Star Wars: Vader Down was Marvel’s first crossover event since they resumed publishing Star Wars comics. It collects the one-shot Vader Down, Star Wars issues 13 and 14, and Darth Vader issues 13-15. It was written by Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen with art by Mike Deodato and Salvador Larroca. What follows is a summary and review of the first half.
Oh no, how will Vader get out of this one? Oh, yeah, by murdering everybody.
Vader, having learned that Luke Skywalker is on the planet Vrogas Vas, is en route alone. On arrival, he is confronted by three squadrons of X-Wings. They literally don’t know who they are dealing with, and Vader proceeds to school them by absolutely tearing into them. The Rebels’ confidence is quickly replaced by fear as they are picked off by Vader. It’s not until Luke joins the fray and engages in a head on, suicidal run at Vader that the Rebels are able to recover. Both ships are disabled and plummet to the planet below. A group of Y-Wing bombers locates Vader, having survived the crash seemingly unharmed, but he destroys them before they can attack. A company of infantry stationed at the secret Rebel refueling base on the planet are dispatched to go after Vader. Luke and Artoo have also survived their crash. As they proceed on foot to rendezvous with the other Rebels, they pass by the ruins of the old Jedi temple that had been located on the planet. At the Alliance fleet, Leia receives word of what has happened. She and Han prepare to accompany an additional battalion of Rebel infantry to the planet. Somewhere in space, Dr. Aphra, who has been in communication with Vader, decides to go help him, of only to convince him that this wasn’t a trap set up by her. On Vrogas Vas, Vader is confronted by a large contingent of Rebel troops. “Lay down your weapons”, they tell him; “you are surrounded”. “All I am surrounded by is fear; and dead men”, Vader replies, and ignites his lightsaber.
If this guy and his mustach can't handle Vader, no one can.
So, Vader is down; but he is by no means out. The Rebels have him surrounded. He’s outmanned and he’s outgunned; but nothing is over. Nothing! Hopefully the Rebels brought a good supply of body bags. Vader starts by setting off the thermal detonators that one of the guys has strapped on, then he deflects a shot from a tank back at the tank, destroying it. The battlefield is now covered in dust and smoke as Vader picks off more Rebels. What happens next is unclear; either the Rebels pull out early, having gone in way to keyed up in the first place, or Vader is able to slip away. Leia and the rest of the gang, along with the Rebel reinforcements, have arrived on the planet and are at the base. When Han finds out that Luke has also crashed and is out there somewhere, his priority is to go find him first; but Leia disagrees. She says that getting Vader must be their sole focus; she won’t even let Han take a speeder to go look for Luke since that one speeder could make the difference when they confront Vader. Han can’t seem to understand how Leia could put Luke’s safety second to anything, even getting Darth Vader; but Leia is still very much hurting over what happened to Alderaan and she must see someone brought to justice. Leia takes command of the operation and, when a speeder patrol spots Vader, she orders it to attack. Vader, however, has stripped his TIE of its blaster array and he takes out the speeder with one shot. Meanwhile, Aphra and the killbots have arrived on Vrogas Vas to give the boss-man a hand; not that he seems to need one. Having familiarized herself with Luke’s known associates, Aphra proceeds to give Triple Zero a golden shower...of paint. She paints him gold. So he can look like Threepio. I assume she also changed his voice because when I imagine him talking it’s the guy from Flight of The Conchords. No, the other one. Anyway, Luke is looking around the ruins of the old Jedi temple when undercover Triple Zero approaches, lulls him into a false sense of security and then shocks him unconscious. Artoo, by the way, knew something was wrong the whole time, but his beeps went unheeded by Luke because this was before The Force Awakens and people being able to just automatically understand what Astromechs “say”. Too bad.
The kind of subtlety and quiet dignity we've come to expect from Star Wars.
Aphra now has an unconscious Luke captive. Artoo whips out his taser thing in an effort to defend his master, but he is severely shamed by Bee Tee’s much larger arsenal and backs off pretty quickly. It’s a sad display, and I’d like to come back to this later (much later, like 23 issues from now). Thankfully, Han and Chewie have closed in on Luke’s location and set up an ambush as Aphra is returning to her ship. Unfortunately, Han makes the classic Han mistake of not shooting first (is that right?) and instead gives Aphra a warning to drop the kid. Aphra tells Han he can try to shoot her, but that her droid will kill Luke before she hits the ground. Han counters with the equally classic: Yeah, well, I’ve got a Wookiee who can pull your droid’s arms out of their sockets. Now, how to explain what happens next? Fortunately, 15 years of listening to acutely psychotic people talk and pretending like they’re making sense has given me the tools I need. Chewie comes out of nowhere to rip Triple Zero’s right arm off causing him to drop Luke. Chewie proceeds to beat the droid mercilessly with his own arm until Triple Zero manages to inject him with some Mandalorian Xenotox. Han and Aphra both take aim at two separate “wasp-worm” nests suspended over each of their heads. They both get swarmed and, while running around in hilarious agony, run head first into each other and get knocked out. Triple Zero is just about to start eviscerating Chewie when Luke, who has come to, steps up and takes off his other arm with his lightsaber. BT and Artoo are also back, by the way; and before BT can deploy his weapons Artoo sprays him down with...something. Let’s say it’s oil; but it’s purple. Anyway explosions happen and Han is awake now so everybody makes a run for it. So, while all this was going down, Leia geared up and headed out with some soldiers to try to find Vader. Vader picks her companions off one by one until at last she is face to face with the Dark Lord of the Sith.
Review (Part I)
Vader Down starts off by plunging head first into the action. This crossover was the culmination of nearly a year’s worth of storytelling in two series. It’s a true crossover because the two series basically merge and become one during the run. I make a point of this because sometimes in comics you will get a “crossover” wherein two or more books will participate in the same storyline but not to the extent that you have to read every issue to know what’s going on. Not here, and I think that’s a good thing. This was a “big event”, but not too big or overdone. They did the one shot special to set it up and the rest of it took place in the regular issues of the respective books. They didn’t do a whole separate mini-series to tell the story and then tie it in with the other books; that would have been too much. The story is ambitious, but also fairly simple. They don’t throw a bunch of new stuff into the mix just to make this special. It is quite simply, and effectively, the climax of ongoing storylines. I think the only drawback I’d like to point out at this point is that Mike Deodato’s art style is in pretty stark contrast to Salvador Larroca’s. It’s by no means bad, but for me it’s different enough to be distracting. Ideally John Cassaday or Stuart Immonen would have done the Vader Down 1-shot and the Star Wars issues; I feel like both of their styles have the same general tone as Larroca’s.
Tune in next week for Part II of Vader Down.
Action Figure Comic Pack Wish List:
Vrogas Vas Rebel Infantry Captain and Princess Leia in infantry battle gear.
