Comics Darth Vader (Marvel) #2: Vader, part 2 (of 6)

I re-watched the Death Star/Tarkin/Tagge/Motti/Yularen scenes from ANH this morning. I was pleased to discover that the information I now have coming from a combo of Luceno's Tarkin, the entirety of Rebels, and Tagge's appearance in Darth Vader have made those scenes far more meaningful, dramatic, and filled with tension for me now.

I'd say that, for me at least, those tie-in works can be called a major success. Major Kudos.

 

Loved TFU moment when Vader's force pushes a missile back at it's sender

 

Well I think I gotta pick this up today... It bugs me a little bit to spend $4 on something that I finish so quickly, but I love how it fleshes out the Empire and gives them more depth.
Also if I bring lunch to work a couple days a week it makes up for the amount I spend on comics, so it's no big deal

 

Chapter 4: Sideburns

 

Of course, we all know that confusion originated in ANH. What I don't get is why they keep going with it instead of properly addressing the contradiction. After all, Tarkin was very clear about the fact that Tagge is part of the ground forces. Heck, by 14 BBY, he's even Joint Chief of the Army! Why on Coruscant would he gush about the beauty of the starfleet like an old sailor?

 

I also noticed that. I guess it's not completely impossible - on a ship that large, maybe they can give recreational or habitation areas a more "natural" look - but in the context of the story it was an odd choice.

 

This is entirely how I've reconciled it to my satisfaction. There are two types of Generals in the military schema of the GFFA - the "General Veers"-type general who is the traditional "army" general, and then the "General Skywalker"-type general who is in charge of the entirety, army and navy forces alike, of a particular task force. That reconciles Anakin Skywalker commanding both fleets and clone units in TCW, General Tagge having a Starfleet, and so on. It probably isn't airtight, and I'm sure there are examples in Legends that wouldn't fit, but as things stand in the canon continuity at the moment it works for me.

 

Even before the PT, starfighter generals were being put in charge of entire task forces. Wedge springs to mind. Possibly Han as well, if you think of the Falcon as an overgrown starfighter. Lando seemed to be more of an "all-rounder" - having his own commando force, and commanding task forces at times.

Later on though - we see in Black Fleet Crisis a "pure fleet commander general" (A'Baht) who's title of General comes from his homeworld's naming structure - and the Rebel Admirals dislike it:

"Headquarters is full of newborn traditionalists, and they can't get it out of their heads that a general should have dirty boots or wings."

 

It's not a bad explanation, but we shouldn't have to make it up by ourselves... It should be made clear.

 

As long as they explain somewhere what Vader was doing with that coffee.

 

Well, it's not that I am offended or irritated beyond measure either... It's just that I'd like them to clean up a bit the Empire's organigram.

 

"Anybody the Emperor puts in charge" is basically my view of the entire military/political structure. For all we know Tagge was an admiral who made some snotty comment about infantry once and Palpatine was like "guess what, they're your problem now".

 

@Taalcon "Caf", bro, "caf"

 

I hate the whole "general" issue. But that goes back even to ROTJ.

Han says, "well look at you, a General!" to Lando. But then we see Lando seemingly co-leading the attack on the Death Star II with Admiral Ackbar. He even responds that it might be due to his maneuver at the Battle of Tanaab, which EU indicates was a naval battle in space.

In the Clone Wars, we had clone commanders, though Commander is a naval rank, at least in the US (I don't know what kind of variation there is from nation to nation. Then you had admirals being superceded by Jedi generals onboard their own ship, when the latter was present. And in the first issue, we have Palpatine commenting that Tagge returned to his precious fleet, and we see in this issue it's implied he has plans/desires to see the fleet expanded. There doesn't seem to be any kind of emphasis on the army or ground forces.

I don't see rhyme or reason to the use of rank. Grand General Tagge seems wholly interested in the superiority of the navy, so it would have just made more sense to go assign him a naval rank, just as Yularen got shifted from an Admiral to a Colonel in the ISB.

 

He was obviously waiting on Tarkin again. It's his job at every Death Star board meeting.

 

ANH references Tagge having a starfleet, and yet people complain when Tagge is seen commanding a starfleet.

 

Blame the ANH credits for calling him a general. And Tarkin for also calling him that AND adding he's Joint Chief of the Army. I complain because the whole thing is, you know, inconsistent.

 

Black Squadron appears! I've always wanted to see them in action!

No matter what titles he had and what division of the military he was part of, ANH made it clear that he has a starfleet. Would you have preferred if the comic said he's both a general and an admiral?

 

Nope. There are many other potential explanations, some of which were used in the EU. TaggeCo building starships, for example.

In his defense, Legends!Ozzel had been a naval history instructor before being brought back in active service. I guess he must have been better at teaching, though...