Sometimes you can’t get all the answers.
Creative Staff:
Story: Greg Pak
Art: Raffaele Ienco
Colors: Neeraj Menon
Letterer: VCs Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
A QUEST FOR TRUTH…A JOURNEY OF DESTRUCTION! DARTH VADER’S search for revenge against those who hid his son Luke reaches a terrible climax – at the tomb of PADMÉ AMIDALA! What secrets does he learn? And who will pay as a result? All the answers are coming – in the ruins of POLIS MASSA – the birthplace of Luke Skywalker!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I’ve really enjoyed what Greg Pak has done with this opening storyline in exploring the Padme Problem that exists after the Empire film – but only in relation to the prequels existing. He’s managed to tap into some good stuff here to expose the inner conflict within Vader that Luke can exploit in the final film which takes on new resonance here. Raffaele Ienco has been fantastic on this run as well by creating a Vader that feels like he can be truly emotional and engaging yet still the towering pillar of rage and anger that he needs to be in order to be a Sith. And that’s all while capturing the feel and look of the larger Star Wars universe with us getting some closure on the story of the Amidalans.
Being in Padme’s crypt and there where the body is entombed, I do like that Vader can’t bring himself to truly break the seal and look within. That’s left for the droid to do a scan, which captures a medical code that nobody even thought of as that was part of the procedure from when she gave birth. That identifies the time and place of the vent, giving Vader a new location to go to – Polis Massa. It’s there that Luke (and Leia) were born and the hopes of finding out more rest there. Vader’s intent on finding out what happened at the end of her life is still key to him right now and even the Amidalan’s aren’t a problem to him. So much so that he invites them to meet him there in full force to take him out, which of course is only going to go in the other direction. It’s a simple thing really even with as few forces as he has plus himself to deal with a handful of ships and the individuals that remain after all these years to protect Padme.
The exploration of the location is interesting from the start in that it was a suspected Rebel base that was bombed some time ago and that makes things more difficult for Vader. They’re able to get some information out of the main computer with the confirmation that Obi-wan brought her here and even some video footage showing her giving birth to Luke and the comments she made to Obi-wan about there being good in Vader. It’s a solid echo to come with how Luke knows the same about his father and wants to make sure it’s made real. But there’s only so much information to be gained here in this bombed-out base and no real medical information – and nothing to indicate that there was a second child either. But what they get is frustrating enough and the material pushes Vader into further grief over events, which is going to have bad repercussions from his boss.
In Summary:
This Darth Vader series is doing a great job of exploiting events after Empire with binding its opening arc to what happened at the end of the prequels. It’s giving us some of the serious cracks that began to form in Vader’s mind after spending twenty years keeping his Anakin side pushed down hard and out of the way and that will lead into his end-story in the next film well. Watching him deal with being so close to Padme’s body is definitely engaging and returning to where the twins were born after all this time adds another layer to events that really connect well. It’s sharply written with some really strong moments tied to some gorgeous artwork. The spiral moment for Vader that takes us back to the tunnel in Empire is great as we see the three main forms of this character over the six films, de-evolving him briefly as he copes with everything he’s learned.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology | Amazon Kindle
Release Date: September 16th, 2020
MSRP: $3.99