Comics Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith #1-6: The Chosen One (6/6 Released)

Not a fan of this issue at all.

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It feels like Soule was just writing Generic Evil Sith Lord and not Darth Vader. Vader engaging in wanton killing of troopers just for the fun of it is just stupidly out of character. He is not Darth Sidious.

Perhaps my disappointment is also due to the fact that this is placed right after the PT. The appeal of reading something after ROTS was always to see the Anakin within in slowly fading away as he grows more confident and uncaring in his evil, and albeit I was always a bit concerned if they would overdo his emo-ness and sensitivity, I surely did not expect the complete opposite, and it's quite jarring (I suppose Anakin's transition to the dark side was never smoothly done, but I don't expect the EU to make it even more jarring that it was already). And really, the heck is Vader’s character development going be in these series if he is already like this? Learn to kill less?

I suppose this is the time where I finally concede: Legends did it better.

 

Interesting issue! I love to see clones in action! Yep, Vader's helmet is a bit off in this issue.

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English is nit my primary language so can someone explain if Barash Vow has a meaing? I know vow is a promise/oath but what does Barash mean?

 

This issue introduced something called the Barash Vow. Sounds like what Luke is doing, did he take the Barash Vow after the fall of his order ?

 

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Not what I expected. I feel really really bad for the clones, but at least they died fighting. Feels bad that they only wanted to impress Palpatine. Well, I have to admit, that the Grenade thing was pretty smart from the clones. Unlucky for them, that Vader isn't a jedi. So much for my wish for Vader/Clones action.

I have to agree. After the great first Issue is this kinda a disappointment.

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I agree with the Legends part, especially because of the "killing of troopers just for the fun" thing. But you are right with the other points, too. But let's how the story will continue.

 

I really enjoyed the issue. Vader is clearly still working through his grief over Padme. The Clones are an easy target to "work out" some of his anger. He is also reeling from all of his friends in the Order being branded as traitors and killed.

I also love that there is no internal monologue for Vader. He needs to shut out his thoughts because they are probably just as equally painful as the physical pain he is currently healing from.

The art was overall pretty good. The helmet is clearly the biggest and easiest target for criticism. Also can't say that I thought the clones were consistently drawn.

That last panel though. Very cool. Can't wait to see these two square off.

As to the Barash Vow - YES! I love that the new direction of the story group is to breath as much diversity into the Force as possible. The days of Sith and Jedi being the primary windows into the Force are over.


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I agree with previous posters. Vader killing a bunch of troopers for the heck of it was way out of character. All the time I was waiting for some sort of explanation, but there was none.

And that's a shame, because I greatly enjoyed the rest of the issue, Vader's interactions with the droid, the idea that Jedi take lonely pilgrimages and how young and human Vader sounds in the dialogue. He hasn't yet learn to keep his thoughts and feelings to himself like he does in later years.

But I didn't like the helmet either.

 

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Some people don't like the idea of Vader wantonly killing the clones. After all, he did have the proper access codes. The whole fight could have been avoided.

But, let's look at the previous issue first:

Vader's furious at the way Obi-Wan beat him. Even more infuriating is the fact that Palpatine has forbidden him to seek out Obi-Wan and take revenge. So he's taking his rage out on whatever targets present themselves. First the slavers from Issue #1 and now the clones guarding the Jedi Outpost.

Quite often, when people are angry about something but can't address it, they take their rage out on other, more convenient targets. Vader is simmering with rage and sees an opportunity to release it by destroying hapless clones. Misguided anger is a thing.

 

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"Barash" is not an English word, just a term or name created for this story, so you're not missing out on any extra meaning or information.

Echoing @tatooinesandworm's sentiment above -- the Barash Vow is quite interesting to me! I'm excited to see concepts like this introduced to the NEU.

 

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I don't think he was taking out the clones for "fun", but rather to both sate his anger and to continue testing himself in his new armor and abilities.

 

I'm really enjoying this series.

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Vader never put a great deal of importance on officer or stromtrooper lives, especially when he was angry. It wasn't out of character for me. The clones are being phased out, as the troopers say themselves in the comic, so the Empire doesn't have a future use for them anymore.

 

It's my turn to nitpick now! Why didn't Yoda pick up this Jedi to help him and Kenobi take on Vader and Sidious? They must take that vow seriously.

 

Pick him up? Who's to say they would've survived the trip? Also, Obi-Wan's message in the temple beacon was "run and hide", not "join us to fight the Sith".


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If Vader could defeat him without a lightsaber (and he will, make no mistake), what good would he be against Vader's Master?

 

I would prefer if Vader didn't kill those men. Hopefully he gets to work alongside clones while fighting CIS remains later in this series.

 

I enjoyed this issue as well.

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Regarding the clone killing - I think Vialco nailed it. Remember, Vader is a very, very frustrated Sith, and Sith are known for their anger. He lost everything and more like two days prior. Plus, I'd imagine he wants to try his suit in combat, and going against clones is one way to do it. That said, I expect Palpatine to chastise him for his recklessness. In Legends, Palpatine advised Vader to be above something of a mindless killing machine, and there is absolutely no reason why it should be different here. Also, if I remember correctly, Soule mentioned in an interview that he's writing Vader as Jason from Friday 13th. In this issue Vader felt exactly like that to me. But, Vader is not Jason, so I hope we won't see Darth Jason after this arc. At this point I get it, but after a month post Order 66 it would be too out of place.

The concept of Barash is nothing new - in fact, master Zao would fit perfectly with that. The only new thing here is that they've actually named it. Oh, I liked the panel of Kirak meditating - pretty badass.

I wonder if the droid in Vader's new ship will be a regular in the series. Not a necessary character, but one I don't mind either.

Some similarities/parallels I've noticed to Legends comics:
- The panel where Vader kills some clones by throwing the crate at them - there's a similar panel in Dark Times: Vector #2 where a clone is taken out by a crate when Vader fights Celeste Mourne.
- Vader used a green bladed lightsaber briefly in Purge: Last Stand of the Jedi.
- I think I've mentioned this before, but Vader's new ship reminds me of the Rogue Shadow from The Force Unleashed games.
- The art (which I think is fine) has a vibe that reminds me of that in Darth Vader and the Lost Command.

 

While the action is fine and I can understand Vader taking his anger out on anything, it felt like filler action just dumping him in a scenario fighting Clones, but there was one thing that really, really bugged me and it's a minor continuity gripe that hopefully will be fixed in the trade but ok: We have two named Clones here, Ding and Kicker. Ding is the only distinct Clone here because of some yellow bracers on his arms. Ding is the typical bored out of his mind Clone who wants some action and Kicker tells him to get back to work. Then when Vader attacks, Ding tells Kicker: "Are you happy now Ding?" Yeah the artist or the panelist if there is one forgot which Clone was which and switched them about. It's honestly a very minor thing but I found it too amusing. XD

 

The writing for the clone dialogue was perfect in this issue. I can't be the only one who imagined Dee Bradley Baker's voice throughout the entire issue

 

A small detail that's bugging me a bit...

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Before mentioning Kirak Infil'a, the droid tells Vader that he's left/not been at the temple before he (Vader) entered. Was the droid saying that Kirak has taken the Barash vow before Anakin became a padawan, or before Darth Vader and the 501st stormed the temple? If it's the former, then how and why does the droid know that Vader was Anakin; if it's the latter, then that little info was completely redundant, because Operation Knightfall was what, 4 days ago, and it's pretty obvious that Kirak wasn't there. I may need to re-read this issue in order to get the point of that though, since I've read it in a hurry...

 

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Seems like this droid is a personal attaché to help with Anakin to Vader transition. Since its lifespan isn't very long, I see no reason for Palpatine not to have given personal information about Anakin to the droid. They also may not have decided that Vader would be a separate entity.

I understand the Jedi not wanting it broadcast that Anakin fell (what Jedi are left at least), but it seems like a pretty big "scoreboard" moment for Palpatine, to have a "reformed" Jedi on display. No real reason to hide the info from inner circle that Anakin=Vader. We may learn later on why the Empire chooses to keep up the ruse.

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I really liked the clone troopers in this issue, I hope we get to see Vader leading some clones at some point. It makes sense that he would bring the 501st with him on some of his missions, it would be awesome to see that blue armor again and would tie nicely with RotS and TCW.

 

After the excellent first issue, this one was a bit of a letdown - as someone said, the plot basically felt like an excuse for "Vader vs. clones would be cool". I'm interested to see where things are going from here, though.

 

Hm, good catch.

 

There is being an angry Sith, and then there is Flanderization, if that becomes Vader’s only personality trait and slaughterfests his default action every time he appears, even when it makes little sense. There is still no sufficient narrative substance in these two issues that earned this out-of-nowhere slaughterfest, even if you try to resort to default explanations of Angry Siths Being Angry and 'Cause Obi-Wan. I sure hope these series show more than a glorified killing machine.

But I agree that the clones were were written well and I am curious about Barash Vow. I like this name a lot, it's quite memorable and sounds Star Wars-y.

 

Badass Vader able to take down multiple enemies alone and without any effort whatsoever seems to be an ongoing thing. They did it in Rebels (Siege of Lothal), Vader Down (multiple times), Rogue One (added 3-4 months before release), don't know for the books.

 

It seems this was something Anakin was always capable of, but didn't do because he was still trying to be a good Jedi. Jedi spare lives whenever they can and use the minimum amount of Force required. Not so with Sith.