Darth Vader (2020) #9 - Comic Review

Darth Vader #9 - Into the Fire Part 4: The Assassin Returns has Vader again fighting for his life against the Emperor’s favorite assassin and a group of pirate droids!

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

Having just survived his encounter with various ferocious creatures in the cave of The Eye of Webbish Bogg on Mustafar, Vader returns to the surface with a Sith Wayfinder in hand and a plan to figure out where it takes him. Unfortunately for Vader, the Emperor Palpatine’s personal assassin Ochi is waiting for him with a new gang: the Droid Crush Pirates of Bestoon. Having been promised state of the art technological enhancements that they can rip from Vader after defeating him, the droid pirates give chase to Vader until he is cornered. They quickly realize that despite Vader surviving everything thrown at him so far, it’s not his mechanical body that gives him his power, as he is currently made up of scraps found around Mustafar, but the person inside that strives to keep living by his own determination. Eventually Vader gets to Ochi himself and forces give up the information he knows about the Wayfinder which leads to a secret world known to very very few: Exegol.

Continuing the personal journey that writer Greg Pak has put Vader on since issue 1, and especially this current story arc, we’re shown that Vader is so much more than just his body. Throughout his time on Mustafar Vader’s story has been all about his desires, his hopes, and what makes him keep on living, but in this issue Pak shows us what all that boils down to. Vader here, having literally crawled through lava, survived many creatures, and rebuilt his body from scraps, is fighting a gang of droid pirates and an assassin without the help of the Force nor his lightsaber. It’s a much more action focused issue than the past few, but it’s a very necessary piece to show all of what has been exposed about Vader’s character into a bigger action sequence.

Artist Raffaele Ienco’s characters continue to be incredibly realistic with the new appearance of the Droid Crush Pirates and he shows off some brutal violence dealt out by Vader to them. Colorist Neeraj Menon once again nails the feeling and look of a changing Mustafar and really hits his high points with the old and faded colors of Anakin’s abandoned Jedi Starfighter. That starfighter really is a beauty to behold here. And together, both Ienco and Menon give us an absolutely stunning, intense, horrifying beauty with that final full page of cosmic horror art.

Darth Vader #9 feels like it is nearing the end of this deep look at Vader’s person, goals, and desires, and gives us a fantastic fight showing everyone that he is so much more just a piece of tech with a laser sword as he fights off a robot pirate gang and hops in his old Jedi Starfighter to track down the hidden world of Exegol.