Comics Darth Vader Annual #2

DARTH VADER ANNUAL #2
CHUCK WENDIG (W) • Leonard Kirk (A)
Cover by MIKE DEODATO JR.
Variant Cover by TBA
DARTH VADER intends for the Empire to hold no secrets for him — or from him. Which means it is time to dig into the pet project of GOVERNOR WILHUFF TARKIN and ORSON KRENNIC: the massive battle station being built on GEONOSIS. Opportunity arises when the project is hindered by sabotage from unknown forces. THE EMPEROR calls on his dark enforcer to root out the source of treachery that threatens to destabilize the Empire’s galactic ascent.
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99
Star Wars © Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All rights reserved. Used under authorization. Text and illustrations for Star Wars are © 2018 Lucasfilm Ltd.

 

looks great ! so this story may tell us what happens to Geonosis between this and rebels !

 

Really looking forward to this issue! I love the way the Death Star construction story has been continuously expanded across so many different media formats.

 

Oooh yes, another cover by Deodato. I wonder who is doing the interior art. I'd be happy if that was also Deodato, as I really liked his style of drawing Vader in Vader Down. EDIT: Aha, I can't read what's right in front of me. My bad. Leonard Kirk is doing the interior art.

 

Wendig writes good baddies and great story there just from the solicit so I'm super-excited for this one.

 

Maybe this comic will give us a reason why Vader doesn't have a posse of Death Troopers following him around like other top Imperials did.

 

Recent issues of Aphra hint that the Death Troopers were ultimately a failed project of the Tarkin Initiative retired sometime between the end of Rebels and shortly after ANH (or at least that's how I'm reading it at the moment). What went wrong we don't yet know.

 

Preview
I'm impressed with the preview, the story looks interesting and Leonard Kirk's artwork is very good like usual. It's his first time working on Marvel Star Wars but I've read quite a few other Marvel comics by him.

 

DOOT

Spoiler

 

So is this happening before the scene in ROTS where Vader is looking at the DS under construction together with Palpatine and Tarkin?

I thought Vader knew about the Death Star project from the very start

 

Good question. It also means that, in that one scene from ROTS, Tarkin was probably experimenting with hairdye.

 

Bonus points if the comic ends with Tarkin fatefully reaching for a Just For Dictators hair dye bottle.

 

I think he indeed knows about the Death Star being built and he is just investigating it in order to to show Tarkin who is boss... and that's when the sabotage happens. I mean, Galen Erso could have named the DS project "Stardust" back when he still thought he was doing energy research, but that would be a bit awkward.

 

Actually, look at Tarkin exiting the frame between 0:18 and 0:21. His attitude screams "Oh my God, this hairdye really isn't working; I look so ridiculous... Let's get out of here."

 

Vader might know about the Space Station, but not its planet-killing superlaser. By that, this story could happen closer to Rogue One.

 

Next page starts with Tarkin being all "Dude, stop messin', you totally saw this thing out of the window that one time... I was there!"

 

Kirk strikes me now as being akin to Brooks - great artist, but not a monthly guy these days.

 

Though I wasn't a big fan of the Aftermath novels, Wendig did a very good job here.

Spoiler

I really enjoyed this issue, I will definitely read it again any time I plan to rewatch Rogue One. The story was very interesting, with Vader investigating the Death Star and meeting Orson Krennic. All the dialog in this issue was great, and did a good job of calling back to Vader's past at appropriate times. My only complaint with the story was that the egg in Galen's office was such a critical plot point, yet we never got to see Galen and him being proven innocent was just quickly mentioned at the end.

Kirk's artwork was awesome, whether he was drawing Vader's helmet or a human face every character looked great. I also liked the way images of ships flying through space were used to transition between scenes, it gave the comic a more cinematic feel. I hope to see Kirk working on more Star Wars projects in the future.

 

These Vader comics tend to be good, but they're also nightmares timeline-wise...

 

Time to add a re-read of Catalyst to the to-do list...

 

Unless I'm mistaken, the Annual manages to both reference and contradict Catalyst.

 

Spoiler

Honestly, the preview made this out to be much more interesting than it actually was. It was like they needed to hammer us over the head with how Tarkin can order Vader around. When previous stories have established a habit of an earned, mutual respect grown over the course of their missions together.

"Hold my rank plaque. I've got the Emperor...that's right, the Emperor on hold." It felt a little too tattle-tale for the hardened, wilderness man they've made Tarkin into these days.

The whole investigation wasn't handled well. Lets investigate the two men primarily responsible for the station's completion instead of let's say....the native Geonosians? I mean, the loyalty officer's dialogue was great. She pegged Tarkin and Krennic's relationship perfectly. The callbacks to Vader's past were also handled well. But the fact Vader went all the way to Geonosis, to Coruscant, then back to Geonosis just to kill some rogue natives was a waste of time.

I really hoped this comic would've showed us the ending of where Revenge of the Sith leaves us with Palpatine, Vader, and Tarkin. But alas, I feel like that time has passed.

 

Really enjoyed this story could have been an arc though just to give the story more time.

 

Spoiler

To be perfectly honest, there where some bits of dialogue that didn´t feel right for me. Tarkin saying Vader "you´re mine to do with as I see fit" isn´t something I would expect Tarkin saying to Vader at any point. It also sounds very contrasting with what we´ve seen in the last couple of issues of the series... in fact, I actually though it was a Force vision from Vader to illustrate us how he fears the Death Star could diminish his role, not something actually happening!

Vader and Tarkin´s relationship always gave me the impression of being pretty equal; a rivalry indeed, but with a mutual respect earned with several collaborations over the years. Of course, relationships do change over time, but it´s still a big change from everything seen before and close to this time period, including the Mon Cala arc...

 

Spoiler

Really enjoyed the art, especially the red superimposed images of Vader's imagination and memories. Loved the color palette in the first shot of Coruscant.

At first glance, the gleam on the blaster rifle in the background of this panel made it look to me like Tarkin was opening a flip phone:



I like to imagine Krennic spends a good portion of his day idly swinging around that Death Star model like Luke does with his skyhopper model in ANH and making sounds with his mouth: