Dark Droids #3
PART 3
“SCOURGE OF THE DROIDS”
In an effort to stop the Galactic Empire, Lady Qi’ra gambled on an ancient device to disrupt the Sith’s connection to the Force. She failed, and out of the ruins of her plans emerged an evil entity.
The entity is a scourge to droids in both the Rebellion and Empire and continued to spread its consciousness to any droid that it could, including the trusted protocol droid C-3PO.
After a brief conversation with Luke Skywalker, it dawned on the scourge that cyborgs are the bridge to the humans that it needs to further spread its control.
And there is no cyborg more powerful than Darth Vader….
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Luke Ross
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Cover artist: Leinil Francis Yu
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Release Date: October 11, 2023
The more we learn of the creation of the scourge, the better we understand its actions and issue 3 of Dark Droids opens with that as we see an old droid watch a hailstorm of diamonds rain down on a desolate world. To it’s eyes it means little; it’s unique, but there’s no emotional attachment. However, the scourge believed it was beautiful and snaps back to the present as C-3PO arrives at the fortress of Darth Vader on Mustafar. Controlling all droids, we follow a Mouse Droid as it winds through corridors and pathways, seeing ‘things that should not be‘ as it reaches more of Vader’s droids and we cut to the Star Destroyer taken by the scourge, now designated Scourge 01. It’s barely recognisable, spikes and pillars lancing out of it, and we view a towering droid as it ponders on the problem of how it’s failing to graft onto flesh. Cyborgs are the only way, and we cut back to Mustafar as Vader’s compromised droids smash his rejeuvenation tank and drag the limbless Sith lord away.
He may appear helpless, but Vader is never without power and using the Force, his lightsaber fllies off its cradle towards the two droids, but one of them manages to grab it in midair and hurl Vader to the ground, just as the scourge senses another presence; Ajax, who approaches Scourge 01 in his ship, planning to enter the destroyer through the engines and destroy the ship and the scourge with it. The plan is for Gertee to stay out of range in their ship and return for pick up, but the ship is destroyed and so Ajax takes his droids deeper into the former ISD.
The scourge is everywhere, subduing Vader while defending their ship and so may other droids across the galaxy. The scourge realises it may have chosen its moment to attack Vader poorly as Vader repels the attack. It’s a pivotal moment. The scourge tries to back away, focus on its own survival, and realises in a moment that the way to merge metal and flesh isn’t in one hit, but in waves. We see one of the tiny droids atempt to get near Vader, but the Force crushes it as Ajax, his plans thwarted by the scourge droids, leaps away from Scourge 01 into outer space.
We end with a shocking moment. Ajax may have failed in his attack, but the scourge has learned the way forward, and in the final panels we see Magna Tolvan, Lobot and Valance all taken by the scourge despite being spread across the galaxy. It seems the scourge has control of cyborgs, and Star Wars #39 can’t come quickly enough.
What a great read, the threat growing, ebbing, flowing and finally connecting with the answer it seeks. Multipart sagas like Dark Droids often sufffer from the problem of being 25% recap, 50% story and 25% set up for the next issue, but married to some sumptuous artwork, Charles Soule is managing to blend all these into something that feels fresh, dangerous, and markedly different from the Soule written crossovers that preceeded it, War of the Bounty Hunters, Crimson Reign and Hidden Empire. We’re not at Return of the Jedi yet – surely it must be close – but Dark Droids is proving to be a very satisfying excursion along the way.
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Soule, Charles (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 24 Pages - 11/15/2023 (Publication Date) - Marvel (Publisher)
