“More Machine Than Man”
Creative Staff:
Story: Greg Pak
Art: Raffael Ienco
Colors: Federico Blee
Letterer: VCs Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
A DARK DROIDS TIE-IN! DARTH VADER has been taken over by THE SCOURGE! Or has THE SCOURGE been taken over by DARTH VADER? The Dark Lord’s journey in the DARK DROIDS saga reaches its climax with a shocking twist that digs deep into Vader’s very identity and future!
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 doing what it needs to in working on Vader himself with a lot of it and hanging out with a lot of droids. Unfortunately, as expected, the series is taking its swing through the Dark Droids storyline which is leaving me feeling very wary of it. With this issue, Raffael Ienco returns to the book after some time away and I couldn’t be happier as their take on Vader definitely delivers for me. 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.
While the Dark Droids story wraps up in a different issue, this is one of the last installments of the event overall and the final one for Vader. And it does continue to lean into the same thing that we’ve been seeing with Vader for a while in how he’s being tempted in different ways to gain power that will allow him to bring an end to the Emperor. This time, it’s the Scourge that wants to consume him as part of what it needs in order to become something more than just machine or even meat by gaining access to the Force. But Vader, as always, is two steps ahead of the Scourge simply because the Force has a bigger plan for Vader and is using him to achieve its own goals and flow in the greater scheme of things. It is enjoyable to watch Vader returning to things he was good at as a child in doing some mechanical and engineering work by taking the disk droids that the Scourge uses and creating a batch that’s under his control.
This does make for some interesting material as we see how Vader uses his ability to see through the droids it takes over in order to use the Force in a distance kind of way. It’s mostly to deal with a group of Imperials come to deal with him for his apparent rebellion against the Emperor, but it’s just yet another test moment kind of thing. For Vader, he’s continuing to try and figure out his place in the scheme of things and his desire for the end goal of order and we get some good action sequences to it and the continued sense of power out of Vader as he pushes back against the Scourge in a pretty engaging way. More interesting is the final couple of panels where a shadow group of Imperials looking to work a schism within the Empire because they find both the Emperor and Vader to be what’s really holding back the Empire from its large goals and potential. The problem is they don’t know whether Vader is an ally or a foe. It opens up an interesting area to explore next…
In Summary:
There’s a good bit going on throughout this installment of the storyline but it feels like an interesting tangent to the larger story than a central part of it, for better and worse. I like the central conflict going on and I like the tease at the end even though the designs aren’t winning me over right from the start since it looks a little too Warhammer 40K at first glance. But the issue as a whole is decent it’s just been going on for so long with this constant testing of Vader by the Emperor that it feels like it’s shortcircuited some other storytelling that could have gone on instead.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: December 20th, 2023
MSRP: $4.99
