Marvel Comics’ miniseries event Star Wars: Dark Droids continued yesterday with the release of issue #2. Below are my recap and thoughts on this exciting installment.
Dark Droids #2 begins with the evil artificial intelligence known as the Scourge unsatisfied with its accomplishments. While it has successfully spread like a virus to many of the droids throughout the galaxy, including those in service of both the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance, it still desires to conquer what it calls “the meat.” Yes, the Scourge wants to continue to expand its consciousness beyond the inorganic denizens of the Star Wars universe and into the sentient, organic lifeforms– but it’s having trouble doing so. Despite the fact that the Spark Eternal (which is half of what makes up the Scourge’s being) was able to possess living beings like Dr. Chelli Aphra, the Scourge finds itself unable to do the same, with its experiments in following through on that idea always ending in failure and death… not to mention some gruesome-looking half-droid, half-human output. The other thing the Scourge is going to have to contend with relatively soon is the population of the galaxy waking up to the fact that it has taken over its droids. As that moment approaches, a wholly different self-aware droid named Ajax Sigma (who I wrongly assumed would be the main antagonist of this series) begins to rally his troops to go up against the Scourge, as Ajax wants only to foster the notion of droid individuality– not slavery to a singular A.I. mind.
Meanwhile, at the rebel fleet, the Scourge-inhabited C-3PO approaches Luke Skywalker to get more information on the Force, believing that this power may help it gain control over the sought-after organics. But Luke quickly starts to suspect something is up, and little does he know that Threepio has already dumped poor R2-D2 out of an airlock so the meddlesome Astromech doesn’t get in the way of the Scourge’s plans. Anyway, the Scourge uses the info it gleans from Luke to determine that its perfect cyborg host may in fact be the Sith Lord Darth Vader himself, while Ajax launches a secret mission by turning one of its faithful droid compatriots into something of a thinking ship. The ruminations on droid-organic relations here continue to be fascinating– I loved getting inside of the Scourge’s mind and reading its thoughts on the best way to conquer the final frontier of organic matter. I was also intrigued by Skywalker’s rejection of the “cyborg” label, not to mention his refusal to discount the possibility of a droid using the Force. I do feel pretty bad about Artoo’s trust in C-3PO being betrayed so violently, and I’m terribly curious as to what Ajax’s plan might be to take on the Scourge as this miniseries continues. As always, I’m mostly just floored by the consistently excellent quality of Charles Soule’s writing and the skill with which artist Luke Ross and colorist Alex Sinclair translate that script into something so wonderfully vibrant and alive on the page.
Star Wars: Dark Droids #2 is available now wherever comic books are sold.