Review: Star Wars: Darth Vader #3
Set after The Empire Strikes Back, this series tries to add some evil to the tarnished idea that Darth Vader is the ultimate bad guy. You may be thinking, “What the hell is Machine on about? Everyone knows Vader is a badass!” Thing is, I do think that the mystique of Vader is greater than the character and I will explain my theory later on.
Vader is furious. There are people who have hidden Luke’s existence from him. Now on a mission of revenge, this Sith Lord, his overly talkative analysis droid and his death troopers has an unlikely ally in the Sabe the ex-handmaiden of Padme who is looking for her Queen’s murderer.
Grek Pak has written some books that have masses of fans. Taking on the untold stories of Vader, set between movies, is a big risk for any writer. Bearing in mind nothing massive is going to happen to Vader, the reader has to care about the other characters or even the story itself. This then, is where the ears fall off the gundark! Can anybody really state that they care about Sabe or any of the other semi-familiar faces that appear in this book? There is also a huge gap in Vader’s logic; after all, he knows what happened to Padme and who killed her, even like in any Jedi/Sith information, that depends on “a certain point of view”. Hitting Naboo allows Pak to go re-visiting which in my mind is lazy writing. This is evidenced by the droid, who has no idea that there are bigger fish, yet recognises the scene from The Phantom Menace. As the droid wasn’t there, how did it know about the fish? This is fools errand for Vader, so therefore I feel like a fool reading it!
The art by Raffaele Ienco tries really hard; some of the characters look like their film selves, regardless of the huge amount of time that has passed. Maybe Naboo has a fountain of youth somewhere? Of course, for the book to work Vader has to look great. Unfortunately, he looks far from great. Remember, this is when Vader was at the height of his powers. Yet it feels like he is just setting out. I get that with the full mask on, it’s hard to show emotion, but there are ways; check the posses, the frames or even the light sources. There is no real reaction to Vader from the rest of the cast. The colors by Neeraj Menon are the saving grace by far. They are deep and rich and are truly evocative of the lush locale. VC’s Joe Carmagna provides the letters and has fun with the white font on black word balloons for Vader, though there’s no accompanying his/breath. Maybe that was an editorial choice as including it would possibly distract and also clutter the art.
Back to my theory. So in the movies, Vader is given the following tasks:
- Destroy the Jedi in the temple – He manages that.
- Destroy the Trade Federation at Mustafa – He manages that
- Stop the rebels from getting the Death Star plans (Rogue One) – Fail.
- Locate said plans – Fail
- Get the location of the Rebel base from Leia – Fail
- Stop the Death Star being destroyed – Fail
- Capture the Millennium Falcon – I am calling this a fail (Boba Fett did it!)
- Turn Luke Skywalker (Empire) – Epic fail
- Turn Luke with the Emperor – Epic, epic fail
So to recap, that 2 wins out of 9, with a win percentage lower than the Miami Dolphins winning percentage in 2019. Not really scourge of the galaxy stuff there! That is probably as good an analogy for this book as anything; the idea, much like Vader himself, is built on reputation rather than actuality.
Writing – 2.5 Stars
Art – 3 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars
Overall – 3 Stars
Written by; Greg Pak
Art by; Raffaele Ienco
Colors by; Neeraj Menon
Letters by; VC’s Joe Caramagna
Published by; Marvel Worldwide
Author Profile
- I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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