Darth Vader (2017) 16: Burning Seas: Part 4
What is it ? : The Jedi Advisor, Ferren Barr, orders his people to evacuate the cave they're hiding in, and takes a backup of his data from his droid, ordering the droid to self destruct. They don pressure suits and dive into the sea where underwater sleds but Vader and the Inquisitors have arrives in their submersible.
They scatter, and one, Nipaltoo, opens fire on the submersible, but Vader uses the force to crush his helmet drowning him and we get a flashback to Nipaltoo's sister being recruited by the Jedi and then the news of Order 66 coming in and Barr recruiting Nipaltoo promising to help him get justice.
As they flee another of Barr's team, Orvek, turns to attack the Inquisitors Submersible, but he dies almost instantly, and we get a flashback to his family's home being siezed by the Empire and him being recruited by Barr.
They flee to a large underwater construction, and entering it, two of the followers, Stell and Rebb remain at the entrance to ambush the Inquisitors, and we see them watching the military buildup and deciding they can't bring up a family in an oppressed galaxy, and being recruited by Barr.
Meanwhile in orbit, Tarkin is getting an update on the conquest of Mon Cala, that the Mon Calamari are fighting in two ways, either scattering into the deep oceans meaning that the Empire has to hunt them down in a hostile environment. Or they are fighting the Empire corridor by corridor of their undersea cities. He also comments on Raddus in the south having taken some of the Mon Calamari cruisers and overlapped their shields to create a fortress. And we see Raddus and his people wondering when the Empire will just give up, and Raddus say he almost wishes they won't.
Vader is leading the Inquisitors through the tunnels after Barr, when he receives a message from Tarkin asking him to capture King Lee-Char. Vader says that he isn't under Tarkins control and has another mission of his own to complete, but Tarkin tells him he will be in his debt if Vader can do this for him, so Vader orders the Inquisitors to deal with Barr while he heads off to deal with Tarkins request.
Barr and his last 2 followers find themselves in a dead end, and one of them instantly dies from a thrown spinning Lightsaber. And we see a flashback of them being threatened by Super Battle Droids during the Clone Wars and being rescued by Anakin Skywalker, and later pledging themselves to Barr as they owed a Jedi their life.
Seeing the Inquisitors enter the room, Barr throws down his lightsaber and addresses the Inquisitors by their true names, saying they are all Jedi. The Ninth Sister says she recognises him too, as he was only a Padawan, but those names mean nothing as they are the Inqusitorius now.
Barr tells them he knows of the Clones role in the fall of the Jedi, and that if you were once a Jedi, you are always a Jedi and he addresses the Clone Troopers accompanying the Inquisitors "Order 66". . . .
High Points : Now while we've seen this doesn't work in later stories, that the Clones either identify everyone with a Lightsaber as a Jedi (such as Ahsoka and Maul), or they have a supernatural sense for who is and isn't actually a Jedi, this scene with Barr identifying the Inquisitors as Jedi in front of the Clone Troopers and then giving Order 66 really works. He seems smart, using the weapons of his enemy against him in a very satisfying way, although I don't think it'll end well for the Clone Troopers.
And the entire setup of the story works well, with us seeing the origin story for each of Barr's followers, how they came to be recruited by him, from having lost family members in Order 66, to having their home seized, right down to just not wanting to raise a family in the Galactic Empire without freedom. And the final one, having been saved by Anakin, so helping Barr because he feels he owes the Jedi something, unaware that Anakin is now Vader one of the leaders of the Empire has a satisfying twist to it.
And these scenes show us that Barr isn't holding to the tenets of the Jedi, he's recruiting for Revenge, allowing his followers to die to save his own life, he's using Clone Troopers like machines (he even comments that they're like droids with their programming). Barr has fallen, and while he might be opposing the Empire, he's not a good guy any more.
Low Points : Nothing much to criticize in this one, although there's some stuff we've never seen before, such as ships being able to use their shields together to create a stronger shield, but this might just be something we've not seen before rather than a break with how shields work. Underwater the ships can be closer together, so perhaps this just works when the ships are really in proximity to one another.
And Vader in A New Hope seemed to have to follow the orders of Tarkin, reporting back to him when Obi-Wan is sensed aboard the Death Star. But here he remarks that he's not under Tarkins command, and only helps him on offer of being owed a debt. Again not necessarily a problem, just makes me wonder if we'll see why Vader's agency is reduced by the Emperor in the next decade and a half, and Vader has to being following orders.
So what do you really think ? : A solid issue, the use of the flashbacks to not only give us a connection to the followers of Barr as they die one by one, but also to give us a glimpse into Barr and the way he operates is excellent. The tactics used by the Mon Calamari continue to be interesting, providing a great backdrop to everything else that is happening. And the twist ending, with Barr outing the Inquisitors identities to the Clone Troopers who are programmed to kill Jedi is fun. Overall a very enjoyable issue which takes the story forward and keeps us guessing on how things will turn out.
Final Words : So, I'm guessing that Barr is going to get away from the Inquisitors while they're distracted by the Clone Troopers, but I'm not sure if he's going to get away to become a recurring opponent in the comic, or whether he's going to confront Vader and try to protect King Lee-Char. I guess we'll see next issue.
Score : 8.5/10
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