“Unbound Force”
Creative Staff:
Story: Greg Pak
Art: Adam Gorham
Colors: Federico Blee
Letterer: VCs Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
UNBOUND FORCE – Part TWO! According to the JEDI, fear leads to anger, and anger leads to hate. But does hate lead to suffering…or power? As DARTH VADER’S Force abilities spiral out of control, his lieutenant Sabé is caught in the maelstrom – and finally must confront the horrifying consequences of her choice to serve him. Will she choose darkness over light?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The recent storyline is one that certainly makes a lot of sense to be happening amid other events between films and but it’s also feeling like it’s eating itself with all the characters involved. Greg Pak is continuing to make good use of Sabe with this new storyline but I’ll admit some of the wariness is creeping in with how long you can really do something without it getting too complicated. With this issue, we get Adam Gorham to kick things off with the artwork and that’s not a bad thing as his regular work on the Star Wars franchise has been solid. His art style works well in carrying the tone and style so that it feels like a part of the big picture. Federico Blee handles the color design for their work here and that helps to bridge things together as well while also having some nicely stylish moments.
With Vader and Sabe on this remote world with little in the way of land, she’s again doing her best to reach through to him and get him to control his powers. With the Force a bit wild these days as we’ve seen recently, he’s clearly not in control and overpowered and it’s making him unpredictable. But he’s also using all of this to draw Sabe over to his side as he’s always looking for pawns to utilize, and she certainly could be one, and that has him giving her the choice to either suffer or gain power through her hate. The problem for Vader is that he really can’t grasp that beings can make another choice and not give into the hate like he did. With all that happened in his past it’s no surprise that he did and that it consumed him so completely. But the choice he offers her is a focused one, one that she has to decide on because he’s going to kill her otherwise.
This leads to an interesting sequence where she gets a vision through him of what she’s after but it’s one where she joins the Empire and uses all of its power and tools to force peace in Padme’s name and the vision of all the handmaidens. She does eventually reject it because that is not who she is but it’s a tough road to get there. One that has her engaging with Padme in the vision as well as discovering Luke there, and believing that all of this is actually Vader’s vision of what it could be with Sabe serving him. It’s definitely interesting and the Luke aspect gives her the belief that Padme was right all along in that there is good in him. And she wants to reach that for her most trusted of friends. It’s a solid sequence that results in Sabe being tossed away as Vader falls further to this wild Force moment, though we do get to see him distracted from following through fully since he has to deal with another attempt on his life by some seemingly random group in a small ship. It’s at least visually engaging even if it feels like it came out of nowhere.
In Summary:
The reliance on Sabe for a bit now has been an interesting thing but it’s also not working quite as well as I had hoped, especially since it went so weirdly big in the arc prior to this and using all the handmaidens. I do like Sabe a lot and exploring her story more is worthwhile, but it’s just falling a bit short. This storyline is moving along a bit better for me as it’s more focused and down to the two core characters as they work through everything. I like the strangeness of the vision and the communicative side of it all. And even though the attack at the end of the issue feels nonsensical, it’s executed well and shows just how intense Vader is and that it truly is hate that powers him. Good stuff all around but felt like it needed some tightening and slimming of the concept.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: May 10th, 2023
MSRP: $3.99
