Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Adam Gorham
Colorist: Federico Blee
Cover Artists: Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
Darth Vader is back, but he’s far from the same. After experiencing the threat of the galactic Droid Scourge, and dealing with test after brutal tests from his master, Emperor Palpatine, Vader is not letting any of this go as he presses on to achieve his own ambitions. But he’s not the only one in the Galactic Empire with ambitions as a new faction from within rises to change the Empire and they’ve set their sights on Vader himself. Read Star Wars: Darth Vader #42 to see Vader encounter the Schism Imperial for the first time.
Review:
Okay, now we’re off to the start of a new story arc, and hopefully one that’s more exciting than the premise suggests. There will be SPOILERS throughout the review, but this review won’t be spoiling too much, just the necessary parts.
So, the comic starts off with a sullen Grand Vizier Mas Amedda in the Imperial Palace, who’s far from eager to give his report on recent events relating to the Droid Scourge and Darth Vader to Emperor Palpatine. But to his misfortune, Sub-Administrator Moore shows up and subtly instigates his doomed encounter with the Emperor who promptly punishes the Grand Vizier while giving the now Administrator Moore a new assignment. The comic transitions to what’s left of the imperial forces at Zee-Nine City Seven (which I assume is somewhere on Corsucant) as we see a young Enric Pryde (from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) make his rounds before a Rebel attack.
However, this Rebel attack is unlike any other we’ve seen as they’re employing deadly cyborgs to fight the imperial forces and win, leaving Lieutenant Pryde in a cage defeated before is discovered by Darth Vader. Of course, Vader is there to mop up the Rebels, but he has his own ulterior motive: capture and repurpose the Rebel cyborgs. It is here where we see the new artist Adam Gorham’s art at work and it’s great. I’ve said before that Raffaele Ienco’s art was good but a little too static for an action-oriented series, and here we see Gorham’s art lends itself well to the dynamic action required for such a series. And of course, he makes Darth Vader look cool in every panel and page.
The only downside is that when it comes to some faces, Gorham’s art can vary from fine to weird and a little off as we see with half of the close ups of Administrator Moore’s face. And speaking of Administrator Moore, she pops up at the end at Vader’s Castle on Mustafar, after all the action ended of course. There she drops all subtly to be direct with Vader and try to deliver her own recruitment sales pitch about the Schism Imperial, which feature two Imperial characters that were introduced in previous story arcs but, to her own admission, no one of significance. But she plays it in a way that frames how, yes none of them are too high up the Imperial chain-of-command, they far from outnumber such individuals by the millions. And it ends without Vader giving his choice in the matter.
It’s easy to see him say no and choose to exterminate them all, but I think Greg Pak’s going to go the other route and have Vader seemingly side with them so he can exploit them for his own purposes. Out of everything, there are only two flaws with this issue. First is the whole concept of the Schism Imperial being pretty derivative since we’ve already been introduced to such groups before in previous Star Wars titles and even Charles Soule’s Darth Vader run. Either way, Greg Pak really needs to sell the Schism Imperial in the following issues. Second is the inclusion of Enric Pryde in this comic. I know Greg Pak really wants to include as much material from the Rise of Skwalker film in this series as he can, but this seems like the most useless one by far. Pryde did nothing here, and yet the synopsis went out of its way to promote that he was going to be here as if he would be a vital part of this issue. But all he does is get in Vader’s way and is just lucky he’s in the film or else Vader would’ve killed him like with any other clumsy imperial officer. My only hope is that he doesn’t show up again.
Final Thoughts:
Star Wars: Darth Vader #42 begins a new story arc for the dark lord and the Galactic Empire. Here we get new artist with Adam Gorham and he does an excellent job with the interior art which lends itself to the action that comes with a Darth Vader comic book. We get plenty of good action and even Vader experimenting with some new tricks with not only the Force but with what he’s learned from his experience with the Droid Scourge. The inclusion of Enric Pryde felt unnecessary and he didn’t really do much here. Hopefully the next issue sells the concept of the Schism Imperial well to not only Darth Vader but the readers.