Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Star Wars: Darth Vader #4
Marvel Comics
Gillen, Larroca & Delgado
"Darth Vader" continues the exploration of the character and his untrustworthy actions towards his master with another entertaining but thin issue. The comic book allows the supporting characters to play a bit of a humorous role in the book that could be seen as too much but it keeps the comic moving. The book has some action and decent visuals to help the comic read well. It's a good but far from great issue. If you like the character or are curious about the title in general then I recommend you check it out.
The basics of the comic are fairly straightforward. Vader, Aprha and the evil droids arrive on Geonosis looking for an army for Vader to command. The book spends the bulk of the time with the locating and extracting of the army. The scenes make for interesting visuals but much of the mechanism to get the reader from point A to point B feels hollow. The whole "job" feels quick and easy with no real opponent worthy of anything on Vader's level.
The real disappointment of these scenes is that there is only one single panel that takes the reader back to Episode II where Anakin and Padme are nearly killed in the area on Geonosis and the entire Clone War kicks off. This is disappointing because if Vader is so interested in going behind the Emperor's back then wouldn't it make sense that he still thinks about the things he's lost, like his wife, and the Emperor's role in those events?
The final few pages are excellent as they set Vader to his next task. It made the contents of the front part of the book feel all the more like throwaway material. The prospects of where this issue leaves off are definitely something to look forward to.
Beyond the tripping in the story when on Geonosis, this book struggles to define Vader. Once again, we have odd dialogue and over-the-top action from Vader that isn't in keeping with any one of the films. Other Vader depictions in comics fall into this same trap, which is why an ongoing Vader book is such a difficult task to pull off. Capturing Vader in keeping with the films seems to be impossible for too many creators.
Made no mistake, the comic has some excellent visuals. Vader leaping off cliffs and using the force to cave the ceiling in all make for cool visuals. However, the art fails in a number of spots that should have been fixed. The flashback of Anakin shows that he is missing his braid, which is not a detail that should get missed when referencing a movie still. There is also a panel with Vader holding his right arm out that simply looks off, very off, in terms of his anatomy. The artwork definitely could have been sharper.
Darth Vader has a lot going for it. This particular issue pushes a major plot development forward that will have many readers curious about the next issue. However, much of this issue feels too easy and unimaginative as Vader and friends explore Geonosis, find what they want and leave the place in a hurry. There just isn't enough in here for twenty pages of story unfortunately. I'm still not sold on the characterization of Vader, but it is possible that his supporting cast carries the book. Time will tell how the creators handle this balance. This was an average read.
3 out of 5 Geek Goggles
