Comics Darth Vader #11: Shadows and Secrets, part 5 (of 6)

When does this come out?

 

Next wednesday, along with Shattered Empire #4 I believe.

 

Vader being sarcastic, you gotta love it

 

My Sig. Read it.

Then regularly check the linked thread.

 

I finally caught up with the Darth Vader series last night, and while it's had it's superb moments, by and large this had been a disappointment for me. A lot of it just doesn't have that Star Wars "vibe", and I felt the Indiana Jones and Aliens allusions were downright dumb instead of wink, wink. Having Grand General Tagge order Vader around like an a-hole seems a bit out of character, even if Vader is being punished by the Emperor, and Doctor Ahra just has a bit too much Earth-like sarcasm and dialogue.

Having said that, some parts are cool. And as seen above, I'm happy to see a Givin character, as they are a species so rarely used in the Expanded Universe.

 

Oh God, Vader lost his legs again!

 

Yes, that one is pretty weird.

 

The sass is strong with this one.

 

Vader is easily my favorite canon storyline so far.

 

It's very cohesive, original and meaningful. It feels like a real addition to the saga rather than "what's going on between ANH and TESB?".

 

Nice issue, things are clearly coming to a head.

Plus finally after 8 issues of waitng

Spoiler

Vader has finally lost his rag with Aphra and force choked her

 

Do you really want

Spoiler

her dead that bad?

 

So at the end of #10 there was something red and glowing in the background behind Vader. I was expecting to find out what that was in this issue, but there was no mention of it. I have to assume it was Thanoth spying on Vader and Aphra hence why he knew to have a trap set just in case she escaped.

SilentGuy66, I loved that part as well. My jaw dropped as I went from panel to panel. Very well done.

 

Spoiler

Wait. Am I dead?

*sigh* The downsides of trade waiting...

 

No you are not but by all the Zoochberry Dumplings ever made you deserve to be in a much better written and drawn comic series then this. I mean what is this supposed to be?!!?!?!? Frog Face?!



Read a friends issue and certainly happy I did not spent money on this, because somehow despite of itself this series is getting worse. The story, or what it claims to have of one, is not going anywhere, scenes are clearly just thrown together at random because they might look cool and woah the artwork has been getting worse and worse from issue to issue. Aphra really is the only good thing about it and she so deserves to just have a better comic series.

 

Aphra

Spoiler

Don't worry you're not dead.......yet

 

Nah, this series still manages to have to more story than Shattered Empire and Star Wars combined.
And this issue in particular was awesome. It finally got to the point where I was not sure if I should root for or against Vader, and I love it when that happens.

 

It's meant to be "Darth Vader" but feels more like "Aphra".

Vader is hard to write for so I can see why they did that but really the character they wanted to bounce Vader off should have been an Imperial Officer or someone working for the Empire.

 

I remember Gillen saying in an interview when Vader #1 was released that as the series went on it would focus less on Vader and more on his supporting cast

 

A villain doesn’t feel like a villain if there are not characters there we can fear for their safety. And for that to happen, we need to care for these characters, so character development is needed. This is something that always I felt that was lacking in Vader-centered comics/novels: that tension when you don’t know if Vader is going to off a character you really don’t want to be offed.

 

I must admit this issue felt a bit meh-ish to me, though the series itself is vastly superior to Shattered Empire or Chewbacca. The whole Thanoth investigates Vader thing is dragging on a tad to long, it was fun in the beginning but now less so. The visitations of various information brokers are feeling repetitive. I think arc 2 could have been condensed somewhat, maybe to like five or four issues.

But at least this had a damn fine cliffhanger. Maybe the waiting will pay off in the end, hopefully spectacularly.

Spoiler

At first I wasn't quite sure why he is force choking her, but thinking about it she did screw up and acted carelessly. I mean she even allowed the droids to play cards. No wonder Thanoth caught up.

 

Um... believable death when Thanoth shows up? Vader thought that Aphra was good as caught, and he couldn't take that chance, until he learned she learned something.

 

Given how brilliant Thanoth is set up to be. It would certainly be underwhelming if he hasn't figured out Vader is playing him.

 

I know it may be dissapointing to people who simply want to see Vader but it makes a lot more sense for Vader to have other people go off on all his personal missions. It would begin to look a little strange if Vader was constantly going from personal mission to personal mission himself when he is supposed to be a high ranking individual within the Empire.

I really liked this issue and it had some great dialougue. Looks like Aphra is going to constantly have to find reasons she can be of use to Vader though because it looks like as soon as Vader doesn't need her anymore she is toast.