Darth Vader (2020) #26
INTO THE SAND
After listening to the plight of Kitster and Wald’s community, Darth Vader and Sabé launched an attack against the corrupt Governor Tauntaza, who has been working with Crimson Dawn.
The governor has eluded Darth Vader’s grasp twice, escaping to a fortress concealed within an artificial sandstorm.
Outraged by this failure, Darth Vader ordered his command ship to target the governor’s flagship should he fail to capture her the third time….
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Raffaele Ienco
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Cover artist: Rahzzah
Editor: Mark Panicci
Release Date: 24h August 2022
One of the most effective ways of bridging gaps between eras and bolstering the meaning of current events, the flashback is an often used – and often misused – storytelling device. On the small and large screen, various ways of imparting exposition can see characters enter bacta tanks, gaze wistfully into middle distance while stirring music plays or hard cut to days past. In comics, while less kinetic, different methods are employed, but few are as efficient as those employed in the current run of Darth Vader. Lifted by the always stellar artwork of Raffaele Ienco, an orange-hued look back to the events of Attack of the Clones (unfairly maligned, but never far from the crux of galactic history), his hatred of sand and love of Padmé juxtaposes perfectly with current events as the storms of Gabredor III threaten to overwhelm our cast of characters as former podracing champion Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader steps in to a podracer made by his childhood friend Kitster to find Sabé in the storm.
It’s a vivid, smile-inducing image, to see Vaderkin on a pod once again, and as he blasts into the unforgiving storm, dodging wreckage strewn like confetti, he thinks back to his childhood as he navigates a Tatooine sandstorm to find his mother Shmi. He promises he’ll never leave her, remembers their parting as he left with Qui-Gon Jinn, meets the Jedi Council for the first time, finds his kidnapped mother, slays the Sand People, all to the backdrop of sand. We see Padmé fall from the Republic Dropship, tumbling to the sand below as he grudgingly does his duty, and back to the present as he finds Kitster – none the wiser as to who’s beneath the armour – and uses the Force to lift a huge tank where Kitster claims Sabé lies beneath, freeing her before the storm rages even harder.
We switch to the skies and the Executor, as Admiral Piett receives the order from Vader – incinerate his position, which is queried until a Force choke persuades Piett to fire, and below we see Vader, Kitster and Sabé exit from the tank, the sands turned to glass as on Coruscant the Emperor laughs….
Some may view this issue as a fill in, the majority of it re-treading old ground we know well from the three prequel films, but presented as it is the relevance of those scenes shifts, giving us a new view on these key moments. What we do get in the ‘now’ only highlights the current state of mind of Vader, a view given heft thanks to the Emperors observation that he couldn’t save his mother of his wife, but now – saving Sabé – he thinks he can. It’s deft, smart storytelling from Greg Pak, who is giving us insight we couldn’t dream of just a few years ago. With an art team truly in their groove, behind a stunning cover by Rahzzah, this really is a treat.
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