Review: ‘Darth Vader – Black, White & Red’ Continues to Impress With Issue #2
Issue #2 is another strong addition to the anthology series, Star Wars: Darth Vader – Black, White & Red. Containing another chapter of Jason Aaron and Leonard Kirk’s story, alongside two other mini-stories, the series continues to be a fun, dark read.
Spoilers ahead…
The first story, Hard Shutdown Part 2, by Jason Aaron and Leonard Kirk continues the series-long plot of a cybernetic, Cyn Sendvall, trying to take down and dismantle Darth Vader. It’s revealed that Cyn’s father was a cybernetic surgeon who helped create the robot parts for Vader. Cyn’s father, ashamed that he couldn’t recreate the “masterpiece” that is Vader, operated on Cyn in order to try and recreate his work. Cyn, therefore, wants to get back at his father by dismantling Vader, his father’s greatest accomplishment.
What follows is a gory scene, as Vader kills his captors using the Force. He’s strapped down on an operating table but still kills them while incapacitated. While I’m not too enthused about the story, as Cyn isn’t too convincing of an antagonist, and his motivations are a bit weak, seeing Vader this powerful is always a delight to see.
Following that, The Endless Mercy written by David Pepose, with art by Alessandro Vitti, is another great entry in Vader’s mythos, as Vader fights against Xenomorph-like creatures on a derelict ship.
What struck me the most about this story is the artwork. Pages are just drenched in red. The color scheme lends itself brilliantly to the rageful and bloody theme behind Vader. But the alien creatures attacking Vader are also colored red, leading to some great color contrast between them and black-and-white Vader.
Finally, Power by Victoria Ying with art by Marika Cresta is the standout story of the issue. The story is about a young boy that is bullied but gains inspiration and fortitude from an unlikely source.
If I could level a critique at the two other stories, it’s that they both follow a similar plot of Vader being put in an overwhelmingly difficult situation, but finding a way to overcome it through sheer strength and power. But this final story in the issue is a standout because its focus is not on Vader, but on a little kid being influenced and inspired by Vader’s strength. I always found the best Vader stories to be the ones that don’t center on him, but on the effect he has on background characters, and it’s the same here in Power.
While the series continues to use similar plot lines that Vader comic fans are familiar with, the art and bite-size stories continue to be engaging and suitable to the character.
Score: 8/10
Born and raised in Hawaii, Jay Goodearl runs the YouTube Gaming channel “Good Games, Dude” His channel aims to open up video games to beginners and immediate players and help them understand what makes games the art form that it is.
