Darth Vader (2020) #39
CRUCIBLE OF HATE
In an attempt to end Darth Vader once and for all, Mas Amedda ordered the ”Executor” destroyed under the ruse of containing the droid scourge overtaking the ship.
However, Vader and his droids escaped to the planet Mustafar, where he once again confronted the Eye of Webbish Bog to seek guidance on his quest for power.
All the while, ZED has been overtaken by the scourge that was affecting droids on the ”Executor”, including a dangerous, giant Octuptarra….
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Raffaele Ienco
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Federico Blee
Cover artist: Leinil Francis Yu
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Release Date: October 4, 2023
It’s not often we find Vader in genuine peril, but the opening panels of issue #39 of Darth Vader deliver just that. As Vader’s loyal droid Zed goes missing, he soon returns, but he’s no longer the loyal droid Vader knew but instead has been taken by the scourge, as has a towering Octuptarra Droid which not only is able to resist electrical attacks but also seems reistant to Vaders attack with the Zaly Shield. As the full and fine control use of the Force is beyond Vader, he strugggles to use his powers gto their full potential, while Zed is attacked by Vader’s remianing loyal droid Arex. Zed / Scourge gains the upper hand, accessing Zed teachings as a Jedi droid and learning that ‘Hate leads to suffering’ to which Vader angrily counters ‘no, hate leads to power‘ just as he’s drop-kicked by the Octuptarra droid.
While Arex trained with Jedi he has little knowledge of Sith training, but hypothesizes that their power comes from hate, and directs his fellow Vader loyal droids to fire on the dark Lord, to fire him up. Vader responds in kind, but as the Octuptarra approaches Arex asks his master ‘who do you really hate?‘ as the towering droids laces down more fire. Arex starts to crumble as Vader stands firm behind the Zaly shield and casts his mind back to childhood; around his mothers dining table with Qui-Gon, Jar Jar and Padme, holding his mothers dead body in his arms, learning from his master that in his anger he killed his pregant wife….
Arex asks again, who do you hate, but Vader doesn’t verbalise – instead he focuses, intoning the word ‘hate…leads to power’ and with the Force lifts the Octupterra droid, slamming it to the ground and moving in with his red blade, eventually cleaving the ‘head’ in two. His formerly loyal droid Zed approaches, the words of the scourge coming from his vocoder. The scourge believes Vader fears him the most, the coming of the rust, but Vader disagrees, and after slicing the head from Zed he lifts Arex who claims the Force is everything. No, ‘I am everything‘ replies Vader as he walks back to his castle.
Back in his castle, Vader meditates and hears the voicde of his master who knows Vader has looked deep enough and found the person he hates the most – himself, and then the twist. He looked deeper, and Palpatine realises. ‘Then I will see you soon‘ he replies, laughing as we end another illuminating issue. We’re already almost halfway through the Dark Droids storyline and its spin-offs and while the climax is still clearly a way off, the jpourney to it has been fascinating so far. Here, to get inside the head of Anakin and see how much he despises himself is a moment, but to see him hate beyond that and let Palpatine know that he hates him even more was memorable. The Emperor seems almost proud, and as we race towards Return of the Jedi, this will add yet another wrinkle to their complicated relationship.
