives, but Vader’s continued problems with his connection to the dark side, his hate and anger, throughout this series hasn’t quite come off as interesting as some of those stories for Jedi characters. There’s something to be said about the previous, more succinct runs for Vader to prove their points in a quicker, less repetitive fashion, or maybe because we keep having too much Vader with additional miniseries showing his reliance on his hate and anger, but this hasn’t quite made this whole situation as interesting as it could be. I’ll be curious to see what happens in this series (and the others) after Dark Droids wraps up, especially as it feels like the end is nigh for this era of comics (I’m really pulling for issue #50), but we might know more soon with the Publishing panel at New York Comic Con over the coming weekend/January’s solicitations next week/Revelations #1 (2023) out in December.
Regardless, Vader sheds his temporary weapons and reignites his lightsaber, slicing and dicing through the octuptarra droid with ease and ending Scourge Zed’s rambling, who was assuming Vader thought of it as his most hated. Vader and Emperor Palpatine commune afterwards through the Force, with Palpatine agreeing with Vader’s choice to look inside and find his hate for himself to return to his former power in the Force. But then Vader reveals he didn’t stop looking after he settled on himself, with an red-hued memory image of Palpatine smiling as Vader first steps off the operating table, and Palpatine senses he’ll see his apprentice soon. Does he hate Palpatine more, again, sort of like earlier in the series, and he’s coming to collect on that anger? Where does Palpatine keeping walking off into that’s all smoky and spooky when he laughs? Did he request such a room for dramatic effect? I kid, but it looks like Vader has Ol’ Sheev in his sights, with a handy little heads-up readers will see these efforts continued in Dark Droids #4 (out November, while the third issue just came out and features Vader’s efforts to stop another Scourge attack on Mustafar) and Darth Vader #40 (Vol. 3), also out in November.
Raffaele Ienco, alongside colorist Federico Blee and letterer Joe Caramagna, are the ones taking us through Vader’s fight with the big droid and his introspective journey of hate. My favorite page is actually when Vader first strikes out against Scourged Zed’s octuptarra droid, as Ienco displays his usual sense of scale with the size of the droid against the little Vader trying to take it down, but what really caught my eye was the little inserts of Zed as Vader tries all that tools at his disposal. As I said earlier, Zed’s methodical dialogue is usual the case for some giggles, and how the team presented him on this page brought out even more humor, as he seems like a professor chiming in with helpful antidots and comments on student’s struggles, with “oh no, so sorry that isn’t working, this is probably why” energy. The purple glow by Blee adds a menacing nature to his words, while Caramagna’s sound FX going so big for Vader’s attempts followed by the small little word bubbles shows how ineffective Vader’s being. The next page is a perfect follow-up, as Scourge Zed’s taunting words about Vader’s lack of fine Force control are punctuated not only by Ienco showing the octuptarra smashing away at Vader’s Zaly shield and kicking him away, but also through Caramagna’s SFX for each strike by the droid, weighty, fractured ones which sound as loud as Zed’s four words. When Vader finds himself, I love how the scale changes, as there’s a side by side where one is Vader using the Force against the droid and another of it firing at him, but they look the same size next to each other this way, while subsequent panels take on a perspective of us looking up at him, having the Sith Lord look bigger, as he brings the larger droid down to size; it’s subtle, but a nice touch to his return to form.
Darth Vader #39 (Vol. 3) might feel like it’s retreading ground, but some fun dialogue and great art make Vader’s return to form one to enjoy.
+ Zed’s villainous turn
+ Playing with perspective as Vader slowly regains his power
– Feeling repetitive
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: #1-5 — Into the Fire: #6-11 — War of the Bounty Hunters: #12-17 — Crimson Reign: #18-22 — The Shadow’s Shadow: #23-27 — Return of the Handmaidens: #28-32 — Unbound Force: #33 | #34 | #35 | #36 — Dark Droids: #37 | #38