“Queen’s Shadow Returns”
Creative Staff:
Story: Greg Pak
Art: Raffaele Ienco
Colors: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: VCs Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
Darth Vader continues his quest to destroy the agents of Crimson Dawn, abetted by an unlikely crew of heroes and assassins. But every twist in the tale gets thrown into question with the shocking return of SABÉ, the handmaiden of Padmé Amidala! Who’s the hero? Who’s the villain? And will they choose chaos or order in the age of Crimson Reign?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The current storyline is one that certainly makes a lot of sense to be happening amid other events between films and it’s a sensible mission for Palpatine to send Vader on for a host of reasons. Greg Park has made it interesting to see how it flows thanks to those that are aligned around him, such as Ochi and the various people working with Valance, which offers some solid variety. This installment brings back Raffaele Ienco to the art duties and it’s definitely a good thing. We’ve had some solid guest artists stepping in but I love the way Ienco lays out the page, the particular close-ups that he focuses on, and just the overall style of movement and intensity. Sinclair’s color design also works really well, especially in the more Imperial aspects of this installment, making for a really good return to form.
With Sabe having found the birthing chamber where Padme died after giving birth to the twins, she’s able to get more details out of the droid, though all the dialogue is only about Luke at this point, and no mention of actual twins. Sabe’s done her work to reprogram the droid so that she can utilize him and get the data on Vader, which is what lets her set in motion the plan that we pick up on afterward where she’s planted information that is now in Vader’s hands with the list of Crimson Dawn members that have infiltrated the higher echelons of the Empire and Coruscant. Sabe, of course, realized that the only way to get closer to Vader was to be a target of his so she ended up joining Crimson Dawn, though she wasn’t stupid enough to put her own name on the list. What she’s set in motion is a bit of beauty, even if Vader is completely aware that it’s a false list as only half the names are actual Crimson Dawn members.
That has him and the team Valance pulled together with Ochi back on Courscant causing a lot of trouble. The team has moved into the population to find those on the list while Vader eliminates the ones on the list that are regulars in the Emperor’s throne room, the usual sycophants. It plays out really well with Palpatine amused by it while Vader is simply saying that he’s bringing the order to the situation as requested. We do see him connecting with Ochi later on about things and Ochi learning that Vader knew the list wasn’t right, but we later see how Ochi is even more deeply embedded in this mess than we knew, making for a far more dangerous situation as he’s now compromised by Sabe as she’s going to try to use him to deal with Vader again. With what she’s learned so far, she is becoming increasingly dangerous.
In Summary:
The Darth Vader series continues to be a whole lot of fun and this installment is no exception at all. Vader’s body count continues to grow and I delight at the way Palpatine watches so much of this play out as it feels very right for him. At the same time, seeing what Ochi and the others are up to and how they handle actually being viewed positively is comical and unnerving at the same time. But the big part for me is that I’m once again glad to see Sabe here as she continues her mission that has dominated her life and executing it carefully and with a lot of smarts. She’s an excellent character that I hope to see more of.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via Amazon Kindle
Release Date: February 9th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
