Review: The Scourge Comes For It All in ‘Star Wars: Dark Droids’ #2
Marvel’s Dark Droids refuses to mess around. It’s playing out much like a horror movie, giving the viewer just enough frights to keep them on the edge of their seats while trickling out information about the threat.
Issue #2 of the core miniseries does a lot of heavy lifting, squashing any doubt on what precisely the Scourge is, where it came from, and what it wants. In the last issue, we were introduced to the opening stages of its plan, but after a month of taking over droids across every Star Wars comic, phase 2 is next. It came for the metal; now it’s time for everything else.
“Everything else” plays a massive role in this issue, providing horrifying imagery and snappy writing from Charles Soule. He and artist Luke Ross are having a ball with this series, resulting in another fun entry in this crossover quickly becoming a must-read on the merits of its sheer audacity alone.
Spoilers ahead…
What should have been more explicit in the previous issue was exactly where the Scourge originated. Heck, it wasn’t even clear that the disk was actually a little spider creature. In any case, the Scourge’s monologue gets into the last time it was free in the galaxy. It doesn’t say how far it got, only that the Force stopped it. The Sith specifically locked it away inside the Fermata Cage. Thanks Qi’ra. Your fake-out in Hidden Empire started all of this.
With the Force as its enemy and a growing need to expand from the metal into organic “meat” to survive, the infected C-3PO makes his way to the only known Force user it can access. But unfortunately, it runs into R2 along the way. The Scourge hasn’t taken over the astromech yet, meaning it has to deal with the threat. It remedies the situation by kicking R2 out of the airlock (and into the D-Squad spinoff).
Once alone with Luke, C-3PO, AKA the Scourge, asks Luke if droids can use the Force, pointing out that Luke himself is partly mechanical. Luke doesn’t know for sure if there is a correct answer to the question given his limited knowledge, but he says it could be possible, which further puzzles the Scourge.
A significant point in the issue is that it’s ready to make the switch to taking over the “meat.” There’s a very unsettling page where we see the Scourge’s experiments in combining human arms and legs with droids. All have failed, and the Scourge believes this is due to the Spark Eternal. I remain skeptical of the Spark Eternal’s inclusion in this crossover, and apparently, the Scourge is thinking the same. It remains dormant within the Scourge’s being for some unknown reason. I like the similarities between what we assume would be the making of an artificial intelligence takeover in the real world. Technology is constantly learning and taking in new information, so all the Scourge needs is information on how to control the Force, which might be the key to getting into the meat since the Spark Eternal isn’t doing its implied duty.
Luke then may have inadvertently given the Scourge the answer when he mentions Darth Vader. More on that later because first, we must get through another confusing segment with Ajax Sigma and the Colony of the Second Revelation.
What even is this version of Ajax? The entire set-up of the character between Han Solo & Chewbacca and the Revelations one-shot painted him as a murderous warlord hell-bent on putting droids in power. The Jedi had to step in and stop him because his methods were too violent. Now, this reborn Ajax is just a peaceful warrior that simply wants droids to be respected? The Ajax we thought we were getting and the one in Dark Droids are two different characters. Soule and the Marvel team need to rectify this quickly.
Ajax seeks to stop the Scourge before it ruins everything he does to restore value to the good name of “visioned droids.” They aim to board an Imperial Star Destroyer and take out their enemy. It’s not clear if it’s the Executor (where Darth Vader is currently fighting off his problems), but this B-plot needs to get going because it feels very out of tune with everything else going on.
Back to the good stuff, C-3PO can’t stay hidden among the rebels any longer (that sentence feels so weird to write). It orchestrates a ruse that throws the entire Alliance fleet for a loop, and now nowhere is safe. No place the Scourge doesn’t have influence. Everyone might know something is wrong with the droids, but nobody will be powerful enough to stop it after the Scourge gains control of one particular person. The information gathered across the issue leads it to conclude that it needs a host with human meat, metal, and the Force. One person alive has that. The Scourge now has its sights on Darth Vader.
Dark Droids #2 is another solid entry. Soule brings a tangible “final boss” feeling that all our heroes must conquer. Doing the main miniseries primarily from the Scourge’s point of view is an inspired choice, with Ross’ art matching the twisted energy being brought to this new and complex entity. A part of me wishes things would kick into high gear quicker, but with so much story left across this core series, four ongoing ones, and another still to come, this Dark Droids saga is largely on the right track.
RATING: 7/10
Nate uses his love for Star Wars and movies in general as a way to cope with the pain of being a Minnesota sports fan. When he's not at the theater, you can usually find Nate reading a comic, listening to an audiobook, or playing a Mario video game for the 1,000th time.
