Darth Vader #15 Review (Vader Down Part 6)

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Leia comes back from the edge. Find out how here…

Warning: this article contains spoilers for Darth Vader #15 (Vader Down, Part 6).

Darth Vader #15

Writer: Kieron Gillen | Artist: Salvador Larroca | Colorist: Edgar Delgado | Story: Jason Aaron & Kieron Gillen | Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna | Cover Artist: Mark Brooks

In the end, Vader Down ended up just about where one would expect. Darth Vader has survived an onslaught of Rebels and eliminated a rival. Luke Skywalker came close to learning a little more about the Jedi, but was forced to abandon his search. Han Solo and Chewbacca survived seemingly by the smuggler’s luck that follows Han around. And, Princess Leia made a difficult choice…

Princess Leia did it. She resisted the call of the dark side. She came to her senses. She finally realized what Han Solo knew all along. Her priorities were not in order. With the chance to shoot Darth Vader in the back and bring justice to the galaxy, she decided not to take the shot. To have done so would have been to sacrifice Han, Luke, and likely the Rebellion. She would have had her revenge, but at what cost? With Darth Vader destroyed, nothing would have prevented Commander Karbin, the Mon Calamari cyborg, from destroying her. While Vader would have been gone, the Emperor would have been free to find a new apprentice and solidify his hold on the galaxy. That apprentice might just have been Luke Skywalker, who was in the process of being escorted off-world by the Imperial Guard. The best part of this beginning sequence of the book was exactly how Leia came to her senses. Threepio is pleading for her help and outlining the peril in which her friends found themselves. She has a choice to make. As she considers what to do next, Gillen, the writer, and Larroca, the artist, insert a panel that can only be the destruction of her home planet, Alderaan. Leia realizes exactly what this mission has been about. Initially, it was about crippling the Empire and furthering the cause of the Rebellion. Along the way, it became about revenge at all cost. Leia realizes this, and makes the right choice. This was the best scene in this issue, and one of the best scenes in the entire cross-over.

One of the best things about Marvel’s current Star Wars run is that it has featured new characters and given supporting characters a chance to grab more of the spotlight. Series like Lando have delved into the backstory of the galaxy’s greatest smooth talker. Chewbacca gave the world’s best sidekick a series of his own where he got to be the unquestioned hero. C-3PO even finds opportunities to be heroic. In that vein, Chewbacca and C-3PO both received opportunities over the course of Vader Down.

Chewbacca ran concurrently with Vader Down for most of the duration of the crossover event. During the run of Chewbacca, everyone’s favorite wookiee got a chance to not only demonstrate his combat prowess, but also exhibit his resourcefulness, his compassion, and intelligence. His combat skills alone were not sufficient to liberate Andelm IV from the clutches of the gangster Jaum and the Empire. Previously in the pages of Star Wars, Chewbacca took up the call to travel to Nar Shadda to rescue Luke Skywalker when the Rebellion hesitated to do so. Chewbacca took a “no holds barred” approach to tracking down Luke and displayed the loyalty that has come to define him in the process. In the pages of Vader Down, Chewbacca’s personality doesn’t get the same opportunity to shine. His loyalty to Han and his Rebel friends is there, but Chewbacca is largely the muscle of the team in this series. That said, Chewbacca is largely absent from Darth Vader issue 15 and his appearance is limited to one of support more than ever.

The golden protocol droid is featured a little more than his hairy friend. C-3PO, along with R2-D2, has traditionally been a point-of-view character for the Star Wars movies. One of his main purposes has been to translate for his astromech counterpart. He seldom has the opportunity to do anything heroic, and when he does, those opportunities are largely thrust upon him. For instance, in Return of the Jedi, Threepio is instrumental in defeating the Empire on Endor. However, his importance is largely due to chance. He just happened to resemble a figure that the Ewoks considered to be a deity. When Luke used the Force to make it appear that Threepio had magic powers, the legend was sold. It wasn’t until C-3PO regaled the Ewoks with the tale of the Rebellion that they took Han, Luke, Chewie, Leia and the droids into the tribe, but the real opportunity came by chance. Therefore, it has been refreshing to see C-3PO get to take a heroic turn now and then in the pages of the comics. His most notable heroic act was assisting Chewbacca on his mission to Nar Shadda. When Chewbacca is immobilized by a shock bolt, C-3PO removes the bolt despite the danger to himself. Han Solo credits Threepio with “saving the day” in this issue when he manages to disable Krrsantan, the berserker wookiee attacking Han Solo and Chewbacca. Granted, this is another “by chance” scenario. Threepio has no arms, thanks to Triple Zero and BT-1, his head is on backwards, and Krrsantan has made the ill-advised decision to punch a droid in the chest. The result is that Krrsantan is shocked into unconsciousness and is no longer a threat to the Rebels.

Dr. Aphra, along with her droids Triple Zero and BT-1 (the bizarro C-3PO and R2-DS if you will), are some of the other featured new additions to the Star Wars galaxy that appear in this series. Of the three, Dr. Aphra’s story is the most interesting. When Vader caught up to her in the early issues of Darth Vader, he needed her to help him acquire technology and begin assembling a private army to combat Grand General Tagge and later Cylo’s minions. Dr. Aphra’s usefulness provided her with a stay of execution after her initial missions were over. She pledged herself to Vader’s service and has been working for him ever since.

From the beginning of this series in Vader Down #1, Aphra has blamed herself for the predicament that Vader found himself in. She was the one that used her contacts and abilities to find out Luke Skywalker was on Vrogas Vas. She failed to discover that he wasn’t there alone, and was in the company of a large band of Rebels. To her horror, she came to suspect that Vader would hold her responsible for this oversight, or worse, suspect she laid a trap for him. Therefore, she did everything in her power to assist her master. She utilizes all her ingenuity to assist him, and when that wasn’t enough, she sacrificed her most prized possession, her ship, to aid in defeating Commander Karbin.

Darth Vader wasn’t letting her off that easy though. He demanded “the boy.” What Vader wants, Aphra tries to provide. She laid a trap for Han, Chewbacca, and recently rescued Luke. She would have been successful, except for one thing. She neglected to take Leia into account, and she is knocked out cold by the Princess.

Vader Down leaves some questions unanswered. Undoubtedly, Dr. Aphra’s capture by the Rebels will be resolved in the pages of Darth Vader and Star Wars. But, what of BT-1 and Triple Zero? Aprha’s droids were last seen in issue 14 killing Stormtroopers in order to allow Luke Skywalker to get away. Triple Zero even had C-3PO’s arms. It is unclear if in the absence of Dr. Aphra they rendezvous with Darth Vader and continue their service to the Dark Lord. More importantly, what is the reader to make of the fallen Jedi temple on Vrogas Vas? This temple was mentioned by Obi-Wan Kenobi in the journal he left behind for Luke. After Luke followed the journal to Vrogas Vas, Kenobi spoke to him through the force to admonish him that he should not have travelled there. Luke was then attacked by Stormtroopers. That was in issue fourteen. That plot line was not resumed in the last issue of Vader Down. Luke remarks that he was close to something. Vrogas Vas is now squarely in the hands of the Empire, so Luke isn’t going to get a chance to go back any time soon.

Vader Down was an enjoyable event. After largely dealing with Imperial and Sith intrigue for the majority of the Darth Vader series, Darth Vader finally got a chance to put his combat and force skills on display. The storyline concerning Princess Leia and her struggle with deciding between revenge and preservation was worth telling. The conflicts between Han Solo, Chewbacca, and the droids on one side against Dr. Aphra, her droids, and Krrsantan on the other were almost a distraction from the larger story. Similarly, Karbin’s involvement was a distraction from the key plotlines. However, Karbin, or someone like him, was necessary for the resolution of Leia’s story. Unfortunately, Luke’s investigation of the Jedi temple on Vrogas Vas ends up as nothing more than a McGuffin. Perhaps it will become more important in later Star Wars comics, but it serves no larger purpose in the scope of Vader Down. This series changes the direction of the stories in Star Wars and Darth Vader and puts both series back on course from the events of A New Hope as they progress towards the events of The Empire Strikes Back.

Art: As with many crossover events, the art in this series was handled by different artists on an issue-by-issue basis. Mark Deodato and Salvador Larroca alternated taking on the art assignment for this series. Overall, I preferred Deodato’s work. His battle scenes were a little more dynamic. His skill in drawing faces was better than Larroca’s. I don’t like picking on the art, but take one of the final panels of this issue that features Princess Leia boarding the Millennium Falcon. If you didn’t know it was Princess Leia, you might not have guessed that it was her. Leia’s expression, intended to show joy at reuniting with her friends as they depart the planet, comes off as bizarre and almost shell shocked. However, Larroca does have the defining look for Dr. Aphra. In addition, Larroca’s Darth Vader is second to none among the Marvel artists.

Favorite Panel: There are many ways to do Star Wars well. When featuring the cast of the original trilogy, it is hard to beat putting Han, Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, and the droids in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon and setting them off on an adventure. Although their adventure in this issue is at an end, Larroca provides a great shot of the Rebels aboard the Falcon as they leave the madness of Vrogas Vas behind. That is this issue’s favorite panel.