The last issue had Vader arriving on a moon which he believed was the source of a blast that blew up a Star Destroyer. The assassin waited outside as Vader made his way into an ancient temple where he was greeted by a rather deformed-looking race of people. Apparently, a prophecy involving Vader had been depicted on their walls for thousands of years, and he was destined to help them.This issue . . . I dunno.

While it had its moments (well, MOMENT, really involving Vader having a vision) that were kinda cool, the rest fell flat for me. There are times in the Star Wars comics where I just don’t feel what they’re doing is very “Star Wars-y,” and this is one of those moments. Vader in an ancient temple, looking at “cave drawings” of himself takes me out of the moment and leaves me scratching my head.

So, while overall I didn’t care much for the issue, there were a few things I did like. I already mentioned Vader’s vision, which I won’t go into detail about, but also there were some pretty solid moments of Vader being Vader. Cool, quiet, collected. A man of few words but an intimidating presence nonetheless. His actions at the end of the issue are also worth being mentioned, but that would be going into spoiler territory. Heh.

I also really love the artwork. Stephen Thompson does a great job capturing the look of Vader from the original trilogy. Although one panel has him holding his lightsaber like a baseball player at the mound, which was a bit jarring to me, other than that I think he nailed it. The shadows and reflections of his mask especially captured that “look” we’ve all known and loved over the decades.

With one issue to go, it will be interesting to see the confrontation between Vader and the assassin (who is completely absent this issue) and how it all wraps up in the end.