I've really been enjoying the current Star Wars comics from Marvel, and have been enjoying the way they've been filling in the gaps between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. However, I've been pleasantly surprised how Darth Vader has been connecting the events of its story to the larger Star Wars universe. In its first story it explored things related to the prequel trilogy, bringing in characters and stories left over from Revenge of the Sith and giving them a new purpose; and now it seems like we've begun to connect to the sequel trilogy too, specifically The Rise of Skywalker.
Having disappointed the Emperor Vader has been badly damaged, left on Mustafar, forbidden from using the Force, and beset by assassins. This situation is one of the direst we've seen the Sith Lord in, and it's really been putting the character to the test, forcing him to have to get creative, and brutal, to survive.
Not only is this a good way of showing how formidable a character he is, but it also shows how constant Palpatine has to be in grinding away at the pieces of Anakin that have survived inside Vader. His sudden turn back to the light at the end of Return of the Jedi doesn't seem as sudden anymore, as we see that Vader has constantly been at war with the man he once was, and that it's only been through the machinations of Sidious and his schemes that he's not been able to redeem himself before.
I've really enjoyed this story line as it makes Vader feel a lot more human too, even though he's literally walking though lava on robotic legs whilst taking out killer assassins in this issue. In the films he always felt like something of a force of nature to me, someone who turned up and used their great power to get what he wanted. If the Force didn't do it for him his followers would. He never seemed like a person that really had to get his hands dirty, and when he did throw himself into the action it was always when victory was assured for him. Here we see him having to think on his feet, to use his ingenuity and skills to really have to fight to get by, and it shows aspects of the character that the films never really allowed to shine through.
Possibly most excitedly about this issue, however, is that it begins us down a path to Exegol, the ancient Sith planet that was introduced in the final film in the Skywalker Saga. The Rise of Skywalker has been something of a divisive film, with a lot of people feeling that many of the things introduced in it seemed to come out of nowhere, and completely changed the direction of the sequel trilogy at the last minute. I myself didn't really enjoy the film, and despite having some cool moments felt that it was an unexplained mess that left me more annoyed than anything else; so the fact that I might finally be getting some answers, that some of those last minute plot twists could finally have context really excites me.
I'm not expecting these next few issues to explain away everything, there's way too much left hanging by the film for it all to be explained away and justified in this series, but I'm hoping that at least some of it gets a little justification and backstory. Even if it's just some history on this Sith planet, and the beginnings of Palpatine planning for a future where he dies and needs to bring himself back, I think that would go a long way to making me feel better about the last film.
It seems like a tall order, to make that jumble into something good, but Greg Pak seems to be doing a hell of a good job making the Star Wars universe into a more cohesive and deeper place, so I'm sue whatever comes next will only make things better.
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