Lit Comics Darth Vader by Greg Pak, February 2020

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I wouldn't be surprised if they retconned the Mas Amedda in Aftermath to be a clone of the real one, not unlike Sate Pestage who retired to Byss and left a clone in his stead.

 

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I wonder does this make Snoke, canon version of Luuke, he is a clone of Luke? Could be intresting with how his and Luke's relations are and his sight on Luke's nephew. Also i wonder how far was Snoke if they already have made clones and only need them to function, maybe Luuke's hand weren't enough and needed Grogu's blood to finnish. Could Palpatine jr also be clone of Luke, making Rey soft of Luke's niece.

 

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Yeah no I don't think Sheev Jr or Rey has any of Luke's Dna . If we go by Jango's sample it was already degrading from being cloned so much in a short time and that was 3 years of the clone wars . Luke's hand will probably be not viable long enough for Snoke and Rey's Father to be cloned from it and frankly we don't need another round of the reylo's yelling about another thing in Star Wars

 

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Maybe not Rey's father but with Snoke clones already being a thing before ROTJ, i could see Snoke as afailed Luuke clone.

 

Although I haven’t been following the series too closely, I’ve read a few issues and I did pick this one up earlier today...

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I’m not a big fan of posting negative reviews, but Exegol is something I was eager to see in expanded material, and I was pretty disappointed with this. Exegol had been the big tease for so many issues, and it took so many months to get there. At this point I feel like SW media has perfected the art of the anticlimax.

But regardless of whether it was climactic, my disappointment was mainly with how light it felt in terms of content. It was all too many action scenes that went by too quickly, minimal dialogue or narration, and only vague insinuations about what’s going on at a deeper level. It felt like there was very little actual storytelling.

The confrontation at the end with the bleeding kyber crystal is the perfect example of this. We get some screeching from the crystal and a few generic words from Palpatine (Power, Pain, Fear, etc.), and that’s all. This does almost nothing to communicate the notion of the dark side being a source of unlimited power, enough to turn TESB Vader into ROTJ Vader. Neither the art nor the writing really communicated the atmosphere of dread that should surround Exegol and the Sith.

I’m not terribly surprised, based on past issues. But I had hoped I would be, for the better. I suppose these comics are just not my cup of tea at the moment.

 

don't like this

 

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I mean if your gonna do Luuuuuke Clones the comics are the best place for it since well...These comics are weird

Makes sense though that Palpatine been working on this fleet for a while at least he does say "The Work of Generations is Complete" I mean even in Legends his Dark Empire plan was ultimate endgame...Just probably didn't see death happening to him. So it makes sense

I have the feeling we may not have seen the end of Exegol, given that future issues deal with Palpatine's inner circle. Plus we know Ochi is still gonna be around.

Very curious how Vader's whole arc of this comic run will end in general given now what we know or don't know.

Also we know Luke and Lando went looking for Exegol but never found it, so it does make sense they would know...something important about the planet.

Also, also remember Snoke is a STRADCAST not a direct clone...So he may be a mix of various things all smushed together...Like....The Dinosaurs in Jurassic World/Park i guess. Other DNA things fill the gaps.

 

Is possession mentioned?

I mean, those technological terrors led nowhere when it came to cheating death after ROTJ, and he was running out of time in TROS. His reconstructed body was rotting (and smelled awfully, or so the novel says)

And, according to what we know, that's why Vader defended Palpatine from Luke in the throne room. He didn't want Luke to be possessed.

 

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I'm very confused now, why did Vader change his mind while being blasted by the Kyber mountain? There's so many questions unanswered still. I thought Palpatine would mention essence transfer at least.

 

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Is it just me or has someone else the feeling that Vader did not bend the knee in the end, but uses it as a ruse?

 

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I don't think it was a particular event. I think it was a culmination of everything that transpired in the issue:

• Vader's kaiju was pretty casually destroyed by Sheev, despite Vader's efforts to stop him from doing it
• Vader sees Sheev has countless experiments and potential replacements
• As well as an army of Force-sensitive cultists
• Hundreds of planet killing Star Destroyers in development
• A giant kyber crystal mountain that literally burned Ochi's eyes and staggered Vader whereas Sheev is just fine
• The kyber crystal's inverted vision of ESB

Basically, this is affirmation that Vader can't possibly hope to outfight or generally outpace Sheev. He's far more powerful and a far better strategist. Vader's only hope is submission so that he may share the power Sheev deigns to offer him and, maybe, perhaps, one day, Sheev will make a mistake that Vader can pounce on. But the open defiance will only end in failure.

 

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Looks like clones of Snoke have been around a long while with probably at least the one in the movies activated during the fall of the Republic and rise of the Emperor per the novelization of TLJ. The Emperor's minions were probably on Bespin during the duel when they procured the hand before it rotted.

The electrostaff armed clone humanoids, while kinda interesting, they caused the most damage to Vader, but they had no armor aside from a helmet and apparently no Force abilities. The dagger armed pajama people were real silly, what were they gonna do to a Sith Lord?! I think Purge Troopers would've posed more of a greater threat, silly Palps could've had a platoon there.

Seems lots of strange clones and experiments were done on Exegol. Midiclorian milkshakes probably a thing there.

This comic series is rather strange and over the top at times. Its not a satisfactory prequel to TROS either. I never bought that Vader knew about Exegol in the movie, and what I see here in this comic does not help. Vader so helpless against Palpatine, which he already knew, so does he bank on Luke to remain a servant here?! Luke, with no chance of defeating the Emperor anymore than he did. With all of these creations and vehicles of mass destruction being built and semi-operational at such an early date, why didnt Vader leave a will for poor Luke or his Anakin Force spirit have a convo about all of this,lol. Ochi is still one of the stupidest and lamest characters.

While Exegol is an obvious imitation of Dark Empire's Byse, its not as interesting here. I also prefer TFU II Kamino, which begs the question why hasnt neo-canon revisited that place yet. In any case, I doubt Exegol would be Sith Eternal's only place like this.

 

I hope they bind this issue into future Dark Empire collections as Issue #0... WOW

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-If the hand of Luke is at Exegol, was the lightsaber too? Did it maybe leave Exegol with Snoke or Palpatine's Son before going on a journey through many hands until ending with Maz Kanata?
-Is Snoke now officially a strandcast clone of Luke/Palpatine? Luuke?
-The big monsterfight explains where some of the fleshy boney things in the red nebula stem from at least! Nice ancient megacritters and Sith Alchemy modified abominations!
-Oh an army of new clone/strandcast guards with helmets? Guess the new Dark Side Elite warriors or prototypes! One Canon is going to have a field day with this issue!
-Is it only me or do the Sith Cultists swarming Vader wield light-daggers? Or actual daggers? Or glass-daggers? That was a Keshiri Sith callback for sure!
-Vader turning the daggers on them with the Force reminded me a lot of 1994's "The Shadow" movie... or Yondu from the MCU.

Ok, I was still missing any World between Worlds connection and other Exegol stuff the Visual Dictionary hinted at, but this issue was epic.

For all the awe and power Palpatine oozed in this issue... I am sure he was faking it!

The fleet? Impressive but not ready yet even if close, hence he needed DS2 still. Ironing out some miniaturization issues would take years.
The clones, well Vader dealt with everything swiftly showing his true Chosen One power, but as seen, even the clones are not perfect yet. Maybe lacking the Force as Palpatine had problems on that front for quite a while to come still.

So yub, Palpatine could not simply clone a Luke or Luuke, or another Vader. Yet he pretended and fooled Vader by faking it with an overkill of showing stuff to not have him look too closely on any single item not quite ready yet!

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I like the Amedda clone angle, though Aftermaths Amedda could have been the very same that kept the secret on purpose and concerted more than he let on of the aftermath of the Empires fall. Someone got to send all the Messenger Droids for Operations Cinder, bet Amedda was busy in secret.

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Rey as Luke's niece I would love! Given he joked about her being just that in TLJ novelisation when excusing her to the Lanai on Ach-To!

Jason Fry's TLJ joke got canonised after all... (see aboves spoiler reply for which one I mean from the TLJ novelisation!)

Regarding golden boy Snoke:


Why does canon look more and more like Timothy Zahn's "Fate of the Jedi Epilogue: An Apology" got taken seriously? Lol!




Also, with Palpatine

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having harvested an entire Mountain for Kyber... I guess we know now WHY said Mountain is crying! He took its babies!

 

This is what I've been saying for a while now...


Well

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I postulated Anakin DNA, but i'm good with Luke DNA too.

IG: @jedisufism

 

Want to get truly evil?

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Have Padmé DNA used along others to create Rey's mom! And Anakin DNA for her dad alongside Palpatines own. Heck, Palpatine could use Luke and Leia's DNA samples to make Rey their child...

Sith Soap Opera style relations... Bring it!

 

Its kinda all redundant at this point...

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Vader becoming Anakin again and Anakin's sacrifice is meaningless, since its obvious killing the Sith would never end them or bring balance, neither Luke nor Anakin are the "chosen ones" which makes everyone that believed they were in-universe come across as dumbed down, that includes The Emperor who turns out has greater power anyway. Lucas creating that whole thing was ridiculous in light of the EU that existed before the PT, but now the same issues arise in a post PT and neo-canon-verse. Sidious does not need Vader, but Vader needs Sidious.

Vader is kept around cause he's the only Lucas PT type Force powered being left around aside from the Emperor at this point. Luke is potentially similar to Anakin, and Leia too, but for all intents and purposes, they aren't really needed. Sidious really doesn't need a true Sith Apprentice anymore, and he can create them any number of ways, or if some random cultist now gets lucky and lands a fatal blow to Vader could take his place,lol. But Sidious seems lonely and likes to show off his power to have his wounded apprentice become jealous and crave such power. Sidious has no intents of dying or sharing power, any moron could see through that by now, moreover he betrayed all his past Sith Apprentices.

Marvel put Vader through the same crucible-like storyline this 3 times with Vader and the Emperor playing this Sithee tit for tat, Palpatine always gloating about a new apprentice being taken from a random project spawned pot of misfits and losers. You never take any of these clowns seriously, they are never threats to Vader and Sidious never seems serious anyway , its just disposable storyline. First was with those silly cyborgs of Cylo whatever the number and then the Inquisitors arc. Vader always sabotaging and Sidous not giving a solid hoot, all the time the Emperor claims to be testing Vader knowing they stand not chance and always pulling new flunkies out've his hat and Sidious beating down Vader all over again. Only so many times you can watch and read the same things. But it seems Marvel's Palpatine does this every so often for fun and boredom(i.e. when Vader fails), it never advances the story or expands the universe, its just dead end fluff.

 

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I mean in regards to the Chosen One thing Lucas was planning on making Leia the Chosen One according to some interviews he did a while back.

 

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We're gonna get new "which one is the real one and which is the clone" debates! Yay!

 

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I now got the mental image of an alternate Battle of Endor:

The Rebels attack the DS2 thinking it inoperable... and it actually is defunct. Instead the Imperial Fleets Stardestroyers each equipped with a superlaser attack the Rebels from all angles coming out of the moons shadow with lots of Xyxston class Stardestroyers.

The End!

 

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Eventually Dave Filoni or someone else will come along and tidy up the Chosen One issue once and for all. It'll really annoy a lot of fans, but I don't think there's any particularly satisfying way to resolve it at this point. It's tidy in the Lucas version of events, and an annoying complication if you try to move beyond RotJ.

Maybe Anakin's spirit could reside on Mortis? If they really wanted to bring Ben Solo back, they could have the dyad be related to the Son and Daughter somehow. But that's an issue for another thread.

At what point do we no longer use spoiler tags? It feels kind of weird if virtually every post is discussing the most recent issue.

 

I mean

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The Entire Chosen One aspect of Star Wars is kinda confusing to be honest.

Which is why Vader sacrifice is less about being "The Chosen One" and more about saving Luke

 

Leia was the chosen one to restore the Republic in the latest Lucas' ST treatments, but Anakin was always the Chosen One to bring balance to the Force. That never changed. Until the ST and all these comic books, of course, which effectively nullified that ultimate act and robbed him of his destiny.