Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Raffaele Ienco
Color Artist: Federico Blee
Cover Artists: Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
Darth Vader and the Schism Imperial have finally struck a blow against Emperor Palpatine. They have launched a surprise raid on the planet of Exegol and the ancient Sith Fortress containing some of Palpatine’s greatest and most terrible secrets. However, after defeating the fanatical Sith Eternal cultists who guarded the fortress, now the Schism Imperial must face one last defender: the Summa-Verminoth. Read Star Wars: Darth Vader #47 to see how Vader combats this empowered space monstrosity.
Review:
Alright, I haven’t been the biggest fan of the direction and stories this series has been telling. And I’m still not a big fan of this current story. But I won’t lie that this comic was still cool to see when it gets to the good stuff. There will be SPOILERS in this review.
Okay, the comic starts with Lt. Pryde essentially being Darth Vader’s hype man and congratulating him, or to his subordinates, on his successful raid of Exegol and seizing the Kyber Crystal. Of course, the rest of the Schism Imperial members aren’t overjoyed, acting like sad sacks, but that doesn’t stop Pryde from keeping up his spirits. They beat the Sith Eternal and their droid warriors. But they’re not out of the fire as the Sith Eternal called out to the giant Summa-Verminoth that they empowered with a release of dark side Energy from the red Kyber Crystal. Now, it’s Vader vs. the buffed up Summa-Verminoth.
I’ll start with the negatives and then go with the positives. First, the characters’ dialogue is still mediocre and the Schism Imperial members all still sound like they came from a teen drama except for Administrator Moore. The Sith Eternal are pretty much useless and present no threat and are just leaving it to the giant psychic space squid to solve their problems.
But the biggest problem has to be that the comic essentially skips the actual raiding of Exegol, the secret Sith Fortress of Emperor Palpatine that’s filled to the gills with Sith worshippers, custom deadly battle droids, and other artificial horrors at his beck and call. Do we see Vader and company face any of that? No. We just skip the good part, or what could’ve been a good part of the story, to skip to the final boss battle.
Speaking of that boss battle, it’s not much of a battle, but it ends up being cool for what it is. See, most of this comic is really just Darth Vader prepping himself to destroy the Summa Verminoth, and unlike the one he fought and tamed before, this one has been upgraded thanks to the Sith Eternal. So, Vader ends up grafting elements of the different items that the Schism Imperial have seized like one of the power rods, a piece of the red Kyber crystal, and using his staff and shield to charge himself as well. And doing all of this so he can ride on top of his imperial transport and blast the Summa-Verminoth to pieces. And with Raffaele Ienco’s art, Vader looks good doing this.
Final Thoughts:
Star Wars: Darth Vader #47 concludes the raid on Exegol while setting things up for the immediate future. While the comic skips the actual raid, we get the stage set for Vader’s confrontation with the juiced up Summa-Verminoth. Admittedly, getting to see Vader with all his upgrades blast the creature into bits was cool to see. What matters now is seeing what ramifications will spin out of this event for Darth Vader and the Schism Imperial.