Darth Vader battles IG-88 as the hunt for Han Solo continues in Star Wars: Darth Vader #13 written by Greg Pak, art by Guiu Vilanova, colored by Dean White with Giada Marchisio, and lettered by Joe Caramagna.
Between serving as a necessary moment of calm following the operatic conclusion of “Into the Fire” while also setting up the series’ involvement in the larger “War of the Bounty Hunters” crossover, last issue was a (relatively) lackluster, humdrum affair. But with the crossover gears turning, this issue has more freedom to ramp up the action and high drama, which it does via an attention-grabbing battle between Darth Vader and IG-88. “Vader fights a murder droid” is the kind of catchy premise this series excels at, and the showdown is smartly positioned as the centerpiece of this chapter. Of course, things are never as simple as they should be for Our Man Vader, as IG-88 has a trump card in the form of a remote control that allows him to control Vader’s cybernetic systems. This leads to another sequence of Vader overcoming long odds through sheer force of will (another of this book’s stock in trades) and, ultimately, the introduction of another faction working against Vader, all the better to keep him centered as the protagonist of the series even as he’s recommitted to the side of Palpatine, his main foe earlier in the series.
In addition to featuring another high concept showdown, this issue improves on the last thanks to the fact that the crossover elements are far less intrusive. Like everyone else in the crossover, Vader is on the hunt for Han Solo, but the why of it doesn’t really matter at this point: Han is a MacGuffin as much as anything, the quest object Vader is seeking in this story. The real fun and drama comes from watching Vader execute that quest; Pak smartly recognizes that and focuses on Vader’s hunt moreso than his motivations for conducting it.
In fact, the one piece here that is a bit curious & incongruous comes from the “character motivation” side of the narrative. By the conclusion of “Into the Fire”, it seemed obvious that Vader had emerged from that crucible committed to finding his son and overthrowing the Emperor (while outwardly re-pledging his allegiance to the same). This created an arc for the character to follow in this series while also recontextualizing and deepening events in Return of the Jedi. Last issue did nothing to dissuade that notion, as Vader recognized a perceived weakness in his son’s reliance on his friends and set out to neutralize it. It was a somewhat awkward way into the larger “Bounty Hunters” story, but it didn’t call into question the apparent conclusion of “Into the Fire”. Yet here, the opening crawl spells out plainly that Vader’s goal is to kill Luke Skywalker, and presents him as a once-more loyal acolyte of the Emperor, through-and-through.
Even if that is chalked up to editorial misunderstanding or oversimplification in the form of the recap pages, the comic book text itself asserts the same thing, with Vader’s internal monologue depicted via flashes of (literal) red in which his desire to hunt down and kill his son is shown to be the driving force behind his hunt for Han Solo. Furthermore, the use of the monologue to disseminate this information seemingly validates it, as Vader would have little reason to obfuscate or misdirect himself. It is all a bit jarring, as even if the wrong conclusion was drawn by the end of “Into the Fire”, the lack of ambiguity about Vader’s goals in this issue is at odds with how they were previously presented: nothing in “Into the Fire” suggested Vader was back on a “kill Luke!” path as starkly as what is presented here. Either that story needed to be more clear in its conclusion, or this issue is setting up some kind of fakeout for some reason (which seems unlikely).
Regardless, this unfortunate disconnect between stories mars an otherwise enjoyable issue. It’s good that the book found its legs so quickly after its somewhat-fumbling segue into the crossover, and the Vader/IG-88 fight is pure comic book fun. But if Vader’s arc at this point in the series truly is nothing more than a frothing desire to murder his son, it will be nothing but disappointing.
Force Facts
- It hasn’t really been spelled out, but the unnamed Umbaran administrator who led the Imperial task force against Vader in “Into the Fire” is in fact Sly Moore, Palpatine’s long-time aid who appeared in Revenge of the Sith (she is referred to as “Administrator Moore” here); the conclusion of this issue suggests she is moving against Vader in some capacity now, despite him being back in Palpatine’s good graces.
- IG-88’s ship appears here briefly, and matches the design of IG-2000, the ship created for Shadows of the Empire which appeared in the old Expanded Universe continuity.
Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him on Twitter @AustinGorton
