Darth Vader and The Other Big Moment from This Week's Star Wars Comics
Evan Narcisse
Filed to:
STAR WARS6/04/15 2:30pm
Yesterday’s
Star Wars comic dropped
a big bombshell, introducing a character that changes everything we know about the galaxy’s most notorious smuggler. But, along with the newest issue of
Darth Vader, it showed the exact moment when the Dark Lord of the Sith learned who Obi-Wan Kenobi’s last padawan was. Yeah, the one he’s related to.
(Massive spoilers follow. Hover over the top left of each image and click on the magnifying glass icon to expand it.)
So far, the three
Star Wars titles launched by Marvel over the last few months have stayed on parallel paths. This is the first time they’ve crossed over and the moment they do reveals a key piece of
Star Wars lore.
One of the big open questions of
Star Wars’ continuity has been the when and how of Darth Vader learning that he had a son out there in the cosmos. Somewhere, between
Star Wars and
The Empire Strikes Back, Vader learned that the rebel pilot who blew up the first Death Star was his son. How’d he get that information?
Star Wars #6 and
Darth Vader #6 show how that happened. A Mandalorian was involved.
After the first story arc of the
Star Wars comic—written by Jason Aaron and drawn by John Cassaday—Luke Skywalker’s gone off on a sort of vision quest, with the hopes of
sharpening his still-raw Jedi potential. In the latest issue, his travels take him back to Ben Kenobi’s home on Tatooine, where he has a run-in with Boba Fett, tasked by Vader with the capture of the aforementioned rebel pilot. Their fight adds another new bit of lore to the new
Star Wars canon, creating a first encounter between the two that happens before
Return of the Jedi.
Even though Luke gets blinded by a flash grenade, it’s still no surprise that Fett doesn’t kill him. We do see the latter tap into his Force powers in a new (to him) way.
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Darth Vader #6 picks up the thread of this showdown, showing Boba Fett reporting back to Vader after getting bested.
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The series centered around the Dark Lord of the Sith has been the best Marvel Star Wars comic so far, because it’s given readers irresistible psychological insight into Vader. That trend ramps up this issue, as we see how the revelation of a son catalyzes a big shift in the acrimonious boss/lackey relationship between Vader and Emperor Palpatine.
At first, the Luke/Fett fight rubbed me the wrong way, because it seemed unlikely that a Luke who’s not that Force-savvy would win out over the more experienced Boba. But the outcome of their fight adds tension and motivation to Fett’s appearances in the movies. It stands to reason that he’d want a shot at someone who escaped him before.
Overall, I like this development. It’s the better species of retcon, one that enables more complex readings of already existing material. Vader discovers a reason to be more than just Palpatine’s chief weapon and Luke’s experienced a taste of what he can do with the Force, even if he doesn’t know it yet. We already know where these characters will wind up, but these new comics are making their paths much more interesting.
** Posts duplicados combinados **
Luke and Vader Face Off in Marvel’s Best Star Wars Comic So Far
Evan Narcisse
Filed to:
STAR WARS11/17/15 3:00pm
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Star Wars canon has changed, and some of that has happened in a new wave of Marvel Comics series. Months ago, we saw Luke Skywalker wield a lightsaber against his father way before their fateful meeting in
The Empire Strikes Back. This week’s
Star Wars comic has them dogfighting against each other and it’s damn great.
Spoilers follow.
The first installment of a crossover between the
Star Wars and
Darth Vaderseries,
Vader Down #1 launches a climax that’s the culmination of the first year’s worth of storylines in each title. Written by Jason Aaron, with art by Mike Deodato, Frank Martin, Jr., and Joe Caramagna, the first issue finds Vader following information—gained by torture and backchannel deals—that places Luke Skywalker at a remote planet called Vrogas Vas. The near-barren sphere was once home to a Jedi temple but it’s also a refueling base for the Rebel fleet.
The Emperor’s enforcer suddenly finds himself facing three dozen X-wings. The fight that follows is unfair...
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...for the Rebels, that is. The spaceship battle sequence that follows is the first of many great moments in
Vader Down #1, followed by another great scene where Luke and his dad aim their ships at each other at full speed. They both survive, though, and seem headed towards another pivotal new-canon encounter.
The key feature in Marvel’s new
Star Wars comics has been watching the titles’ creators dance around in the negative space of established movie continuity and drop new twists for readers to chew on. As far as new stuff, we’ve already seen Luke duel (badly!) against Vader...
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and barely survive an encounter with Boba Fett.
The Lord of the Sith
learning that Luke was his son was another highlight, one that established that Vader had an even stronger reason for finding the pilot that destroyed the Death Star.
After reading
Vader Down #1, it’s clear that father and son have been on a collision course ever since their last meeting, though it hasn’t seemed that way in the separate series. In
Star Wars, Luke’s been on a
hunt for Jedi knowledge, using Obi-Wan’s journal to guide him and getting captured by a Hutt who obsessively collects Force-wielder artifacts. Meanwhile, in Vader’s title, the newest storylines have had him backed into a corner by machinations to pursue an agenda away from the Emperor’s awareness. This has been an embattled Vader, barely dodging a new cohort’s master-detective efforts to root out the source of a high-stakes heist Vader himself put together. It’s been a tense workplace drama that’s shown Vader as increasingly vulnerable.
So, it’s great that
Vader Down #1 serves as a reminder that Vader is one of the most formidable warriors to ever exist in the
Star Wars universe. Scenes where he takes out Rebel ships from the ground feel like they could be moments from the new
Battlefront game and his arrogance in the face of overwhelming odds feels well-earned. Luke, on the other hand, still has lots to learn and the
Vader Down storyline might be where he gets some more painfully won knowledge.
Star Wars’ new future is only a month away in the form of
The Force Awakensmovie. But, the past of
Star Wars continues to change in fun ways, too, which makes this crossover worth paying attention to.
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Lembrando que essas HQs vem sendo publicadas pela Panini aqui no Brasil. Darth Vader, Star Wars, Princess Leia e Shattered Empire já foram publicadas em volumes completos lá fora.
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