– Spoiler Review –
After wrapping up his time shepherding the Star Wars mainline series and several big crossover, Charles Soule, alongside artist Luke Ross, returns to the world of the dark side in Legacy of Vader #1, where Kylo Ren must deal with his actions, and his motivations for them, after the events of the first two sequel trilogy films.
One thing immediately clear to me in Legacy of Vader #1 is how Charles Soule is channeling more of his Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith run than his recent Star Wars (2020) work, because instead of starting small and working up to big moments, we start covering the big, necessary moments and then the series turns to the intimate, promising a deep exploration of Kylo Ren’s struggles after all the trauma he’s put himself and others through. Soule is no stranger to Kylo’s story, as he wrote The Rise of Kylo Ren four-issue miniseries, and while I feel like I’ve seen a mixed reaction to it online, what I enjoyed most from it was how Soule positioned the surviving Padawans of Luke’s Order, who tried to save Ben Solo from his dark turn, so they reflected back onto Ben the issues he was dealing with inside. I’ve been interested to see how Soule would combine the work he’s already done with Kylo’s character with a longer, yet still focused on-going series, and if I’m already picking up similar vibes to his Darth Vader run, it could be a sign of something special on the horizon.
As mentioned earlier, Legacy of Vader #1 takes place after the events of The Last Jedi, which as we know, is in a condensed timeline with The Force Awakens, so everything’s very fresh in Kylo Ren’s mind. Kylo’s killed his dad, nearly killed his mom, killed Snoke, looked like a fool against Luke Skywalker, and tried his damnedest to get Rey to join him after she managed to sweep the floor with him but she rejected him. Despite all the above, he’s now the Supreme Leader of the First Order, so he must deal with running the de facto government and military might in the galaxy as well. Where Legacy of Vader #1 starts is the logical place I didn’t quite think about but I’m glad Soule did, as we learn very quickly Kylo, more preoccupied with killing his past and breaking free from it than ruling the galaxy, knows little about ruling the galaxy or running the military. His next steps are all about making a show of his new leadership to secure his hold on the First Order, which starts with him displaying the severed halves of Snoke over the troops and throwing it out into space, and then sees him attempting to cover up how little he knows about the military side of things by getting General Armitage Hux to reveal what he knows. It’s no surprise Hux offers his own ideas and goals instead of what Snoke wanted, which Kylo shuts down and instead tells him to make a throne for Kylo’s reign. I hope to see more of their time together, which seems could be a while before it happens again given where this story is heading, but we’ll see.
As logical and kind of enjoyable it was to see these interactions and Kylo doing his best cover up on how ill-prepared he was for this scenario, hence another entry on the list of reasons he wanted someone like Rey at his side, where Legacy of Vader #1 goes next is the far more fascinating aspect and what I’m looking forward to most in the issues ahead. Like I said earlier, Kylo was on a war path to kill the past, let it die if he had to, and he was mostly succeeding in all those regards, but it was clear by the end of The Last Jedi he wasn’t satisfied like he thought he would be. The faces of his family, of Rey’s rejection, haunt him still and he’s frustrated killing the past didn’t immediately solve all his problems, settling on the conclusion more needs to be done and Darth Vader, his idol, is next. Kylo’s been trying to define himself all his life, living in the shadows of such legends, and he’s still under the misguided belief eradicating his past, figuratively and literally, will free him of uncertainty and give him the shortcut to being himself, of being whomever he wants, instead of what others expect of him. The fact the issue ends with Kylo meeting Vader’s fervent attendant Vaneé, whose character was the surprising throughline for the fun series of spooky tales in the Vader’s Castle series (and he’s appeared in live-action), who promises to show the young Supreme Leader how to harness his past and turn it into hatred and power like Vader did, we’ll be getting some rather intriguing glimpses of Kylo finally coming into his self and I’ll be fascinated to see how this whole journey leads to the Kylo at the start of TRoS.
Introducing this series alongside Soule is artist Luke Ross, colorist Nolan Woodard, and letterer Joe Caramanga. Ross won a spot in my Top Creatives of 2023, and really blew readers away with the Jango Fett miniseries in 2024, so it’s about time he and Woodard, who seems to be his normal color buddy, got the honors of an on-going series! The first place I want to start with the team’s work is Kylo’s battle with the Alazmec* on the steps leading up to Vader’s castle. Ross did something a little similar in Jango Fett #1 but this time I felt it worked more in concert with what Soule was trying to do with the character in the moment rather than a flashy cool way to introduce a new threat. In the double-page spread, the pages are informally split on the diagonal, starting low on the left and rising to the right, as the top half is a single image of Kylo beginning his ascent up the stairs to face the attackers and the lower section is a hodgepodge of little panels depicting the rest of Kylo’s fight up the stairs. Woodard’s colors make every slash of Kylo’s blade searing and all-consuming, providing sense of finality to his strikes, that he’s striking to kill, no questions asked. With Caramanga’s guidance, what appears confusing and cluttered becomes a directed series of attacks, the randomness of it showcasing Kylo’s brute-force violence approach, but the specificity of this visual choice leans into his statement at the end of it all, how Kylo believes his ascent has just begun, a line arriving without irony at the apex of these discordant panels in the lower section of the spread. Kylo believes his ascent is only beginning and the artwork agrees with him, a great showcase of how art can convey a journey just as much as dialogue can. Throughout, Ross brings the heat when it comes to showing Kylo’s emotions, from the anger and frustration over the past still haunting him to his attempts to hide how little he knows, and it’s such a good continuation of Adam Driver’s nuanced performance, we’re lucky to have it here given where this might all go/Kylo isn’t behind a mask like Vader. In the scene between Kylo and Hux, I appreciated how the perspective always seemed to suggest the two were on the same level, despite Kylo holding all the power, as it aided in playing up Kylo’s lack of knowledge and Hux’s eagerness to begin his own plans.
Here are a few other things:
- Would it really be a Vader-related series if there wasn’t a character who had “é” in their name?! The first three volumes all reference Padmé, of course, and now Kylo’s dealing with Vaneé! Just a funny coincidence!
- As I mentioned in my 2024 Star Wars Comics Year-in-Review, going forward I’ll be reviewing less of the comics issue by issue and moving towards arc reviews (aka the end of a storyline or TPB release). For now, Legacy of Vader is one I’m still doing the old-fashioned way, but if I decide it’s easier for me to do arc reviews, I’ll give you, dear reader, the best heads up I can before I switch. This applies to any new series coming up! Regardless of my choice, the Manor’s doors are always open to any and all writers, I always try to be the most inclusive space possible (especially in these dark times), so if you’d like to cover certain comics, novels, opinion pieces, or more, please check out our Submissions page and drop me a line!
- *The Alazmec of Winsit are the Sith cultists who have taken up residence on Mustafar and it seems like, since The Rise of Skywalker so famously opens with him killing more, they don’t ever really get along.
- It’s February and we’re always going to support and reminder readers, because we aren’t Nazis, it’s Black History Month and there’s variant covers on each of the 4 Marvel issues to enjoy! Above sees a gorgeous rendition of Mother Aniseya from The Acolyte, as drawn by Karen S. Darboe!
Legacy of Vader #1 offers hints and promises that we’re in for something special with Kylo’s journey.
+ Covers both the obvious next steps and intriguing set up to look further into the character
+ Art team capturing Driver’s nuance and conveying journeys
– Almost seems a little too easy for Kylo to just drop it all and go on a journey
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him and the website on Bluesky.
