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Star Wars: Darth Vader (2020) (Single Issues)
Star Wars: Darth Vader #28
The shadow in the fire! For decades, Sabé, Handmaiden of Padmé, schemed to assassinate Darth Vader, whom she believed murdered her queen but Sabé has learned Vader’s greatest secret, and now she fights at his side, believing that someday, she may prove there is still good in him. What happens when the Handmaiden finally comes face-to-face with the Emperor, who knows all of her secrets? The Queen’s Shadow enters the crucible! Will Vader let her burn?
24 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 19, 2022
About the author
Greg Pak
1,571 books549 followersGreg Pak is an award-winning Korean American comic book writer and filmmaker currently writing "Darth Vader" and "Planet Hulk: Worldbreaker" for Marvel Comics. Pak wrote the "Princess Who Saved Herself" children's book and the “Code Monkey Save World” graphic novel based on the songs of Jonathan Coulton and co-wrote (with Fred Van Lente) the acclaimed “Make Comics Like the Pros” how-to book. Pak's other work includes "Planet Hulk," "World War Hulk," "Mech Cadet Yu," "Ronin Island," "Action Comics," and "Magneto Testament."
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 19, 2022
darth vader being pathetic over his dead wife and sabé being a bad bitch: 5 stars
November 1, 2022
The final one for me. I'm out. It was a bit better than issue 27, but the characters just don't look like themselves anymore and that just get me out of the story so I'm out of this series.
January 18, 2023
I'm not sure that I know what Sabe is supposed to be trying to achieve anymore, or even if I'm meant to know or not. Last issue she had Vader wounded on the ground, ready to be killed, something she's been trying to do for a while now, and she decides to give him one last chance to honour Anakin and Padme. And now she's teaming up with Vader against the Emperor, but then working for the Emperor. I'm honestly finding it kind of hard to keep track of it all and feel like I need a spreadsheet, or one of those conspiracy walls with string connecting stuff in order to keep track of it all.
So, after finding out that Vader's latest target was working for the Emperor, she and Vader head off to Coruscant to have a little chat with Palpie in the Imperial Palace. As you'd expect, Palpatine isn't a fool, and allows the two of them to walk in just so he can set his guards on her to either kill her, or have her prove she's worth keeping around. The fight that ensues feels a bit forced (not pun intended), and the moment when Sabe runs behind his throne and makes his guards shoot at Palpatine feels a bit too silly to me. These are the most highly trained folks in the Empire, and they shoot at the guy their entire job is to guard? Okay.
I don't know if this is intentionally designed to mirror the fight at the end of Return of the Jedi, but it feels kind of similar thanks to the setting looking the same, and Sabe calling out to Anakin to help her. It feels like a warm up to the fight that will eventually lead to Vader becoming Anakin once again, and that the main thing preventing that is that he just doesn't care about Sabe enough. She has the face of the woman he loves, but it's not her, so it's not enough to appeal to the good man inside him. For that, the issue is decent enough, though I'm starting to bore of all the double crosses, secret agendas, and manipulations that the series has turned into.
Another thing that this series seems to keep doing, such as at the end of the last issue, is almost killing Vader. I'm sure that the desire is to show a man who keeps almost being killed, yet keeps getting back up again, like an un-killable slasher villain; but it does also make it seem like it's quite easy to break Vader. It feels like it wasn't too long ago he was getting his limbs ripped off by Palpatine, or he was getting beaten up by Obi-Wan, or was getting smashed around by Ahsoka. It just feels like it happens a bit too much. He might be hard to kill, but he's not hard to beat it seems.
Star Wars: Darth Vader seems to be treading water at the moment, not really giving us much. I don't know where this story is going, and I'm struggling to care much about it; and being bored reading about Darth Vader isn't something I thought would happen.
So, after finding out that Vader's latest target was working for the Emperor, she and Vader head off to Coruscant to have a little chat with Palpie in the Imperial Palace. As you'd expect, Palpatine isn't a fool, and allows the two of them to walk in just so he can set his guards on her to either kill her, or have her prove she's worth keeping around. The fight that ensues feels a bit forced (not pun intended), and the moment when Sabe runs behind his throne and makes his guards shoot at Palpatine feels a bit too silly to me. These are the most highly trained folks in the Empire, and they shoot at the guy their entire job is to guard? Okay.
I don't know if this is intentionally designed to mirror the fight at the end of Return of the Jedi, but it feels kind of similar thanks to the setting looking the same, and Sabe calling out to Anakin to help her. It feels like a warm up to the fight that will eventually lead to Vader becoming Anakin once again, and that the main thing preventing that is that he just doesn't care about Sabe enough. She has the face of the woman he loves, but it's not her, so it's not enough to appeal to the good man inside him. For that, the issue is decent enough, though I'm starting to bore of all the double crosses, secret agendas, and manipulations that the series has turned into.
Another thing that this series seems to keep doing, such as at the end of the last issue, is almost killing Vader. I'm sure that the desire is to show a man who keeps almost being killed, yet keeps getting back up again, like an un-killable slasher villain; but it does also make it seem like it's quite easy to break Vader. It feels like it wasn't too long ago he was getting his limbs ripped off by Palpatine, or he was getting beaten up by Obi-Wan, or was getting smashed around by Ahsoka. It just feels like it happens a bit too much. He might be hard to kill, but he's not hard to beat it seems.
Star Wars: Darth Vader seems to be treading water at the moment, not really giving us much. I don't know where this story is going, and I'm struggling to care much about it; and being bored reading about Darth Vader isn't something I thought would happen.
October 22, 2022
What's this? Darth Vader comics are actually peak again? The art in this was amazing, and the Sabe stuff had the potential to jump the shark but just got more interesting with the involvement of more Handmaidens.
October 20, 2022
3 out 5 stars
January 29, 2023
5
Excellent.
Excellent.
February 11, 2024
I guess I buy that making appointments with the Emperor isn’t a thing.
February 12, 2024
I'm not exactly sure what Sabe's motivations are anymore (or if she knows herself) but I am glad the story is finally progressing beyond Crimson Dawn. But did everyone just kind of forget about the governor and what she & the Emperor were up to?
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews