Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Raffaele Ienco
Color Artist: Federico Blee
Cover Artists: Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
Darth Vader has been tested for some time. From Emperor Palpatine, from members of the Galactic Empire, to the Dark Side of the Force itself, and more recently his enemies. A new enemy that is rampaging through the galaxy, possessing all manner of droids it can get its influence in – The Scourge. Now the Scourge has assimilated a new droid body, one familiar to the Sith Lord. Read Star Wars: Darth Vader #39 to see Vader clash with a deadly towering droid from the Clone Wars.
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Review:
So, the droids are taking over! Or rather it’s the mysterious Scourge that’s taking over all the droids it can get its hands on in the Star Wars galaxy. But recently, the Scourge has decided to direct its efforts towards assimilating Darth Vader into its fold. Why? So it can use and control the Force too. However, it’s Darth Vader and even in his current nerfed state, he still holds his own. So, now the Scourge has taken over Vader’s personal servant droid Zed (yes, that’s his name) to take the fight to Vader on his base on Mustafar and use a large Separatist droid to do the job.
From there, chaos ensues as the Scourge immediately makes its presence known and begins its attack on Darth Vader. Now, the fight itself isn’t too long or that interesting as far as the art goes, though the art is fine. The real meat of this issue is the second half of the fight where things get more heated up as Vader has to look deep into himself and ask the simple question: Who does he hate the most? We get some flashbacks from notable scenes from the Star Wars Prequel films, but it all comes full circle to the present. Where we see Darth Vader finally regain control of his power over the Dark Side of the Force, and it’s glorious.
It’s this section of the comic where Greg Pak and Raffaele don’t disappoint. Now, I won’t lie and say it’s a masterclass in storytelling or it’s breaking new ground when it comes to the character of Darth Vader. If anything the “big revelation” is something most longtime Star Wars have figured out long ago especially if you kept up with the Expanded Universe that’s now called the Legends continuity. Here, Greg Pak does spell it out but it works because he does it through Raffaele’s art and uses the flashbacks with purpose. It also helps that there’s a moment of satisfaction seeing Vader back in control and just tearing up the Scourge’s new droid.
Now, what keeps this comic from being say an 8 or higher is because the story is lacking some meaty context that’s provided in the main Star Wars Dark Droids #2 for the Scourge’s motive for targeting Vader. That bit of detail being that the Scourge actually has history with the Sith Order, and not the Darth Bane Rule of Two Sith we recognize rather when the Sith were many. There’s a lot of cool lore potential there that Greg Pak should bring up and flesh out in the next few issues. But more importantly is that this past event is what fuels the Scourge’s desire to assimilate Darth Vader above all things since he’s a Sith and a cyborg. Without that, this just feels like a simple tie-in and not the big plot point in the crossover event that it should be. This story feels like it’s just another day for Darth Vader and the Scourge is a convenient new foe to help him regain control of the Force. But there is something to look forward to in the next issue or possibly the next story arc once Dark Droids wraps up. I won’t spoil too much but Greg Pak’s run has repeatedly explored the relationship between Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, and this issue clearly hints that it’s going to do so again soon.
Final Thoughts:
Star Wars: Darth Vader #39 continues the battle between Vader and the Scourge which has a new droid body to fight with. The story and art really work in tandem here and while the Scourge’s new possessed droid provides the physical challenge, the real meat of this story is resolving the inner turmoil within Darth Vader. That’s where the art writing and art really pop in this comic and it feels good seeing Darth Vader go all out against the Scourge’s possessed droid.