Star Wars gave
audiences one of the greatest villains ever in Darth Vader. The
towering, imposing figure dressed in black with a penchant for Force
choking people is someone you don’t soon forget. About the only
thing that’s been missing is a standalone comic series where Vader
gets to be a bad-ass issue after issue. Dark Horse’s Darth Vader
and the Lost Command looks like it might be that series.
Darth Vader and the Lost Command
takes place in the murky times between the end of Revenge of the
Sith and the beginning of A New Hope. It looks like it
will delve into some of the psyche of Vader as he is plagued by
thoughts of what his life could have been if he didn’t stray towards
the Dark Side. There also appears to be some tension between Vader
and the Emperor and other high ranking members of the Empire as
Vader’s personal goals appear to be getting the better of him. All
of this is the backdrop to his latest mission, the recovering of a
missing Admiral, Moff Tarkin’s son, who has disappeared along with
his crew in the Ghost Nebula.
The beginning, a vision in Vader’s mind, is
encouraging as it shows the series is going to try and do something
different and add something to the mythos of Darth Vader, but at the
same time it’s easy to feel apprehensive about changing or adding to
such an iconic character. Part of the allure, for me, behind Vader
was the mystery of the half machine/half man. The new trilogy
crushed some of that mystery and it’s hard not to be concerned the
same thing could happen here. That being said it is great to see
Vader starring in his own series, a largely action packed series
that sees Vader devastating foes before him with relative ease. In
battle this is certainly the Vader of old who would scare the pants
of you and make you think twice about picking up that blaster.
Captain Shale, so far, appears to be a good
addition. A competent commander, he presents a different style of
battle to Vader’s all out assault with the Force. Not that you could
ever get sick of watching Force powers but the two styles keeps the
action fresh and I find myself wanting to know more about him. It’s
also nice to see the 501st Legion back in the fold. It
would be nice to see some of the 501st members expanded
upon but I can’t see that happening. The dialogue captures the
essence of Star Wars helping it feel like it fits within the
universe.
It was a little confusing at the beginning when
Vader was being pieced back together. It looked like the scene at
the end of Revenge of the Sith, but then as Vader speaks to
the Emperor its clear this was sometime after that event. A little
time indicator would have been nice to clear up any confusion.
Rick Leonardi’s artwork is okay. At times his
clone/stormtrooper designs were a little on the chunky side and the
shadow technique he used is not one that I am a fan of. Leonardi
uses a series of black dots in areas that are meant to be in shadow,
like the Emperor’s face under his hood, and at first I thought it
was an issue with the printing until it appeared throughout the
book. It’s a shame because Leonardi handles the different vehicles
and locations of the Star Wars universe quite well and his
action panels are great. It really is awesome seeing Vader
deflecting blaster shots like its nothing while talking to Commander
Voca and then slicing and dicing with his lightsaber. While a lot of
the issue is action there are a few nice dramatic nods like when
Vader looks at the female resistor who has been knocked out by Shale
that goes well with writer Haden Blackman’s earlier character work.
Obviously you’re going to need a bit of an
understanding of the Star Wars universe to read this book but
for those that do you’ll certainly be satisfied with this look at
the man in black, Darth Vader.
