Review: Vader Gets Closer to the Emperor’s Secret in Marvel’s Darth Vader #9
I hope everyone is ready for some more Vader action! I have found this story exciting and this months issue is full of more action and even has some throwbacks in the mix. Let’s take a look!
Continuing from last month, Vader has been left on the planet Mustafar by his master. He is not allowed to use the Force and is left with no way to get off the planet. He’s pursued by the bounty hunter Ochi, faced Webbish Bogg, and survived it all. Now, he is on the run from Ochi, who currently has Vaders lightsaber, and a group of assassin droids from Bestoon. Many would have no chance of survival, but the Dark Lord of the Sith is not taken down so easily. Oshi and his band of assassin droids chase Vader through the lava fields. The droids unload tons of blaster fire on Vader and nearly have him cornered when he takes out two of them with what looks like a metal spike.
The captain of this killer droid group takes a lot of interest in Vader’s skill and wants to take some of his “parts”. He ends up sneaking up behind Vader and taking a chunk out of his back leg. Vader hits him and runs for cover. The droid captain becomes angry by what he’s discovered about Vaders mechanical body parts. He seeks out Ochi and informs him that the chunk he cut off of Vader is obsolete and over 30 years old. Ochi informed him Vaders suit was high tech and one of the Empire’s greatest weapons. The droid captain doesn’t know Vader is a Sith lord and that’s what truly gives him his ridiculous abilities. The droid captain is having none of Oshi’s excuses and corners him. Just as he is about to strike Oshi, Vader pulls him through a crack in the wall.
Vader didn’t save Oshi for any reason other than to get his lightsaber back. He gets his weapon back, ignites it and the real games begin. The next several panels are some great art work of Vader slashing through droids. I was very pleased with this! Vader returns with Oshi to his old interceptor, left on the planet after his battle with Obi-Wan. He fixes a couple things up and demands Oshi show him how to read the wayfinder that he was given by Webbish Bogg.
After some threats, Oshi admits that the wayfinder leads to the planet Exegol. He sets the wayfinder up for Vader and is rewarded with being thrown into a separate pod, which Vader attaches to the bottom of his ship. As they fly through space, we see Anakins old hyperdrive dock is still floating above the planet. Vader connects to it and is off to deep space to find what the Emperor is hiding from him.
As they arrive to where the wayfinder says is Exegol, Vader realizes the trip will be difficult. He cant use the hyperdrive to fly through the large cloud that is outside of Exegols atmosphere. Oshi begins to yell at Vader, telling him to leave the system immediately. We then see why, the issue ends with a massive one-eyed squid looking creature blocking their way from further travel.
Review and Rating:
Another great issue in this current Darth Vader run. I am very excited to see what detail they put into Exegol when Vader gets there. It will also be interesting to see how far along Palpatine’s final plan has come at this point in the timeline. I really loved the throwback to Anakin’s old ship, and found it interesting that the hyperdrive dock was still floating in space. I would surely think some pirates or scavengers would have taken and sold it at this point, but I digress. All in all, I enjoyed this months issue and look forward to the next!
Rating: 8/10
Jacksonville,FL
Star Wars has always been a big part of my life growing up and now. Books and comics are my hobby when I'm not outside or watching the Eagles play on Sundays.
