– Spoiler Review –
After issues of build-up, the Exegol storyline sputters at the finish line in Darth Vader #47 (Vol. 3), but the reveal of what comes next holds potential promise.
With some trickery that had nothing to do with the build-up to the Schism Imperial’s arrival on Exegol, Vader and the Schism managed to steal the giant red kyber housed in the labs there last issue, only for the Sith Eternal to call on the nearby Summa-Verminoth to stop Vader for good (which he destroys with relative ease after tapping into the power of the kyber). Before Vader confronts the creature, he connects with the kyber, leading him to chat with Emperor Palpatine, who applauds his apprentice for showing he’s still a true Sith inside, a reoccurring theme throughout this series which has become far too rote, to the point it really made this whole storyline lose any of the wind in its sails. I get it’s part of the point of the Sith, as I’ve discussed before in previous reviews to help myself and readers understand why we must keep seeing this happen, but it still doesn’t change the fact how quickly and easily this whole “razing” of Exegol is all over by the issue’s end and Palpatine/Vader are ready to move on to the next situation. This storyline originally felt like we were heading for something big, something that would put Vader in his place, make him so subservient we’d not have to see him challenge his Master again, like we have over and over again during these nearly 50-issues, but instead he’s emboldened again and has the blessing of his Master to…test Luke Skywalker and see who he really is? I get we’ll maybe still see Vader put down low by his Master one final time before this series ends, which would finalize the journey to his conversation with Luke on the forest moon of Endor and how defeated he sounds about standing up to the Emperor, but it will need to be something absolutely memorable or interesting after how many times we’ve gone through this push-and-pull between Master and Apprentice. There’s also some lingering questions, but the way things move on to the next story thread leave me less and less interested in learning the answers: What’s next for the Schism Imperial if Vader’s shifting focus to Luke? What about the M.A.R. Corps, who are basically discarded here and have never gotten any meaningful panel time to make us care about what happens next to them? Is he keeping the giant kyber?
As I mentioned earlier, Palpatine and Vader also talk about Luke, as the Emperor asks Vader to figure out what two Sith he wants to survive whatever comes next: himself and the Emperor, the Emperor and Luke, or the choice which tickles Palpatine’s funny bones the most, Vader and Luke. The issue takes us away from Exegol and we see the Force seemingly warn Luke about the Siths’ conversation, as he senses a bad feeling within it, talking through the feeling with Leia. She is very supportive of him and his growth as a Jedi, but he’s worried his growth is exactly what Vader wanted since he asked his son to join him. Luke wants to separate himself from the Rebellion, just to be safe if the Dark Lord comes looking for him, and Leia has the distraction he’s looking for: a message from Warba Calip! He’s pretty sure it’s a trap, but he thinks it’ll take him away from Vader, though if readers checked out the Star Wars/Darth Vader Free Comic Book Day 2024 issue, then they know Warba and Vader have entered some type of agreement. When Luke and Warba meet again, their banter recalls the last time we saw them together, in Greg Pak and Phil Noto’s closing run on Star Wars (Vol. 1), but we don’t get too much of it before Sabé reveals herself and stuns Warba and Artoo! Her final words before the issue ends are how Luke needs to show his dark side…is she testing him on Vader’s behalf or on her own, to see if he’ll live up to the legacy of his mother, maybe fulfilling what she had to say about Vader having good inside of him still? I feel like she could even tell him about Padmé a little without it interfering with his conversation with Leia about their familiar bond, but she tells him here she knew his father so focusing on Anakin Skywalker might be more of where she’s going to fill in blanks. Either way, ever since her return in the earliest days of this series, the idea she could meet with either of Padmé and Anakin’s children has been a tantalizing idea, so I’m actually interested to see what comes next because it’s something I’ve been hoping for since the start.
Despite my feelings on the Exegol part of the story, the art team of Raffaele Ienco, colorist Federico Blee, and letterer Joe Caramagna continue to delight, as the sequence when Vader destroys the Summa-Verminoth is another showcase of the team’s work. As always, a lot of it comes out to Ienco’s ability to give an impressive sense of scale, as the first panel of the sequence has him standing on the hull of their Imperial shuttle, just barely visible against the ship’s larger size, Caramagna’s sound FX matching the ship in size. There’s an insert with a close-up of Vader holding his newly bedazzled staff and Zaly shield, but it doesn’t take away too much from the differences between the first panel and the second: the perspective is behind the shuttle now, instead of looking down towards it, and we’re looking up at the Summa-Verminoth with Vader now just the tiniest of specks on top the shuttle’s hull. Blee’s colors bring in an orange-yellowish glow between the shuttle and the purple creature, helping highlight how oddly large the differences are in sizes between the two combatants, while Caramagna gives it the most unnatural SFX screech as Vader approaches. The rest of the page has two panels where Vader is accessing the power of the kyber, focusing it from the staff and into the shield, which leads us to the full page shot of him directing its panel escaping SFX blast, the perspective is of us looking up at Vader, where now he seems larger than life compared even to the creature, the tentacles of which, like large in the upper half of the page, are dwarfed by him and even the SFX. The page is split in half, from top to bottom, with the first having Vader, still standing on the shuttle, as it blasts through sliced off tentacles, blood dripping from them. The next half is a close up on him, the little vial of a planet’s energy from Tuantaza’s death machine beginning to backfire. The following page, I liked all the SFX we get, from Vader’s yell, the vial shorting, and the resulting explosion which tears the creature fully apart, a giant shockwave ringing outwards from his position.
Here are a few other things:
- We’re still in the midst of Pride Month and this issue’s contribution to the variant covers is the icon herself, who has been in at least two of Vader’s three on-going comics, Doctor Aphra!!
- In the week of June 17, we should get the solicitations for Marvel’s September output, which would give us details on the upcoming landmark 50th issue of both Star Wars (Vol. 2) and Darth Vader (Vol. 3), maybe answering the big question: how much longer will both stories go or are they actually ending on 50? We’ll know more soon.
Darth Vader #47 (Vol. 2) might not stick the landing, again, with its Exegol storyline, but where it’s going next has some potential.
+ Sabé & Luke storyline coming up
– Been there, done that Exegol ending
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Bluesky, 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 | #39 | #40 | #41 — Schism Imperial: #42 | #43 | #44 | #45 —The Razing of Exegol: #46