Darth Vader (2020) #8 - Comic Review

Darth Vader #8 - Into the Fire Part 3: The Eye really takes us into the eye of the storm of Vader’s introspective look at his life and desires.

Check out the review of the previous issue before moving on!

Darth Vader finds himself trapped in a fiery cave on Mustafar! After sensing a presence calling out to him, Vader attempts to track down the mysterious Eye of Webbish Bogg. He quickly finds himself overrun by various creatures trying to kill him and has to overcome these threats, and the seeming taunting of The Eye, to stay alive, which proves honestly not too difficult for a man of his power despite not being able to use the Force. While trying to survive the creatures attacking him and the perilous turns that come with Mustafar terrain, Vader is also bombarded with questions from The Eye. What does Vader need vs what he wants and are his needs actually important or should he just be following anything and everything Emperor Palpatine desires. Once Vader finds The Eye he has to decide who he truly is inside and what he wants in order to get what he is after, which might just be a familiar kind of device from a few different Mustafar encounters through games and film.

Into the Fire Part 3 really puts us into the eye of the storm, well The Eye of the Fire really, into this deep and personal look at Vader and who he has become that writer Greg Pak started from the very first issue. The Eye of Webbish Bogg continually asks questions about what Vader really wants and needs and if he is only here in this galaxy to serve his master. The word “chosen” really calls back to the idea of Anakin being the “chosen one”. Pak does an incredible job here again of mixing past and present to dive deep into the heart and soul of Vader and push him beyond being just a man turned evil in a suit. He also gives us a lot of questions surrounding The Eye of Webbish Bogg, but that works for the story’s purpose as the entire issue is about asking questions instead of giving outright answers. We also get some incredible art here from artist Raffaele Ienco and colorist Neeraj Menon. Menon continues to shower us with the greys and oranges of Mustafar in a way that makes the planet feel unique enough to explore more than what we’ve seen in the films. Ienco gives us many great moments throughout this issue including the flashbacks to previous films that genuinely feel pulled right from the screen. Although, his highlight of this issue has to be all the creatures. Everything from the bug spitting fire all the way to The Eye itself were absolute stunning works of art.

This deep introspective look at the man known as Darth Vader brings us deep into the caves of Mustafar full of danger and intrigue and mystery. Once Vader finds out who he truly is, he walks right into the flames to take what he needs, but he’s not out of danger quite yet!