Star Wars: Darth Vader by Greg Pak vol. 7 — Unbound Force

…really quickly, in fact.  That vol. 6 took really long to come in stock, along with my own reading backlog means you get to find out how things pick up from the potentially game-changing previous volume.  The answer is “pretty well,” but may not for the reasons you’d normally expect.  This is because “Unbound Force” is made up of two, two-issue arcs, and a bonus issue containing the first appearance of Doctor Aphra from the Gillen/Larroca run of “Darth Vader” back in 2015.  While it would seem like a mistake to include such a memorable issue from the best “Star Wars” series Marvel has published, what we get here doesn’t compare too badly to it.

As we saw at the end of vol. 6, Vader has lost control of the Force.  If you’re thinking that this is due to his encounter with the Fermata Cage in “Hidden Empire” then you’d be correct.  The Sith Lord’s loss of control is so great that it causes him to tear a hole in the side of the Executor, causing him to be vented out into space.  He’s saved by some quick thinking from Sabe who is able to use a shuttle to bring him to a deserted planet where his unrestrained use of the Force won’t hurt anyone.  Except her, as Vader has decided that now is the time for her to make a choice:  Does hate lead to suffering, or power?

This was a nice follow-up to what Pak set up in the previous volume.  Sabe is still clearly tempted by the power being offered to her and what she can achieve with it, but she also knows that the possibility of redemption exists for the Sith Lord.  Her response is an interesting rejection of his proposal that sees her taken off of the board until the story is ready to use her again.  This is because Vader knows who he needs to talk to if he’s to regain some control over his use of the Force.

That person being none other than Doctor Chelli Aphra herself who features prominently in the next two-issue arc.  Even though he’s tried (and failed) to kill her on multiple occasions, Vader knows that the archaeologist might know about some kind of artifact that could help him in his current situation.  She does and it’s not long before they, along with Ochi of Bestoon, are on their way to acquire the Zaly Shield.  The problem is that someone (who is not Aphra, or Ochi, surprisingly) has sold out their plan to a group of droids who are looking to take advantage of Vader’s weakened state.  Never mind the fact that all of them have already been killed (at least) once by the Sith Lord – they think they can get him now!

The “Darth Vader” series haven’t been any stranger to dark comedy, and these two issues are some very good examples of it.  Especially the second as the droid assault begins in earnest and goes badly for them in ways that are both varied and amusing.  I’d say more, including a few words about a couple surprise cameos, but the whole scene is best enjoyed the less you know going in.

These two issues also get some nice mileage out of comparing Vader’s former lackey with his current one.  Aphra may have been forced into working with Vader, but Ochi is here by choice.  She’s also smart enough to know that the longer you stay next to this particular Sith Lord, the odds that you’re going to die go up as a result.  It doesn’t take a genius to see that, which is why the Doctor is gone by the end of this arc and Ochi is still hanging around.  He just hasn’t figured it out.  Not even after he was used to set off all the traps on the way to the shield.

Art in this volume comes from Adam Gorham on the first two issues, and regular artist Raffaele Ienco on the second two.  It’s solid work from both, but the latter makes the better impression with his two issues.  Part of that is down to how he gets more interesting stuff to draw, between the search for Aphra and the shield, and the droid battle.  Yet even if he doesn’t set up anything explicitly comedic in the art, Ienco’s work allows the humor in Pak’s script to come through quite well on the page.

Initially I thought that including an issue of the Gillen/Larroca “Darth Vader” run as a way to pad out the page count would be a bad thing.  I’d be reminded of how much better that series was and unable to properly enjoy a new volume of this very uneven title.  Yet we’ve now been graced with two consecutively good volumes of Pak’s “Darth Vader” and all of the callbacks to the characters in that issue don’t simply feel like they’re trading on goodwill.  That’s an achievement in and of itself.

Do you know what else is an achievement?  Pitting Vader against a droid army right before a storyline called “Dark Droids.”  That’s right, this was a stealth prelude to the tie-in arc to the next “Star Wars” event storyline and it isn’t until the final page that this becomes apparent.  I may not be genuinely excited for where this event takes the other titles in the line, but I absolutely want to see where “Darth Vader” goes with it.

…Which isn’t really something I was expecting to write before I read this volume.