“Red Revenge”
Creative Staff:
Story: Greg Pak
Art: Leonard Kirk
Colors: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: VCs Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
LADY QI’RA not only insulted the EMPIRE but challenged it, too. In the end DARTH VADER showed her criminal organization the Empire is not to be toyed with. But now fearful whispers echo in every corner of the Empire – Darth Vader is on the hunt, searching for anyone with any connection to the criminal organization known as Crimson Dawn. How deep has Crimson Dawn infiltrated and is it worth the wrath of Vader?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the previous issue having wrapped up Vader’s involvement in the War of the Bounty Hunters storyline, it’s time to start moving forward again. Greg Pak has an interesting idea here but similar to my thoughts with Doctor Aphra after the event storyline, the focus on Crimson Dawn may be too much too quickly after all that we had. This issue has Leonard Kirk stepping in on the art duties and with him having done some Star Wars work before it’s an easy fit. He’s got the general “house style” down for it that we have across most of the books and that makes it easy to get into this and have it feel like the other books. There are places where artists can really shine with their own style – Ienco does some great stuff with Vader’s movements – while with Kirk I really enjoy his take on alien designs and how they come through.
With Vader having taken some hits from Palpatine after recent events, he’s now become squarely focused in a kind of unhinged way about order. Order isn’t a surprise considering what we saw of Anakin in the films and how he wanted the galaxy to work, and with his loyalty being tested so much here, he’s intent on eliminating traitors and dissent until he can focus on Luke once again. What this means is that he’s going all-in on dealing with Crimson Dawn. And I totally understand that and it’s exactly what someone like him should be focused on as a large operation. With what we’ve through the Doctor Aphra series and the War of the Bounty Hunters, the Crimson Dawn folks are at all levels and they’re also starting to get sloppy. So focusing on eliminating them and cementing control more fully again makes for an engaging path.
Pak has the right idea but the execution is clunky here. Across the issue, we get to a couple of different worlds where we see a team for hire taking down a local Crimson Dawn official while another has a group that’s doing the same thing for free. Ochi has been figuring out who to bring together for a specialized hunting team for Vader and introducing them to him. There’s an amusing kind of idolization of Vader as the hero they’re looking for to deal with the organization that has ruined lives, so it makes sense. But Vader also makes clear, at least to Ochi, that they’re all just tools to him in his larger quest of order. The flashbacks to Luke and Palpatine reinforces this well but it is amusing to see this kind of strange ragtag group that Ochi has gotten together for him.
In Summary:
While I like the general direction that this book may take for a bit, even if the Crimson Dawn piece may be a bit too overused already, it’s a clunky start in narrative terms. I’m already figuring on not trying to really get to know any of the new characters because most, if not all of them, will be dead soon either by Crimson Dawn of Vader’s hand. But it could provide a reasons for Vader’s lack of focus on Luke at this point makes sense while also driving up a reminder of what defined him back in Attack of the Clones with his desire for real order in the galaxy, from his point of view.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology | Amazon Kindle
Release Date: December 1st, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
