Darth Vader (2017) 1: The Chosen One: Part I
What is it ? : We pick up directly from Revenge of the Sith, Vader has just been patched up from his fight with Obi-Wan and lashes out through the force wrecking the room and hurling Palpatine against a wall. Palpatine blasts Vader with Force Lightning, asking him where his lightsaber is. Vader tells him Obi-Wan took it, but Palpatine tells him that saber belonged to a Jedi, he is a Sith, holding his own lightsaber against Vaders throat and telling him if he touches him with the Force again he'll end him, and hoping they never end up in this situation again.
Palpatine takes him to a window looking down on a ceremony, asking him if he knows why Sith Lightsabers are red, Vader doesn't, so Palpatine explains that it's because they make their crystals bleed, any Kyber crystal from a Jedi's saber will do, but they become a beautiful crimson, the colour of their anger. They watch the ceremony where Jedi lightsabers are being put into an incinerator and destroyed as Mas Amedda gives a speech about how the Empire is now safe from the Jedi and has entered a new age of freedom.
Palpatine asks Vader if he understands and Vader tells him yes, Palpatine could have given him any of those lightsabers, even Yoda's, but didn't. To which Palpatine tells him Sith Sabers are not given, they are taken.
Palpatine takes Vader to a planet, Gattering, dropping him off in the desert. Vader walks to a base where a sleek black starship sits with some starship thieves attempting to steal it, and they turn to attack Vader when they spot him. He hurls crates around using the force, and hurls the thieves themselves around until they all lie dead. . . .
High Points : A nice beginning picking up from Revenge of the Sith, showing us Palpatine's reaction to Vader's anger when he lashes out on discovering the death of Padme. Palpatine shows Vader who is boss, but rather interestingly he is making Vader build who he is for himself, rather than just giving him a new Lightsaber, making him feel powerful because he is taking what he wants. This obviously will come back to bite Palpatine on the ass later when Vader turns on him, but for the moment Palpatine doesn't want a weak servant, he wants a powerful ally.
Low Points : I'm not convinced of the timing, Vader doesn't seem to need loads of time to recover, from what we see it's less than a day while the droids bolt on new arms and legs while Palpatine stands and watches. So the Clone Wars just ended hours ago, yet somehow the lightsabers from across the galaxy are all already gathered and being melted down. You'd think they would have better things to do on the day a war ends than performing a ceremony. It feels based on the pyramid of German Helmets in New York after World War One, but that happened a year after the war ended rather than just days or weeks.
Also Palpatine telling Vader that Sith Sabers are taken not given, makes me wonder how true that statement is. As mentioned above it might just be to allow Vader to gain his power back, to let him feel powerful. Because I wonder which Jedi Maul killed to get the Crystals for his Saber? We know Ventress was given her Lightsabers by Dooku, but given he was a Fallen Jedi, and she wasn't really a Sith, they aren't the best examples of proper Sith tradition. But if it's true, there might be a really interesting tale of Maul's first mission to be told somewhere.
Also combining both of these points, the Republic has just fallen, they're still hunting down the last Jedi, the Confederacy has just surrendered, although parts may still be fighting, and they need to seize control of all the world the Confederacy once held And the first thing Palpatine has for his number one trusted ally . . . is a sidequest to get a new lightsaber. It just feels a bit inconsequential.
So what do you really think ? : It's an interesting first issue, in a series I've been told is the best Star Wars comic series. There's a lot of set up here, getting us into the timeline and setting Vader off on his first sidequest, so I don't expect too much of a first issue except for it to hint at an interesting tale, and this does that quite well. We shall see how it goes.
Final Words : The starship at the end of the issue looks like it's something Palpatine has had built for Vader, it's shiny and black. But that just raises more questions, when did he have it built? Why does it look like that, or did he always have a design for armour that Anakin would wear and just adapted it for Anakin being crippled? Why is it just sat in the desert surrounded by a wall and gun turrets, but no one to keep an eye on it?
Score : 8/10
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