Today saw the release of the 49th and penultimate issue in the third volume of Star Wars: Darth Vader from Marvel Comics, and below are my brief recap and thoughts on this installment.
Darth Vader (2020) #49 begins on the world of Endoviara Seven, where the titular Dark Lord of the Sith has been incapacitated by the group of cyborg rebels known as the M.A.R. Corps. As payback for what Vader had previously done to them, these cybernetic soldiers have implanted him with a droid brain that controls his body, while the loyal Lieutenant Pryde looks on helplessly. Meanwhile on Caranthanax B, Luke Skywalker helps Queen Amidala’s former handmaiden Sabé repair her ship after he cut it to shreds with his lightsaber in the previous issue. But then an Imperial vessel arrives in the atmosphere and Sabé, Luke, the Force-sensitive thief Warba Calip, and their droids must take cover as battle droids sweep the area and blow up the Naboo starship. Luke cuts down the droids easily, but when he confronts Fabarian– the agent of the Schism Imperial in charge of them– they are both bombarded by a blast from Vader’s Kyber staff, now wielded by Governor Tauntaza.
Tauntaza is stunned by the blast herself due to the backdraft from the weapon, and back on Endoviara we see Vader negotiate with the M.A.R. Corps for their help in preventing Administrator Moore and the rest of the Schism from killing his son Luke Skywalker. Naturally they are confused as to why they would need to negotiate when they clearly have the upper hand, but as the forensics droid ZED-6-7, Vader is about to break loose from his constraints, both physically and mentally. Next we see that Luke has helped Fabarian escape the blasts from the Kyber weapon, although the wayward Imperial officer is now short one leg, and Moore is forced to don Tauntaza’s suit now that the governor has been sidelined. But there’s one other factor that nobody on the planet had yet considered– Tauntaza’s death machine from previous issues, which lands on the planet with a “Shakoom!” Over Fabarian’s commlink, Moore offers Skywalker an truce to team up and take down the Empire, ruling the galaxy between the Schism and the Rebel Alliance.
Fearing for the lives of everyone else around him, Luke gives in to Moore’s demands and reveals his location, just as Darth Vader arrives with the M.A.R. Corps. Moore fires her Kyber staff at Skywalker, but at the last moment Vader is able to shield his son from the blast, and the issue ends with Moore, Luke, and Sabé recoiling from the realization that the Dark Lord of the Sith has arrived. I thought this was a really solid issue with some very interesting changes of status among both our heroes and the various villains scheming in the shadows around them. And it seems like writer Greg Pak has set up the narrative for an explosive finale in the big issue #50 coming up next month. In the meantime, he and artist Raffaele Ienco have done a great job here in keeping the momentum going as all of these characters travel along their collision courses with each other. Obviously Vader and Luke must survive this encounter to live on into the events of Return of the Jedi, but I believe the fates of just about everybody else (except Pryde, who pops up much later on in the timeline via The Rise of Skywalker) are on the table.
Star Wars: Darth Vader #49 is available now wherever comic books are sold.