‘Darth Vader’ #28 Review: Sabé Confronts the Emperor in ‘The Shadow in the Fire’
I was intrigued to see what would happen when the last issue teased that the Emperor was on his way to stop Sabé meddling with Darth Vader, and The Shadow in the Fire did not disappoint.
This issue gives us that confrontation, but in several ways that I did not expect. We also get a new perspective on what Vader thinks of Sabé, as the dark lord battles with his desire to be a strong Sith. I also thought this issue of Darth Vader would revolve around that confrontation with the Emperor, but that only takes up half of the story.
The other half has yet more ties to the prequels, forcing Vader to face another part of his past as part of his personal journey on the way to Return of the Jedi. It ends in a very fun spot with a cliffhanger that has me eagerly awaiting the next issue.
Between Sabé, the Emperor, and more glimpses into Vader’s psyche, this is the best issue of Darth Vader we’ve had in months.
Spoilers ahead…
The first surprise of the issue is that Vader is furious that he was at Sabé’s mercy last month. He considers her rescue a challenge to his own power, and that does not sit well with him. The revelation that Padmé felt there was still good in him infuriates him further; Sith typically view goodness as weakness, so he believes Sabé thinks him weak. This makes him determined to prove her otherwise and show everyone, including himself, that he’s still a good little Sith Lord.
When Sabé advises that they confront the Emperor directly, I imagine she meant “construct a plan to kill him” after it was revealed he was giving orders to Governor Tauntaza. Instead, Vader decides to use this suggestion to help him overcome his own insecurity, and delivers her straight to the Emperor on Coruscant instead.
It’s a surprising move, and not just because last week’s issue of the main Star Wars comic said that Palpatine was off-world visiting Vader on the Executor. Just when we thought Sabé had made a breakthrough and that Palpatine was going to have to intervene, Vader serves her up to him instead.
Palpatine reinforces Vader’s earlier feelings, that he associates the man Anakin Skywalker with weakness. By Sith logic, that reminder of the man he was would only have made him angry, rather than regret the man he’s become.
Palpatine then puts Sabé through a test and sets his guards on her, interested to see what she’s capable of. The disappointment on his face as his royal guards accidentally shoot energy bolts in his direction is very amusing, and he electrocutes them with Force lightning as punishment for their sloppiness.
He’s impressed enough with her that he recommends she continue to serve Darth Vader, but this decision could be the beginning of his downfall. Palpatine certainly seems to enjoy subjecting Vader to more pain at every opportunity, but he seems awfully confident that this walking reminder of Padmé and his apprentice’s old life will only strengthen Vader’s loyalty to him. It seems more likely that Sabé will eventually wear him down and her death will be a traumatic experience for him. Surely this will be Vader’s first step on the road to redemption in Return of the Jedi.
The Emperor sends Vader and Sabé off on a mission to Skako Minor, the home of the Techno Union that we saw in the final season of The Clone Wars, in the arc that introduced the Bad Batch. Zed gives us some exposition, telling Sabé that Darth Vader returned to Skako Minor after the war and killed all remaining Wat Tambor loyalists, replacing them with people loyal to the Empire. Since then, Wat Tambor’s grandson Jul is attempting a coup to retake control of the planet and presumably the Techno Union.
After a brief fight sequence where Vader kills some native cliff worms and pirates, he sends Sabé off to discover Jul Tambor’s location. The former handmaiden seems to be undergoing an existential crisis; now that she’s working for the Emperor, the lines between right and wrong are blurring, and she’s not sure who she’s meant to side with anymore. For now she’s working with Vader, but sooner or later she’ll have a decision to make, which I imagine will put her at odds with him once more.
Meanwhile, we discover that Ochi of Bestoon has been captured and taken to Naboo. It seems this happened when Sabé him ordered to go and confirm that Governor Tauntaza was really dead — a development that apparently happened in between issues — and we discover that the rest of Padmé’s former handmaidens are behind it. I love the reveal, but it felt a bit jarring as I really wasn’t sure if Ochi had been captured in the previous issue, and I’d just forgotten. It’s the one stumble this issue takes.
The final panel teases that the other handmaidens will hunt down Vader and Sabé soon. I can’t wait to see how Vader reacts to meeting multiple Padmés at once and the traumatic experience to which it will undoubtedly lead.
This issue had so much to chew on. It really is the best issue of Darth Vader we’ve had for months. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of Vader on Skako Minor, another Clone Wars battleground, and am really excited to see what happens when the other handmaidens catch up with him.
Rating: 9/10
Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
