Star Wars Adventures: The Will of Darth Vader

 

  In a hit-and-run attack, the Rebellion has struck a major blow in the plans of the Empire and they don't even know it. Their latest raid has yielded a major piece of equipment, the targeting system for the second Death Star. Desperate to have it back, the Emperor sends out his most trusted agent, Darth Vader.

    But Vader's mission isn't just to return the stolen hardware, but to send a message to the galaxy: that the Empire is not to be trifled with. Getting to the base will pose a challenge, however, as the rebels are holed up in an asteroid field loaded with lasers, mines, and other booby traps. In order to get into the base secretly, Vader kidnaps a smuggler on his way to deliver supplies to the Rebels.

    I'm going to leave my synopsis of the book here. Because what comes next is a big continuity problem for me. Instead of doing away with the smuggler, once he has landed safety on the outskirts of the base, Vader lets the pilot live. Maybe the pilot has struck a nerve with the Dark Lord with all of his talk of free will and being a lackey for the Emperor. Regardless, letting this guy be the Eddie Murphy to Vader's Nick Nolte in a 48-Hours style romp, just doesn't seem to me to be the style of a guy who killed a bunch of younglings at the Jedi Academy.

     That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the story. I thought it was actually kinda funny having Darth Vader play the straight to someone other than Jar Jar Binks. But again, it just seems very uncharacteristic of him.

   Another thing I had an issue with was the book's title 'The Will of Darth Vader.' As I mentioned, Vader is somewhat perplexed by being confronted by someone who challenges his role as Palpatine's puppet. But I think it would've been really cool if this book was set after Return of the Jedi and Luke and Leia are summoned to Mustafar to hear the reading of Vader's will after his death. Maybe that's just me, but I think that plot would've made for a much more interesting story that fit the established character templates better than this buddy cop farce.

   This work marks the last in the Star Wars Adventures series of mini-graphic novels for me to read. Published by Dark Horse around 2010-11, these books were lots of fun to read and could be completed in one sitting. With Episode VII due in less than 3-weeks, I've been on a tear reading as much Star Wars as possible, as the anticipation is about to make me plotz.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.