The early explorations continue!
Creative Staff:
Story: Charles Soule
Art: Giuseppe Camanucoli, Cam Smith
Colors: David Curiel
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
Join Vader as he learns a new way — the way of Darth Sidious and his newly formed Empire…the way of the dark side.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening installment of this series did some good things for me under the guiding hand of Charles Soule in setting the mindset for Vader at this point as he transitions to that role from Anakin. It’s an area that has plenty to be worked with, especially if we eventually cover some of the work he does with Tarkin later on, to show us how he became what he’s known as by the original trilogy. It’s not like he just emerged as a killing machine. Camanucoli and Smith did a solid job the first time around and carries that through here with Curiel’s color work giving it some great life and vibrancy as needed. I’m still at a place where I understand why people dislike this era being explored but it’s one that’s ripe for comics and novels as opposed to films in some ways because there are so many things to do. Granted, I’d love to see a story about some Clone Troopers going rogue after what happened, or following the tragic story of a Jedi that escaped Order 66 for a while as a film.
That said, this issue keeps Vader in the path that his master has set for him in gaining a kyber crystal in order to create his own lightsaber. That has him first heading to a Jedi outpost where the Clone Troopers are inventorying what’s there, noting how the facilities on Kamino have been closed down and wondering what’s next for them and the Empire in general that they serve. It’s got some fun banter to it and clicks for me being a Clone Wars TV series fans. Unfortunately for this group, however, Vader has come for information and essentially makes short work of the place and those stationed on board. It’s something that does have him basically going against what Palpatine has put there but there’s also a sense of ownership about the place being a former Jedi himself and seeing this piece of it brought to a close. And with having seen down the line how Palpatine has a collection of Jedi artifacts you can see why he’d rummage through all of this through the troopers.
There’s a good bit of action to it as we see Vader handling things in space at first and then by both the Force and an acquired (but not kept) lightsaber from within the facility. What I like is seeing the physicality of him and his movements here as he’s still adjusting to all of his mechanical aspects while his mind remembers who he was prior to this, the muscle memory of a limber and capable Jedi. But what’s intriguing is that we see that he’s after information only, and about Jedi that too the Barash vow prior to the purge, Jedi that essentially took it as a form of penance to leave the order and disengage from the world, giving themselves over to the force. You can see how Vader intends to use that as it can offer some keen insights that he could not get from the order itself when he was a member, particularly as he always felt like he was being kept out of the loop.
In Summary:
While this series has a bit to go before it takes over the previous Darth Vader series for me I’m loving the period that it’s exploring and looking forward to seeing where else Soule is taking the story – and what original characters may pop up along with familiar faces. This one introduces us to a new (to me) concept with the Barash vow and I’m definitely interested in seeing how this factors into the larger aspect of the Jedi order itself and the Force. Camanucoli and Smith do a solid job here, though I’m not a huge fan of their Clone Trooper interpretation, as the action is solid and the layouts keep it all moving very well with clear and easy to follow pieces, whether it’s information hunting, space battles, or force to hand combat.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: June 21st, 2017
MSRP: $4.99
