SW7N Review: Marvel’s Darth Vader #8
Issue eight of Marvel’s comic book series Darth Vader is out now. Check out our review after the jump…
I’ve had some time to think about this issue. There are some strange things going on here, but I like it.
First off, for those of you hoping you would get to see a team of bounty hunters conduct a heist on an Imperial ship look no further than the opening pages of this issue. Doctor Aphra, her trusty droids, and a group of familiar bounty hunters are in the midst of a raid on an Imperial ship.
The ship is a depository for “Credit Ingots”, what I’m guessing is the primary form of currency since that’s all these bounty hunters seem to be concerned with.
The heist goes off without a hitch, the bounty hunters collect their loot. We meet our first sinister Wookie named Santy, who ends up not being quite so bad, as he was in league with Doctor Aphra the whole time to double-cross the other bounty hunters collect the lion’s share of the spoils.
Turns out the Wookie doesn’t know who he is actually working for…Darth Vader.
This issue then takes a pretty sharp turn back to Imperial affairs. Several Imperial installations have fallen victim to similar raids by a criminal organization called “The Plasma Devils”. This is never clearly spelled out, but “The Plasma Devils” seem to be the group of bounty hunters and the heist we saw is the final straw for Grand Admiral Tagge.
Tagge dispatches the various cyborg assassins from issues #5-6. We can see they don’t all get along very well and their disdain for Vader is only rivaled by the one he reciprocates. As soon as they are all off, Tagge introduces Vader to a new Imperial officer…Inspector Thanoth.
Inspector Thanoth is a monocled fellow who looks like a nod to Sherlock Holmes. He is not at all intimidated by Darth Vader and we see his intellect is sharper than the Dark Lord has expected. Yes, Thanoth has a pretty good idea Vader of the trouble Vader is trying to stir up in the galaxy, and the issue ends before we find out what is to become of these strange bedfellows.
It should also be noted Vader has put finding Luke Skywalker as his priority. This side-business with Doctor Aphra and her thugs is a necessary distraction his methodical game to rule the galaxy, but finding Skywalker is a task he throws himself in front of at every mention in this issue.
This story is a little more scattered than the previous arc, but I’ve no complaints. I think this is going to be just as well told in the same hands of writer Kieron Gillen and artist Salvador Larroca. The first Star Wars Anthology film has some rumors swirling around it at the moment that made my eyebrows raise a bit more after reading this issue. I’m not going there yet and I can hear your collective SIGHS at this mention, but there could be something…
If you have been following the Darth Vader series, this is certainly worth your time. If you have not then you should get yourself caught up because they aren’t slowing down and explaining things to anyone.
You can order a digital copy at Marvel.com or at Comixology.com, or visit the nearest comic book store.
Kyle Larson lives in Portland, Oregon. When he's not running trails, he's reading and writing.
The (captain) plasma Devils? ¯_(ツ)_/¯
INSPECTOR THANOTH — TANO+HOTH=THANOTH
There is no post about it, that’s why here:
The new SW:TOR – KNIGHTS OF THE FALLEN EMPIRE (Outlander) trailer reveals new capital ships (floating in the background). They are simply awesome!
And there is no word to describe the beauty of the new SW: Shattered Empire artwork. Incredible…
Actually, Thanoth is the first plausible character that could be Finn’s Dad.
this isn’t racist BS, I’m serious, it makes sense and would actually add more gravity to Finn’s predicament in TFA.
The Rogue Stormtrooper – who happens to be the son of Vader’s roommate.
This sounds like something the story group would do.
Also, Thanoth looks super BADASS. He’s got the walrus-stache and the monocle, what more could you ask for?
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Thanoth is too old. Look at him. Any child he had woulld probably be Luke’s age.
Why is this ART SO BAD!!!????
Better than Leia. Lando, on the other hand, looks great.
Awesome! Can’t wait check it out.
Can’t wait for when the new walking carpet goes to work on Cylo’s pathetically lame underlings.
Oh and, puh-lease leave the twins for Vader.
O]|||||[o]||[==============================>
Cool! im gonna get it
is that bosk and IG-88?!!
Yes, Bossk, but a different number IG assassin droid
Great comic so far but i am not a fan of Dr. Aphra. A Miley Cyrus character leading and deceiving the galaxy’s most notorious bounty hunters is not believable.
She isn’t doing the deceiving… it’s Vader.
I’m with ya on this. When she was initially introduced I had to scratch my head, then after reading the first comic I sighed in resignation. She’s wayyyy too “modern-earth-millennial-esque” for the SW universe and her back-n-forth interaction with Vader seems to betray his uber-fearsomness in reputation and characterization from the movies 🙁 . Her character is written to make her seem like the “unsuspectingly brilliant con-artist” and/or the female version of a “Han Solo” (attractive, bold and cunning), but it just isn’t working for me.
Me thinks that Disney is trying just a wee too hard to make SW connect to their perception of modern world tweeners interested in sci-fi/fantasy fare.
Of course they are comics are for fucking kids
They’re trying to make a hip feminist icon for girls to relate to, since only half the market is interested in Star Wars.
Look at the “evil” versions of R2 & 3PO they threw in too. The Dr. definitely has too much of a modern feel to have in this timeline. Disney is really dragging Vader through the mud with this storyline.
A few thoughts.
#1 There were no black Imperial Officers in the OT.
#2 Thanoth looks like Morgan Freeman dressed as sherlock holmes.
#3 Disney’s doubling down on promoting multiculturalism.
Bonus: what do 1, 2 and 3 have in common with the OT aka real Star Wars?
Answer: absolutely nothing, so Thanoth’s existence is a continuity error.
Here’s another thought: we only saw a fraction of a galactic navy in the OT, so you can take your backward thinking and learn to live with a world where other races than “white” populate the Star Wars galaxy. The only one pushing an agenda is you and your ilk.
Atleast now the evil empire is not only full of rich white cis-gendered males. We’re still missing a few Sarkeesians though.
Can someone ban this troll please?
Agreed. Troll. People of all races exist in the real world and most DEFINITELY should exist in fiction. I fuggin hate racist pricks. And guess what…I’m white. And I’m pumped that Star Wars is following what should have been done years ago. Can’t wait to see boyega, Ridley, oscar isaacs, and Gwen Christie own their roles. All of them (even the whole cast really) are damn good actors. Just gotta see how the writting is. But it’s clear that driver, and especially oscar isaacs are phenomenal actors.
Because European countries got a LOT of immigrants and Veitnam don’t.
Movies should reflect who is present on the country – and like it or not, there are quite a few immigrants in the states that simply don’t get representation.
Hong Kong doesn’t have this problem because Hong Kong is still overwhelmingly Chinese/Hong kong-don’t-call-us-chinese population.
So, basically, Europe is rich = brought in immigrants, but self-guilty = those immigrants are still alive,
As opposed to how things would go with immigrants in China or Nazi Germany, America has a large chunk of it’s legitimate – comparatively recognized population that isn’t technically from America – Caucasians being the most obvious example if you wanna get literal.
It’s part of the deal, you take over half the world, your grandkids have to put the displaced non-you population in movies periodically. It’s not brainwashing, it’s mathematics.
I’m all for the good old days where people played with the front door open and cars were tanks and still had actors who were REAL men – but movie racism is just dumb, in every single conceivable way. And I’m twisted, I’m willing to try things out from my enemies’ perspective, and even then, it’s dumb.
Again, Morgan Freeman with Monocle is cool in my book.
Plus, it is not true that Asian movies do not ‘apply’ white (European) characters. Simply not true.
I know Korean, Taiwanese, Chinese and HK movies with them – and not only one. For example, French characters are popular.
FYI Morgan Freeman is awesome and older than TIME ITSELF. and he is armed with a monocle. You better tread lightly when speaking about this man…
Also, he’s just gotta be Finn’s grandpa, and it is awesome.
Disney retroactively changing the makeup of the Empire is a problem because for those of you who haven’t bothered to watch the OT, The Empire was exclusively white British men. There were no minorities and there were no women either. The point is the Empire should still be the same. Disney shouldn’t tinker with it. By doing so they’re creating continuity problems. No different than making a film about WWII and having a multicultural cast playing the Nazis (which is who Lucas based the Empire off of).
OT is what qualifies as “real Star Wars”? Fuck off, troll.
Hey!
I noticed “starwars8news.com” and “starwars9news.com” now leads to this page =D
AND http://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/
I was interested in making a star wars podcast. Anyone interested? If so, text me 7204543217 or message me on Facebook Trey Mitchell
You are insane for posting your personal number on an internet forum….
Yet another hip young teen rogue girl with attitude taking the lead. Seriously, why they keep making the same new characters? I’m not against more female characters, I’m against characters who look and behave like a female Han Solo.
Why dio I uave the feeling that in the end vader will just kill all these people off?
hah ha he, you kidder!…… -_-
Think I will not bother with the new comics.
She reminds me of Ania Solo .
I wanna see how vader eats sleeps and what he does on his days off
The Next Issue: Vader orders a Nerf steak and takes two space escorts out on town for a wild night in Coruscant where they see his Force Awaken!
In a world of robotic eyes, we get a character with a monocle? It’s so absurd, I actually kinda dig it. Will they feel the need to over-explain it with some sort of rare, degenerative eye disease type explanation?
Have the comics really added any new characters that are cool and add to the Star Wars universe other then fulfilling some social justice demands?
…. to my knowledge this is the second comic in the new SW Canon ending with the intro of a black character. Is this supposed to be the new Canon cliffhanger? No more war weary rebel fleets blasting off into the unknown before credit roles?
Will Smith emerges from the shadows wearing a cybergenetic implant over his eye, makes a trite comment (using improper English), screen fades to black followed by a blast of John Williams and a, “Directed by J.J. Abrams.”
I don’t have an issue with TFA and other post Jedi making Star Wars more “modern”. It’s moving the story forward. But going back to the old well of the OT timeline and making it more sensibly modern just disrupts the feel.
Before, the Empire was more fascist which reflected their goals of peace through fear and domination like any other fascist state does. Removing that makes the Empire just a tad more sympathetic for no good reason. The Rebels on the other hand were always more diverse so it’s would be less jarring to add such characters there.
Disney needs to drop this, leave the past to the past and just focus on what happened after ROTJ when big changes to the galaxy would be anticipated and sky’s the limit creatively to do whatever you want to do without conflicting with the past.