– Spoiler Review –
With their mission on Exegol seemingly complete, what’s next for Darth Vader and the Schism Imperial and how does both of their plans involve Luke Skywalker? And as Sabé tests Luke, will she push him or herself too far? Find out in my review of Darth Vader #48 (Vol. 3).
Last we left Vader and the Schism, they were blasting off Exegol, Vader riding outside the ship to destroy the towering summa-verminoth with his new kyber-powered weapons…and yet in this issue, they seem to still be on Exegol. It’s not quite clear why they haven’t left or what their full objective was on the planet besides take away the giant red kyber crystal, besides the group’s overall mission statement to overthrow the Emperor, but the next part of their goals and plans at least becomes clear by Darth Vader #48 (Vol. 3)’s end. The M.A.R. Corps, whom Vader discarded shortly after they were even remotely useful, or actually interesting to the story, are also still on Exegol and, despite being less of a threat than the big monster, are keeping Vader and the Schism pinned down. Part of the problem is Vader’s newly rigged kyber set up on his weapons is having a feedback loop issue, if anyone would listen to poor ZED-6-7, so he’s growing weaker every time he uses it, while he’s distracted as well due to Sabé’s test of Luke. This distraction allows the real plans of the Schism to break through, as once he senses his son isn’t ready, they turn on Vader because he doesn’t want to harm or go after Luke anymore, which Sly does. Tauntaza shoots one of the creepy mind controlling droids Vader created into the Sith Lord’s neck, paralyzing him (we’ve seen Vader stuck in his suit in the first Vader series and even earlier in this run, so seems to be a popular option to subdue him), taking his weapons, and eventually using it against him as he starts to break free of the droid. Vader’s out of commission afterwards, so too is Tauntaza due to the feedback loop issues, while the Schism is in disarray, as Pryde isn’t down or didn’t know about Sly Moore’s real plans: she wants to be the Sith at Darth Sidious’ side. I’m not surprised this is Moore’s ultimate plan, as technically she wasn’t lying about wanting to overthrow Palpatine because she wants their Schism to be the Empire instead, though it doesn’t make much sense on how this replacement would work/how are they really any different besides they’d be the rulers of it…would they still be hungry to take down Palpatine even though Moore wants to be his right hand Sith, so making the Empire like the Sith, always craving power? Regardless of the confusion on what Moore ultimately wants out of this deal, the M.A.R. corps appear once again and mess up both side’s plans, doing their best to stay relevant to the story before their likely demise; With the end so close, I suspect I won’t be changing my mind about the characters despite whatever’s about to come next.
Last we left Luke Skywalker, Sabé, and Warba Calip, the former handmaiden to Luke’s mother had stunned Warba and was attempting to provoke the young Jedi. She does her best to push him further and further, almost happy when she does get him to express some frustration, though it’s all confirmation bias when he seemingly tips towards anger in his responses. Luke is already in a place where he knows how to stop himself however, as while he might slip up time to time, like pounding away at Vader’s saber and slicing off his hand or hovering over his nephew’s bed and igniting his lightsaber, he realizes his mistakes and stops himself short, which he does here. When Luke finally gets Sabé to relent in her efforts to push him, he even makes a point to her how everyone needs wiggle room, as striving to be perfect forgets about the humanity in all of us, as she wants to make sure Luke is perfect, unable to falter in the presence of Vader and the Emperor. With Luke she unpacks her time with Vader and where they left it, understanding she was more tempted than Luke had been with her now, while she admits she was going to kill him if she sensed even an ounce of Sith in him, and he shuts down her concerns by reaffirming he isn’t his father. I had really hoped these two might end up talking about Padmé, or even Anakin somehow, but just as Sabé realizes Luke might be like the woman she loved, his mother, Warba’s true role is revealed. As we saw in the 2024 Free Comic Book Day issue, Warba is working for Vader and she admits as much here, saying she supposed to reveal their location to him so he could come get Luke, but being around the young Jedi stopped her. I hope we’ll get a better idea on why she even wanted to work for Vader in the first place before this series is done, but I love how Luke’s effect on her is helping her change. While Warba won’t notify Vader, Luke decides to do it himself, if facing his father means protecting Sabé and Warba he considers it worth the risk. As I mentioned earlier, Vader claims Luke isn’t ready, but it seems more like the Sith Lord’s not ready to face his son’s optimism. Though given Luke’s resigned, unhappy look on Dagobah when Yoda says he still must face Vader in Return of the Jedi, I’m curious why he might be more resigned after this compared to how resolved he seems here. So what’s next for these three? Will they part ways, Luke getting back to the story in the other series?* What about Sabé and Warba? With two issues left, we’ll find out soon enough.
On art is the usual great suspects of Raffaele Ienco, colorist Federico Blee, and letterer Joe Caramagna, bringing us more big, explosive moments and a touch of Luke’s darker side. Regarding Luke, I liked the escalation of him yelling “Enough!” at Sabé, as the first time isn’t much more pronounced than most of his dialogue ever gets, showing he’s keeping his cool, but as she presses her attack and Vader reminds us Luke knows his father is watching, Luke looks more like he in the moments before hacking off his father’s hand, and so his shout of “Enough!” is unlike anything we’ve seen from him before, big, bold red letters which the dialogue bubble fits snuggly around. Normally in the Vader series, if the Dark Lord is digging into his anger, Caramagna makes sure the Sith is breaking word bubbles as he screams, so by containing Luke’s shout in the bubble, just barely, he’s conveying how close to being over the edge the young Jedi gets here. As much as Vader being frozen in his suit has been overplayed now in a Vader comic, I did enjoy the shaking lines around his person, increasing the more he fights back, while Caramagna making his screams of anger so large, breaking bubbles, building up into the big, red bold letters covering the top of the panel when he breaks free gives us a great idea of the guttural place he goes to overcome the mind controlling droid and break free.
Here are a few other things:
- *Luke and Leia are on a mission to check on the Alderaanian survivor’s fleet but he’s also hanging with Sabé here…they’ve clarified how these things overlapped before and hopefully they can prior to both series ending soon.
- In case you missed it, both Vader and the Star Wars series come to an end in September. Vader (Vol. 3)’s final issue is a big, 50 page event, promising to show us everyone’s fates and Vader going up against Palpatine in his biggest offensive (explaining why he’s so docile when Luke comes to him on Endor). And while the July 25 SDCC publishing panel will unveil more of what’s next, the official site already revealed The Battle of Jakku maxiseries will follow in October, taking us past Return of the Jedi and into the leadup to the pivotal and final battle of the Galactic Civil War! Teasing the new era with the image of Vader’s burnt helmet does seem to promise they might finally let the Dark Lord rest!
Darth Vader #48 (Vol. 3) doesn’t attempt to clarify much as we head into the final two issue, but with only two left and promises the 50-page finale will answer some things, maybe we’ll get them soon enough.
+ Sabé testing Luke
– Why are we still on Exegol and other questions
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 | #47 — Phantoms: